Put to death therefore what is earthly in
you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and
covetousness, which is idolatry. . Colossians 3:5
Do you mortify? Do you make it your daily work? Do not take a day
off from this work; always be killing sin or it will be killing you. We
must strike it as an enemy until it ceases living. Sin is laboring to
bring forth the deeds of the flesh. When sin lets us alone, we may let
sin alone. Sin is active when it seems to be the most quiet, and its
waters are often deep when they are calm. Sin is always acting,
conceiving, seducing and tempting. There is not a day but sin foils or
it foiled. There is no safety but in a constant warfare from sin’s
perplexing rebellion. Sin will not only be striving, acting, rebellion,
troubling, and disquieting if not continually mortified, it will also
bring forth great, cursed, scandalous, and soul-destroying sins (Gal.
5:19-20). When sin rises to tempt, it always seeks to express itself in
the extreme. Every unclean thought would be adultery if it could;
every covetous desire would be oppression; and every thought of unbelief
would be atheism. It is like the grave that is never satisfied. Sin’s
advance blinds the soul from seeing its drift from God. The soul
becomes indifferent to sin as it continues to grow. The growth of sin
has no boundaries but the utter denial of God and opposition to him.
Sin proceeds higher by degrees; it hardens the heart as it advances.
Mortification withers the root and strikes at the head of sin every
hour. The best saints in the world are in danger of a fall if found
negligent in this important duty. Negligence of this duty decays the
inner instead of renewing him. It is our duty to be ‘bringing holiness
to completion in the fear of God’ (2 Cor. 7:1), and every day to be
growing in grace (1 Pet. 2:2), and seeking to be renewed in the inner nature day by day (2 Cor. 4:16).
From "Voices from the Past" Edited By Richard Rushing, page 53
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