Overcoming

The "secret" - if there is one - to overcoming sinful desires and thoughts has very little to do with controlling oneself through self-discipline. I'm fully aware of what that sounds like, but our biblical instruction points to something much better than self-discipline. It points to full salvation. I'm using the word full because I agree with Bud Bence, who remarks that Christians tend to make salvation too small. We tend to look at it as a one-time deal, something that happened back when we prayed somewhere, something we have to live up to. In reality, salvation is a daily reality that makes us dead to sin and alive to God. "Sin is no longer [our] master" (Rom 6:14) because God is. That's why we don't need to make a series of rules and regulations about not sinning, as if we were still subject to human rules and regulations. (I'm sure we've all experienced the futility of overcoming sin with human rules and regulations.) The "secret" is actually to "use your whole body as an instrument to do what is right for the glory of God" (Rom 6:13). Our bodies are weak, but our God is willing and able to handle the sin that used to control us. We submit ourselves to Him, seeking intimacy with Him, and He shows us "the way of life, granting [us] the joy of [His] presence and the pleasures of living with [Him] forever" (Psalm 16:11)!