LAURA DAVIS | GUEST

I have a confession to make. I have a cat. Yes, I know….well, now I do. This isn’t my first cat. I had a few in the 1900s (as my children like to call my growing-up years). But there’s something less charming about owning a cat when you also own curtains, sofas, chairs, rugs, walls, windowsills, beds, and indoor plants. I blame acquiring a cat on the momentary insanity of an iPad-recorded selfie video of my cute daughter, complete with chubby cheeks, a slight speech impediment, and a snaggletooth. “Puh-lease, may I have a cat?!!? Puh-lease? I really want a cat. Love, Lilli.” And 9 years later, the cat miraculously appeared in our home to the delight of everyone, until we remembered that cats are not like dogs and cannot be trained.

He has over 2000 square feet of house to wander, but his favorite room is the master bedroom, which is strictly off limits because I will not have a cat sleeping on my face, and generally speaking, I would like to have at least one room that does not have claw marks in the furniture. There is a certain person who resides in this house who still can’t remember we have a cat, so he often forgets to shut the master bedroom door. My favorite scene unfolds when the cat dashes into the open door, nestles under our king-sized bed and proceeds to meow loudly as if to say, “Ha! You forgot again. This room is mine! All mine! Just try to come and get me.” The person who forgetfully left the door open will often blame the stupid cat for his impulses while frantically swinging an arm under the bed, trying to grab the cat.

As this scenario was unfolding for the umpteenth time, it occurred to me that this is often how sin operates in our lives. (Yes, I am comparing a cat to sin. Some of you will have no trouble making that equation.) We leave the door of our hearts unguarded and wide-open, and then sin triumphantly runs through the door, nestles down, ready to stay for a while. That sin may be quiet for a while, as he seeks to avert detection. But pretty soon, he’s meowing at the top of his lungs and everyone knows he’s there. At that point, you can either blame the sin or you can blame your lax standards in guarding your heart. Proverbs is clear where the blame resides: “Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it” (Prov. 4:23 NIV). The good news is that temptation doesn’t have to lead to sin, it can lead to sanctification. So how do we work toward that outcome? 

Guard Your Heart: Know God’s Word

First, we must know the truth of God’s Word to renew our minds. In Genesis 4, God comes to Cain with the truth that his anger will lead to greater sin if he’s not on guard because “sin is crouching” at his door. “Its desire is contrary to you, but you must rule over it” (Gen. 4:7). Like our cat that crouches at our door waiting for an entrance, sin is waiting to pounce with all that is unruly and contrary to God. We must rule over it, tame it, control it, and guard any entry it may seek to find. But to do that, we have to recognize sin for what it is. You may believe that you would never betray Jesus by indulging in particular sins, but what if those sins were disguised as things that were good for you? What if those sins promised to make you happy like my daughter’s desire for a cat? We are free from the penalty of sin through Christ’s sacrifice on the cross, but we are not yet free from the power or presence of sin in our lives. Our desires can run contrary to the gospel and gain power over us as the subtle lies of the world and Satan make us believe those desires are what God wants for us. The good news is that we are in the process of renewal into the image of Christ so that sin’s power has less control over us as we set our “minds on things that are above” (Col. 3:1). But this requires us to put to death what is earthly in us (Col. 3:5). We must not allow Satan to whisper to us, “Did God really say?” (Gen. 3:1 NIV). Like Jesus, who withstood Satan’s temptation by quoting the truth of Scripture, we can only combat these lies if we know the truth.  We must study Scripture, memorize it, reflect on it, obey it, pray it, and do all this in community with other believers.

The Power of Prayer

Second, we must pray to strengthen our wills in the Spirit. In the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus included this line, “lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil” (Matt. 6:13). He knew that God’s children would need to cry out to Him for help because God is the source of our strength to withstand temptation. Our prayer of humble dependence upon Him displays our faith that He will make good on this promise, “No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it” (1 Cor. 10:13). This way of escape is not ineffective like the person who keeps forgetting to shut the master bedroom door. Rather, we have the helper, the Holy Spirit, who warns us when we are tempted so that we vigilantly keep watch, closing the doors of our hearts to sin that threatens to dash right in. But if that sin does gain an entrance, we must use prayer to confess it. God promises, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). Praise God that removal of sin through confession is way more productive than trying to remove a cat from under a bed.

So next time your child asks you for a cat, tell her the story of how cats are like sin, but we have something even better, the truth of God’s Word to renew our minds and prayer to strengthen our wills in the Spirit. Maybe that will push it off at least for a while, until she is an adult with her own curtains, sofas, chairs, rugs, walls, windowsills, beds, and indoor plants.

Photo by Mikhail Vasilyev on Unsplash