Comfort While Waging War Against Sin

 This book by Christopher Love on mortification (putting sin to death – Col. 3.5) has been a huge help to me personally and pastorally.  Here’s one emphasis of Love’s that I found especially helpful.  Often in the battle against sin in our lives, it is easy to despair when we realize how terribly dark and ugly our hearts are.  Sometimes, we even fall back into some sin we thought was long gone.  Christopher Love tells us not to despair in these things; he gives some comfort to weary sin-battling soldiers.

1) Mortification is for this life, glorification is for the life to come.  This is God’s way for the Christian.  “You must not expect the whole work of sanctification to be wrought in  a moment.”

2) God will never show you more of your sin than you can bear.  “You may be sure to have no more laid upon you than you have strength to grapple with.”

3) God will repay the devil for tormenting you.  Struggling against the devil’s temptations is not a sin charged to your account, but the devil will pay eternally in hell for trying to make you sin.  “These are the devil’s sins, and not yours.”

4) By Christ’s strength and grace we mortify sin. “Though he himself does all for us and we do nothing, yet he rewards us as if we had done it ourselves. … Oh what a comfort this is, that we have such a good God to fight for us and subdue our iniquities for us!”

5) Fighting sin helps us pray more frequently and fervently.  “When the suggestions of Satan and solicitations to sin increase, your hearty prayers to God and resolutions against these sins increase too.”

This is a summary of Christopher Love’s pastoral comfort to Christians struggling against sin.  These are awesome things to think about as we put on God’s armor to fight temptation and sin.  I encourage you to add more biblical comforts to that list as you battle the sins in your heart and life.  Love also said this, which I’ll end with: “Sin may be a combatant, but it shall never be a conqueror” of the Christian.

shane lems