Those outside of God’s covenant love are doomed to go on from bad to worse. Like Nineveh, they don’t know their right hand from their left. All is dark for them, seeing they don’t know the Father of lights. But even more significant than the fact that they cannot see their sin, is the truth that they don’t want to. They’re afraid. Sin is a monster. It is a cancer and man doesn’t want the diagnosis.

But when Christ comes to a man and wakes him up from death, that man has eyes to see. And not only eyes to see, but he has the freedom and courage to look his remaining sin in the eye. He knows, by faith he knows, that sin will not have dominion over him. That promise gives him the strength to face his shortcomings, confess them, and put on the new man.

You are God’s covenant people. When you fall, the Lord shall be light to you; when you fall, you shall rise. So look your sin square in the face and tell it not to rejoice over you. Then hunt it down. Find your laziness, your attitude that smells like molding cheese in the back of the refrigerator, track down your pride, and that yearning for the admiration of other men, go find your despair and choke it with both hands, choke it until your despair despairs. And when the little demon begins to weep and asks you for mercy with puppy dog eyes, show it none.

You can’t hunt down and kill sin by the flesh. That work can only be done by the Spirit. And we are those who have received that Spirit, and He is not a spirit of fear, but of power, love and a sound mind.