Sins of the Flesh Entice and Ultimately Enslave

March 9, 2026

My daughter had a planned sleepover with friends. They were going to hangout and watch movies… until we got word she was at the mall. She didn’t know that we knew she had broken our trust. I calmly asked how her Friday went. She went with the lie. When I asked if that was the story she was sticking with she looked confused and scared. After a little more back and forth gamesmanship, she burst into tears, admitting far more than our informant had shared. We talked a lot about broken trust and how hard it is to rebuild. It was a teachable moment for her to learn about the power of sin. It opened a conversation on how sin entices but ultimately enslaves, much like the Bible warns.

My wife and I found that when we accepted our children were sinners, and not perfect little cherubs, we were much more effective parents. We have all been born with the curse of sin, and to acknowledge this helps us understand how bad we need God, and his saving grace given to us in Jesus Christ.

The law of God is hated by believers and unbelievers alike, and we see signs of this in our culture all the time. Modern laws allow abortion, condemn the death penalty for heinous crimes, and encourage couples to live together without marriage. These are a few examples of things that have become accepted that the Bible explicitly opposes. Culture argues the Bible is old-fashioned, written by men lacking scientific knowledge, focused on power, and steeped in superstition. It should not surprise us that the culture rejects God’s law. What should concern us is that Christians often dislike God’s law as much as non-Christians do, cherry-picking comfortable parts while ignoring challenging commands. Again, we see how sin entices, but ultimately enslaves, and we test the truth and authority of the Bible at our own peril.

Is God good? The Bible declares God is the definition of good. So, what happens when the world does not look good? We must trust that God is good. This trust gets us through life much better than doubt. Though we will always struggle with sin, God calls us to live higher, to seek righteousness and holiness.

French writer Alexis de Tocqueville, after visiting America in 1831, said, “I sought for the greatness of the United States in her commodious harbors, her ample rivers, her fertile fields, and boundless forests, and it was not there. I sought for it in her rich mines, her vast world commerce, her public-school system, and in her institutions of higher learning—and it was not there. I looked for it in her democratic Congress and her matchless Constitution—and it was not there. Not until I went into the churches of America and heard her pulpits flame with righteousness did I understand the secret of her genius and power. America is great because America is good, and if America ever ceases to be good, America will cease to be great.”

The Bible has many lists and teachings of what the sins of the flesh are. Paul writes in Galatians 5:19-21, “The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery, idolatry and witchcraft, hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.”

People think of sin as breaking God’s rules or commandments. The Ten Commandments immediately come to mind (Exodus 20:1-17). I like to define sin as doing anything that separates me from God or others. This includes not only the sins of the flesh, but also when we turn blessings, like the family, into idols, and worship them more than God.

Judge Horace Gray of Boston, later a Supreme Court Justice, once told a man escaping conviction on a technicality, “I know that you are guilty and you know it, and I wish you to remember that one day you will stand before a better and wiser Judge, and that there you will be dealt with according to justice and not according to law.” Man’s justice errs, but God’s is perfect. No sin escapes His gaze; punishment, though delayed for repentance, is certain. No technicality evades God’s justice.

How does my daughter’s story illustrate sin’s power in your life? Which cultural law opposing that opposes the Bible’s laws troubles? When the world seems unjust, how do you trust God’s goodness? Let us choose to live our lives against the grain of the culture, and seek to glorify God by living righteous lives. (To learn more about Al Earley or read previous articles, see www.lagrangepres.org. You can purchase my book, My Faith Journal, at Amazon.com, a compilation of 366 articles as a daily devotional. Check out my podcast on YouTube, called “My Faith Journey”).