Skip to main content

Sinful Desires

 

Dear friends, I urge you, as foreigners and exiles, to abstain from sinful desires, which wage war against your soul.  (I Peter 2:11)

Thanks to the pandemic, we have an excellent picture of what this verse is about. Viral particles aren’t really alive. They can’t reproduce on their own. They infiltrate a human body, then a human cell, and enslave the cell’s factories into producing viral particles, which then invade other cells. In response to the invasion, the body jacks up its heat, floods the bloodstream with antibodies (soldier-cells), and builds up mucus to try to rid the body of the invaders. Sometimes, its soldier-cells work so hard at killing the virus that they don’t notice the amount of collateral damage they’re causing. That’s what is called a Cytokine Storm.

Sinful desires are viral particles. They can’t do anything by themselves, but they can cause our souls to produce more sinful desires, and as we give in and give way, the infection spreads not only in us, but to others. And if we’re going to survive, we’re going to have to fight for our lives. We need to put on spiritual masks and gloves and not attend “Virus parties” and, most importantly, we’re going to have to get it through our thick skulls that these sinful desires that we so often entertain and treat as honored guests are our enemies.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Think About These Things

                 Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. (Philippians 4:8) This passage is a major challenge for me. Like everyone else, I struggle to keep my thoughts from wandering off into the weeds, then wondering what possible benefits those weeds might have… Sigh. But as a writer, I have to delve at least a little into the ignoble, wrong, impure, unlovely, and debased. After all, there’s no story if everything’s just as it should be and everyone’s happy. As Christians, there are times when we need to deal with all the negatives, but that makes it even more important that we practice turning our minds by force of attention to what is noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, and praiseworthy. It’s just too easy to get stuck in a swamp. With my...
1 comment
Read more

Higher Thoughts

  “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the  Lord . “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. (Isaiah 55:8-9)           The person with the Spirit makes judgments about all things, but such a person is not subject to merely human judgments,   for, “Who has known the mind of the Lord      so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ. (I Corinthians 2:15-16) If you read about the ancient gods of the various peoples, you’ll find that they think just like people. In fact, they think just like the sort of people we really wouldn’t want to be around. They think like the most corrupt Hollywood producer or, like hormone overloaded teens with no upbringing.   It’s embarrassing to read. I have a friend who argues that because God is not just like us, He is so vastly dif...
2 comments
Read more

Pure...

            The goal of this command is love, which comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. (I Timothy 1:5)   I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth. (Revelation 3:15-16) I’m probably cheating - or mishandling the Bible, but earlier I was thinking about love being pure and purifying. And hatred being pure and purifying. And anger…joy…patience… fear… jealousy… courage…lust… and other strongly felt feelings, attitudes, and beliefs. Today’s verse brings purity and love together, so it’s the verse of the day, but it’s not really the focus. That means my motive for sharing it with you probably isn’t pure. As you read through my list, you   probably thought, “Yeah” about some, and “What’s she on?” about others. But consider how much hatred, a...
Post a Comment
Read more