‘Make no provision for the sinful nature …’

A mother told her son not to swim in the lake on his way back from school. The next morning she saw her son taking his swimming trunks to school. "What are you doing?", she asked, "I told you not to swim in the lake". The boy replied; "I’m taking them in case I’m tempted to swim".

Paul tells us; ‘make no provision for the flesh (the sinful nature)’. One of the most straightforward and effective ways for you and me to overcome temptation is not to make any provision for the sinful nature. Don’t be deceived, if you want the life of the kingdom there is NO place for a porn app on your smartphone! The two cannot coexist together. If you choose the one, you cannot have the other.

A leading gangster came forward at a Billy Graham rally and prayed a prayer of commitment to Jesus Christ. But six months later he was still committing robberies. When people challenged his behavior he replied; You have Christian mechanics, and Christian bus drivers, I’m a Christian gangster! They told him that you cannot be a gangster if you’re following Christ. But he wouldn’t change and from then on he stopped following Christ.

How do we overcome temptation?

Avoid situations where we know we shall be tempted, and by ‘making no provision for the sinful nature’.

Examples: If I avoid situations where people gossip, there’s less chance that I will gossip and slander and speak ill of others. If I avoid pornography by not watching sex films, there is less chance that I will lust at and denigrate and look down on people of the opposite sex. If I avoid people who are angry and aggressive there is less chance that I will be caught up in aggression, violence, and hatred. If I try to work hard and earn my own living there will be less temptation to cheat on my tax form, or on work expenses.

I want to end by making the same point through a different type of story: When I lived in Sheffield a leading judge told me about a Christian man he knew who would walk his alcoholic friend home after work every day just to help the man not to buy a drink and get drunk. This man helped his friend in this way faithfully for years and his kindness became so well known that when he died his funeral was attended by over a thousand people.

Jesus said ‘You cannot serve God and mammon’.

Paul said; ‘make no provision for the flesh’, and, ‘In regard to evil be infants, but in your thinking be adults’ 1 Corinthians 14:20

Q: Do you have a situation where you are often tempted to sin? Are there simple steps you can take to ‘make no provision for the sinful nature’ and limit the temptation?