Essential do's and don'ts

On Monday mornings, I lead a devotion for our staff at our American Family Association (AFA) headquarters in Tupelo, Mississippi. This is a practice my father, Don Wildmon, began over 45 years ago. As president of the ministry, he would share a devotional on Monday, and then various staff members would take turns leading devotion the other four days of the workweek.

Dad was always “short and sweet,” as they say. I am the same way: I read Scripture, then spend no more than five minutes talking about said Scripture.

Recently, one Monday, I said, “You have probably heard your whole life that Christianity is not a religion of do’s and don’ts. Well, I’m here to tell you, the do’s and don’ts are all in the Bible – from the Old Testament through the New Testament.”

I knew that was somewhat of a provocative statement to make.

Pay attention

As an evangelical Christian, I believe Scripture clearly teaches that our eternal salvation is not based on our works but on what Jesus Christ did on the cross. In other words, we cannot “earn” our salvation through doing enough good works.

But that’s how a lot of people view the afterlife. God tallies up your good deeds and bad deeds, and if you have more good than bad, you get to go to Heaven. It’s kind of like a big scoreboard in the sky for each of us.

That is not how it works.

The act of being born again, as Jesus called it, is a one-time event – a moment in time. That is the moment a person recognizes his sinfulness, asks Jesus to forgive his sin, and submits his life to God’s will. But after that, he must pay attention daily to the do’s and don’ts of the Bible. They are repeated often in Scripture.

Avoid sin

One of the simple prayers I have uttered aloud most days of my life is this: “God, help me today not to sin against you.”

Why do I pray that out loud? Because sin is crouching at my door (Genesis 4:7) while Satan waits to kill, steal, and destroy me (John 10:10).

Think about the sins we seek to avoid by living according to the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20). Then, think about the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7), in which Jesus expanded the definition of sin to include not just physical deeds but bad thoughts and wrong attitudes.

Maybe you have heard of the Seven Deadly Sins: pride, greed, lust, envy, gluttony, wrath, and sloth. What I am saying is this: That’s a lot of sin to avoid.

Truly, our flesh is at war with the Spirit. Galatians 5:17 sums it up this way: “For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please.”

Take action

So, from the moment we give our lives to Christ, Christianity does become a “religion” of works, including attitudes. Faith and action are inseparable. It takes diligence and work to live righteously before God each day. That is why we must get up each morning and humble ourselves before the Lord. We must draw strength from prayer, Scripture, and fellowship to help us be what the Bible calls “overcomers.”

If we let our guard down, we will fail. But again, it’s on each of us, individually, to take the actions that help us stay on the straight and narrow.

Please, don’t misunderstand. Obedience still relies on the grace of God – and a whole lot of His mercy when we fail. After all, there is plenty of temptation and worldly influence out there.

In fact, the other day, I was discussing these matters with a fellow believer, and I was reading to him one of the many warnings against the pitfalls of sin.

I said to him, “I can see now, in past times, why Christians would want to be nuns and monks – to escape worldly influences and temptations, which can lead to sin.”

Well, I have run out of space here, and I’ve only dealt with the “don’t do bad” biblical admonitions. Maybe soon, I will deal with the “do good” part, which is equally as important in our walk with God.