Push Your Sin Out the Window

The beginning of Jehu’s reign in 2 Kings 9-10 is a wonderful example for Christians who would be free of their besetting sins. When Jehu was anointed by Elisha’s assistant, he drove his chariot furiously straight to meet Joram the son of Ahab and killed him and Azariah, the visiting King of Judah. Arriving in Samaria, he called for Jezebel’s servants to throw her out of her upper chamber window, and her blood spattered on the wall and the dogs ate her. But Jehu didn’t stop there. He immediately wrote a letter to the elders of the city asking for the heads of seventy sons of Ahab. And soon, he had secured his victory when the heads of Ahab’s seventy sons were brought to him in baskets and placed at the city gates for all to see. Finally, he gathered all of the prophets of Baal in the house of Baal and slaughtered them all. He brought out the images from the house and broke down the pagan temple.

Sin wars against your soul. Sin is plotting against you. “Beloved, I beg you as sojourners and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul” (1 Pet. 2:11). Your sin is like Ahab and Jezebel and the prophets of Baal corrupting your mind, infecting your heart, even weighing your body down with stresses and sickness. But hear this, you who belong to Jesus: you have been anointed in baptism and by the Holy Spirit to go to war with your sin. You are authorized by the death and resurrection of Jesus to lead a holy coup. 

So what is your Ahab? Your Jezebel? What are your prophets or temple of Baal? Is it lying? Is it lust? Is it bitterness? Is it envy? Is it a complaining spirit? Christ died so that every one of your sins might die. He rose so that you might rise to new and obedient life. You are called to war. Do not go easy on any sin. Do not make any excuses, do not blame others, do not say it’s too late or its been too long. Strike your envy and resentment down. Push your lust and lying out the window. Confess your sins, ask for forgiveness, write a letter, get accountability, and make the changes required to really change.  

Photo by Gor Davtyan on Unsplash