Growing Up Christian #10: The Fight of Your Life

*This is the best chapter of Growing Up Christian because it deals clearly with the heart of sin and not just the sinful actions themselves.

Chapter 10 begins with the story of Aron Ralston, who had to cut off his own arm with a pocket knife to save his life.
Christians face a similar decision when it comes to fighting sin. We must do whatever it takes to battle the sin in our hearts. Life is war.

J.C. Ryle: “The true Christian is called to be a solider, and must behave as such from the day of his conversion to the day of his death. He is not meant to live a life of religious ease, laziness, and security. He must never imagine for a moment that he can sleep and doze along the way to heaven.”

Church kids make five critical mistakes:
1. We do not take our sin as seriously as we should.
2. We wrongly categorize sin as “major or minor.”
3. We lack perseverance in battling our sin.
4. We battle our sinful actions, but we fail to deal with our sinful hearts.
5. We confuse godly and worldly sorrow.

Why we should battle sin:
1. We must understand what sin is.
2. We need to understand that we are sinful by nature.
3. We must understand God’s view of sin.
4. It is essential that we understand the effects of our sin.
5. We must understand the consequences of not battling sin.

How we battle sin:
1. Pray to God for conviction of sin.
2. Pray for help from the Holy Spirit.
3. If we feel the conviction of the Holy Spirit but cannot identify the source of sin, we need to seek help.
4. Once we have clearly identified the sin of our hearts, we need to repent and ask God to forgive us and enable us to change.
5. We must battle our sin with the truths found in the Word of God.

John Owen, “Be killing sin, or sin will be killing you.”