Standing Firm In God’s Grace: Putting Away Sinful Habits
by
PUTTING AWAY SINFUL HABITS
I remember when I was 8 years old and my dad was the pastor of Antioch Baptist Church in Knob Lick, Kentucky in 1980. I had recently given my life to Jesus Christ, and I was in Sunday School class that morning. My teacher asked us what we wanted to be when we grew up.
We went around the room and answered the question, at the time, I don’t remember what I said or the other kids for that matter. But I remember her telling a story.
She said, “One time a Sunday school teacher asked her class the same question I asked you today. One little boy in the room named Johnny spoke up and said, ‘Teacher, I am either going to be a missionary or work for the mafia.’ She said, ‘Johnny that’s an interesting response, there is a big difference between being a missionary and working for the mafia. What do you think will determine which you do?’ He smiled and said, ‘I guess it depends on who gets to me first.’”
The same is true for us.
Are you going to live for Christ or are we going to live for our sinful habits? I guess it depends on what gets the best of us, first. And the great news is, we get to play a part in that decision.
“How do we put away sinful habits?”
The Apostle Peter shows in 1 Peter…
1 Peter 2:1 So put away all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander.
Peter tells us to put away a list of actions.
What does it mean to put away?
It means to rid yourself of them and make them not easily accessible to your behavior.
My family and I just completed our 13th annual sugar fast. And for the most part, I do well, but when I see things I want, the temptation grows. So, we put away, get rid of the temptations out of our house. We put out of our sight our favorite sweets.
Peter wants the followers of Jesus, to put some things out of their sight, behavior, emotions, and so forth and so on. What is it in your life that just keeps triggering bad behavior?
You need to put it away. You need to put it out of your life.
Peter gives a grocery list of things people need to put out of their lives in his day.
Malice, deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander.
Let’s define these words…
Key Definitions:
- Malice: the intention or desire to do evil.
Now you might say, “I don’t have any intention or desire to do evil.” So let me ask you this, “Do you have anyone you want revenge on?”
Well…that is the desire to do evil.
- Deceit: the action or practice of deceiving someone by concealing (not telling the whole truth) or misrepresenting the truth (presenting it in a less than accurate way for your benefit)
- Hypocrisy: the practice of claiming to have moral standards or beliefs to which one’s own behavior does not conform.
Peter is telling them to put away actions that try to convey to others images that are better than you are.
- Envy: a feeling of discontented or resentful longing aroused by someone else’s possessions, qualities, or luck
Peter is telling them to stop focusing on the success of someone and turn their attention elsewhere. It is okay to learn from others how to do things, but it is not okay to covet what someone else has to the point you are miserable because you don’t have it.
Life is not about the getting, it is about the wanting of what you got.
- Slander: the action or crime of making a false spoken statement damaging to a person’s reputation.
Peter is telling them, “Don’t lie about someone else to make them look back so you can look better.” Live in the truth, even if it hurts, don’t run from it.
Peter tells them, “Put all this junk away.”
In essence, fast from it, don’t let your body have it. When you sense yourself going to these five areas, say to the Lord, “Take it away Lord, I don’t want it. I don’t want that feeling, emotion, thought, or action in my life.”
But if you are going to take something away, what do you have to do? You must replace it with something. Peter says, “Long for the pure spiritual milk?”
2 Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation—
What is the pure spiritual milk?
It is God’s Word. Peter is telling them to replace these sinful actions with a longing for God’s Word. How do you grow your palate to crave something?
You taste it.
How do you taste the Word of God?
You read it.
For something to become a habit they say you must do it for 30 days. I want to give you a challenge, start reading the Bible every day. Begin with the book of Provers and read 1 chapter a day for 31 days. There are 31 Proverbs for 31 days. Also, I want to challenge you to get a devotional like Oswald Chambers, “My Utmost For His Highest.” It has 365 devotions for 365 days. This will help you begin and continue a daily dose of tasting the word so that you develop a craving for The Word of God.
You will not develop a craving for God’s Word until you read it.
You just won’t.
And some days you will crave it more than others depending on a myriad of factors.
