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(I corrected several path problems on August 29, August 30, and September 1, including these selections: Which  Version?, Christmas, Images, Body of Christ Discovered, Hymn Midis, KJV Bible, and Spiritual Warfare.  Sorry for any problems; please let know if you find others. - Gary)

>Beset and Bedeviled

Confess your faults one to another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. James 5:16

Wherefore seeing we are compassed about by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which does so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us. Hebrews 12:1

I was never especially strong physically. One of my friends in high school was a real bull, a star running back who could power his way down the field with several defenders hanging all over him. I admired his athletic ability, but never had a particular desire to be like him. I was content to remain a 130-pound weakling (now that I'm older and more mature, and have a lot of meals that stayed under my belt, I'm a 170-pound weakling).

One thing I do know, though, from experience. If you're carrying a heavy load, unless you're extremely strong, it's hard to move fast. From time to time I've had to rush from one gate to another in an airport, weighed down by one or two heavy suitcases. It wasn't easy, but at least I knew my bags would arrive at the same time I did.

The best golfers have a handicap when they compete against mere mortals. That's supposed to even the playing field. In our Christian walk, we don't want either a handicap that can assure defeat, or a weight that holds us back in running the race. It is no accident that the writer of Hebrews mentions weights and besetting sins in the same phrase; a sin that keeps coming back and has power over us is a weight. Wearing weights or carrying a load is fine for training, to develop strength. Once the race starts, though, we need to get rid of anything that would hold us back or slow us down.

Sin comes in many varieties, and any one can be a besetting sin for us; often we have more than one. We tend to rank as being bad or not so bad, though the Lord makes no such distinction (see James 2:10). Some that are especially prevalent now include alcohol and drug addiction, fornication, pornography, gluttony and gambling. Most us can pat ourselves on the back, and say we aren't bothered by any of these, but wait, the list goes on. What about an addiction to television, or movies, or video games, or even books? I once spent hours at a time in all of these, to the exclusion of devotions or human interaction or anything else.

All of us sin, and we all need to confess our sins to the Lord regularly to experience his forgiveness and healing (I John 1:9). A besetting sin, though, is different. No matter how hard we try to control it, no matter how many times we confess it, it keeps coming back. If left unconfessed, it can destroy our witness and cripple our walk as a Christian. Often such sin, especially if it's private, can carry a deep load of guilt and shame. In the case of some very powerful impulses, such as drug addiction or homosexuality, the sin can destroy not only the lives of the person in bondage, but the lives of family and friends.

Sin, any sin, is a symptom, as well as a problem. Something is wrong in a person's relationship with God if they follow their bent to sinning. The first step in dealing with a particular sin, or sins, that has power over us is to examine our relationship with Christ. If we haven't confessed the sin, we should do that as well, because that in itself says that a vital part of the relationship is missing.

We can't have a strong relationship with the Lord unless we spend time with him. If we've stopped having a meaningful prayer time, and we've stopped feeding on the Word, we need to ask the Lord's help with our devotionals. In our prayers, we need to be honest with God, and admit we like what we're doing and can't control it ourselves. We must ask the Lord to change our "want to's." Until we surrender control over our lives to him, he never can really call us his own.

Part of the healing process often is confession to other Christians. For something we find acutely embracing, it's hard to confess in front of a large group of people. Depending on the sin and the circumstances surrounding it, that may be necessary. Most of the time, though, if we confess to a small group of people we trust, or even to one or two people, that may be enough. Part of the advantage of doing this is enlisting the prayer support and moral support of others. The very act of confession itself can have a cleansing effect for us.

I didn't do that in the case of my own besetting sin. It tormented me for most of my adult life, and in the end did very nearly destroy me. It was a private sin, easily concealed from almost everyone. I never talked with anyone about it, because I felt ashamed to admit its existence in my life. It served as a channel for venting all of the repressed emotions that I also made an art of hiding. The Lord delivered me from its power gloriously early this year, along with a number of other things that weighed me down. I prayed about sharing it more specifically with you, but concluded it would serve no real purpose. As the Lord directs, I may share it with some of you from tine to time.

Our flesh, the old man, would love to see us enslaved to sin. Christ has already won the victory; we don't have to fight the same battles again. If we must fight, and we must, let's fight what Satan is doing right now. The past and all of the sins connected with it are baggage we don't have to carry around. Drop the weights!

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