IN ALL THESE THINGS WE ARE MORE THAN CONQUERORS
Sakkie Parsons
Translated from Afrikaans
Translator: Robin Barker
Someone wrote to me about their smoking habit and said the following:
“I am a Christian who smokes and many people have told me that I am making smoke offerings to satan.”
When I read this I thought to myself:
“What an absurd ridiculous, ignorant and un-Christian like manner to deal with a person who is addicted to smoking.”
As I read between the lines, it looks like the Christians who made this statement about ‘smoke which is an offering to satan’, their thoughts are more on satan than that of the smoker, and it is now if the smoker even thinks of satan at all.
Before I share with you about what I find in the Word concerning smoking, I just want to say, I have smoked; if I remember correctly between 15 and 25 cigarettes a day. So I know all about it, I was there.
Naturally smoking is a sin but so is over eating, drugs, alcohol misuse etc. etc.
Here now is what I see in the Word regarding this matter but a Christian can, what I am about to write, apply it to any other habit.
According to my opinion there is only one exception in the statement which I am now going to make.
The statement that I am making is:
Anything that I become addicted to is sin.
There is only one addiction, to say it that way, which I may make myself guilty of; No, which I ought to make myself guilty of; No, what I must be guilty of with a joyful heart and that is, how wonderful – to be a slave of Jesus.
1COR 7:22 For the one who was a slave when called to faith in the Lord is the Lord’s freed person; similarly, the one who was free when called is Christ’s slave.
I share in this writing only about the smoking habit/addiction, but as I have mentioned, that which I am now going to say can be applied to any other addiction.
So let us look at how, and if, I can motivate my statement that it is a sin, from the Word.
I want to begin with the following and I quote from the New Living Translation (NLT) because it is such a lovely translation:
1COR 6:12 You say, “I am allowed to do anything”—but not everything is good for you. And even though “I am allowed to do anything,” I must not become a slave to anything.
In the New International Version (NIV) 1CORINTHIANS 6:12 reads as follows:
1COR 6:12 “I have the right to do anything,” you say—but not everything is beneficial. “I have the right to do anything”—but I will not be mastered by anything.
If our Lord writes in His Word about something that I must not do, and I do it, then I am not obedient and it is sin.
1COR 6:12 … . “I have the right to do anything”—but I will not be mastered by anything.
Then, how is it possible that I, as a reborn child of our Lord, can damage the dwelling place of the Holy Spirit and if you think that you are not damaging your body, then go and ask your doctor in regards.
1COR 6:19 Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own;
How is it possible to damage your body – which because you are a reborn child of our Lord, is now the dwelling of the Holy Spirit, and to damage this body which does not even belongs to you anymore but belongs to our Lord, in such a way without knowing deep within your heart that it is wrong?
1COR 6:19 Don’t you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself, (NLT)
How is it possible that I, as a child of our Lord, knowing that I was bought dearly at an extremely high price and also know that I do not belong to myself, then go and pollute and damage myself and do not deep within myself know that this is very wrong?
1COR 6:20 for God bought you with a high price. So you must honour God with your body. (NLT)
How is it possible that I, as a child of our Lord, do precisely the opposite with my body as what our Lord requires (expects) of me, not knowing deep within my heart that it is very wrong?
1COR 6:20 … you were bought at a price. Therefore honour God with your bodies.
The answer to all of these ‘how is it possible’ questions is obviously: That it simply is not possible for a born again child of our Lord.
When I myself, as an example, repented and gave my heart and life to Jesus, my conscience continually bothered me until I gave it up.
To give you an example on motivation:
Just for instance say that there is a “chip” that they planted in your head and you knew the “chip” would explode in your head and shattered your head if you smoked another cigarette and you saw on TV that it really does happen.
I say to you that you will never smoke again.
You see, this is the issue of motivation. If the motivation is great enough, you will stop smoking.
I also say to you, because I have first-hand experience of it:
The more your love relationship with our Lord deepens, the more difficult it will be to light up the next cigarette. Until the day comes that your motivation of your love for our Lord is so great that it will be just impossible for you to even light a cigarette.
My advice to Christians that smoke is the following and I speak of what worked for me:
Work on your loving relationship with our Lord and when you look again, you will have stopped smoking.
In closing just this:
If you as a Christian claim that: “if I cannot give up smoking it does not mean that I am a slave of tobacco”, let me leave you with the following from our Lord’s Word:
2PETER 2:19 They promise them freedom, while they themselves are slaves of depravity—for “people are slaves to whatever has mastered them.”
In the New Living Translation (NLT) 2PETER 2:19 reads as follows:
2PETER 2:19 They promise freedom, but they themselves are slaves of sin and corruption. For you are a slave to whatever controls you.
I want to encourage you to work on it that the world does not see you with a cigarette in your hand, a sign of addiction, in other words a sign of someone who is conquered – but the world will see you for what you can be, that is a Conqueror!
ROM 8:37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.
ROM 8:37 No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us. (NLT)
Greetings,
Sakkie