Remember this, no child is born loving vegetables, but sugar comes naturally. The same is true in the spiritual realm. When we come to Christ it is not natural to desire the Word of God, but sin still comes naturally. We must ween these things out of our lives through the craving of God’s Word through reading it and applying it.
—3 if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good.
What is Peter saying? He is saying, if you have given your life to Jesus, if you have tasted the grace of God, you can do this. He is making a statement of trust and confidence in them. I am saying to you today, “If you know the Lord, you can do this.”
If you and I are going to put away sinful habits, we need to get out our Bibles and put away our sinful actions.
Peter continues in 1 Peter 2:4…
4 As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, 5 you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
When you come to God through reading His Word, confession of sin, for me (confessing of sin through journaling), fasting to hear His voice speak louder than the voice of hunger pains, urges, and desires, and listening to hear his voice through prayer, you are being built up into His spiritual house, priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God.
And what is acceptable to God? Because of Jesus, you are. He wants you to offer yourself to Him as a living sacrifice. When you wake up in the morning you say, “Good Morning Holy Spirit, this is your day. Speak Lord, your servant is listening.”
That is what a spiritual sacrifice to God looks like.
You won’t be able to fight the demons of your life if you don’t welcome God to join you in the battle. Malic, deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander will get the best of you if you don’t welcome God into your day.
When we welcome Jesus to join us in our day, we are in essence putting away sinful habits and choosing Him over them.
Those first few moments when we first wake up are critical. Ask Him to meet you in your day first thing.
His presence will be the difference maker. Look at 1 Peter 2:6…
Peter emphasizes the significance of Christ’s presence and strength in our days.
6 For it stands in Scripture: “Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a cornerstone chosen and precious, and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.”
In building terms, do you know what a cornerstone means to a building? It is the stone the building depends on to keep it standing.
Jesus is our cornerstone. He is the stone that keeps us standing. If we believe in Him, we will not be put to shame because He will so to speak, “Keep our lives standing” in faith in God.
Therefore, it is so important to welcome Him into our day, so we can rid ourselves of what we don’t’ need to focus on, so we can focus on what we do need to focus on.
Peter continues in 1 Peter 2:7…
7 So the honor is for you who believe, but for those who do not believe, “The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone,” 8 and “A stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense.” They stumble because they disobey the word, as they were destined to do.
What is Peter saying? He is saying this about Jesus as the cornerstone. He holds our lives up by His grace, but we choose to ignore Him, He becomes a rock of offense that causes us to stumble.
The choice is ours.
I encourage you to choose Jesus to be your strength not your stumbling block, but the choice is yours.
But rest assured, he will be one or the other. He will either be the source of your strength or the pain in your backside, but He will have an impact on your life one way or another.
Peter continues in 1 Peter 2:9…
9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. 10 Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
God has already chosen you; it is time for you to choose Him. He doesn’t want to be a stumbling block in your life. He doesn’t want to be primarily Judge, but He will, and He is. He wants to be the Lord and Savior.
I don’t want to have to discipline my children. I don’t like being the heavy. I will because it is my job. But I much prefer to be a compassionate, grace-filled father who shows mercy to His children.
Choose Jesus as your strength not your stumbling block.
Peter continues in 1 Peter 2:11…
11 Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul. 12 Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.
It is important to remember why you are here on planet earth.
Why are we here? So, others may see your good deeds and what? Glorify God!
How we act increases or decreases the future praise God will receive from others around us. Our conduct matters because it is the conduit that God uses to bring others into real relationship with Him as well.
Your actions speak the presence of Christ into other people’s lives.
I want my life to count for Christ’s glory and remembering why I am here has probably the greatest impact on how I act. It causes me to put away my sinful habits, even the ones only I or a few know about, so that the Lord can receive yet more glory through my life by those who don’t know him, yet.
What will choose today?
I pray you choose Jesus and put away your sinful habits and advance His Kingdom today through your everyday moments for His glory and others good.
It begins today with a simple, “Yes Lord and a ‘no’ to yourself.”
Easier said than done, but no doubt, it will be worth it in the end.
