I'm slowly reading through a book that a friend
gave me called, A Gospel Primer. I thought this was rather poignant and
can speak to the root of a lot of sin and issues that surface in a Christian's
life:
Milton Vincent's A Gospel Primer.
Though saved, I am
daily beset by a sinful flesh that always craves those things that are contrary
to the Spirit. These fleshly lusts are vicious enemies, constantly waging war
against the good of my soul. Yet they promise me fullness, and their promises
are so deliciously sweet that I often find myself giving into them as if they
were friends that have my best interests at heart.
On the most basic of
levels, I desire fullness, and fleshly lusts seduce me by attaching themselves
to this basic desire. They exploit the empty spaces in me, and they promise
that fullness will be mine if I give in to their demands. When my soul sits
empty and is aching for something to fill it, such deceptive promises are
extremely difficult to resist.
Consequently, the key
to mortifying fleshly lusts is to eliminate the emptiness within me and replace
it with fullness; and I accomplish this by feasting on the gospel. Indeed, it
is in the gospel that I experience a God who glorifies Himself by filling me
with His fullness. He is the One, Paul says, "who fills all in all."
He is the One who "fills all things" with the gifts He gives. And He
lavishes gospel blessings upon me with the goal that I "be filled up to
all the fullness of God." This is the God of the gospel, a God who is
satisfied with nothing less than my experience of fullness in Him! The first
command God spoke in the Garden was, "eat freely." And with similar
insistence He says to me now, "be filled.
"What happens to my
appetites for sin when I am filled with the fullness of God in Christ? Jesus
provides this answer: "He who continually comes to Me will never hunger or
thirst again." Indeed, as I perpetually feast on Christ and all of His
blessings found in the gospel, I find that my hunger for sin diminishes and the
lies of lust simply lose their appeal. Hence, to the degree that I am full, I
am free. Eyes do not rove, nor do fleshly lusts rule, when the heart is fat
with the love of Jesus!
Preaching the gospel to
myself each day keeps before me the startling advocacy of God for my fullness,
and it also serves as a means by which I feast anew on the fullness of
provision that God has given to me in Christ. "Eating freely" of such
provision keeps me occupied with God's blessings and also leaves me with a
profoundly enjoyable sense of satisfaction in Jesus. And nothing so mortifies
fleshly lusts like satisfaction in Him.
