Bind Sin to Destroy Sin

A Christian’s duty is to love God more than anything else in creation, but especially more than we love ourselves. When we sin, we turn away from God and toward ourselves. When we sin, we serve something other than God, but we must destroy sin.

By ‘definition’, sin means to do something (anything really) that is against the will of God. I often write about sin being equal in sinfulness but not equal in danger. Some sins ‘run deeper’ in our heart and are more difficult to destroy. Some sins are so strong they hold us captive.

In today’s Gospel lesson we hear the crowd accusing Christ of casting out demons by the power of the demons. His response is where I want to focus today’s blog. Christ calls us “bind the strong man” before it plunders our soul.

At that time, Jesus came to a home, and the crowd came together again, so that they could not even eat. And when his family heard it, they went out to seize him, for people were saying, “He is beside himself.” And the scribes who came down from Jerusalem said, “He is possessed by Beelzebul, and by the prince of demons he casts out the demons.” And he called them to him, and said to them in parables, “How can Satan cast out Satan? If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand. And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand, but is coming to an end. But no one can enter a strong man’s house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man; then indeed he may plunder his house.”

Mark 3.20-27

Yes, some sin is so strong that we feel hopeless against it. I call this our ‘addiction to sin’ as human beings. Just like addiction to alcohol or other drugs, our addiction drives our choices. Our addiction alters our logic. Like other addictions, we want to stop but can’t find power.

When sin holds our soul captive, it demands loyalty and action. Think of the old cartoon image of the devil on one shoulder and an angel on the other. We are in a constant battle between the two, and sin is the weapon. With every sin the devil wins the battle.

The devil might win the battle, but God will win the war. As God’s soldiers we must work to overpower sin, binding and silencing the devil, so that we turn our attention back toward God. Don’t be mistaken, Sin is strong because it is relentless against us. It never takes a break.

Our war against sin is where the life of the Church comes in. The spiritual disciplines of the Church and the sacramental life of the Church are our weapons in this war. If we want to bind sin then we must pray, we must fast, we must care for the poor, and we must love God.

Here’s the deal. If we don’t fight against sin, then the devil holds us captive. If we don’t’ fight sin, then every little sin tightens the rope around our soul. If we don’t fight sin, we don’t love God as we should. How do we fight sin?

See a sin, tie it up. Don’t let sin out. Don’t let anger, jealousy, greed, pride, slander, etc. get the best of you. Learn to tie it up through prayer and fasting. Remember the story of the man possessed by demons? “This kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting.” (Matthew 17.21)

Christ understands the battle. He knows our weakness and is with us to assist, but He can’t help us if we don’t fight. We must bind sin and destroy it. Then we can turn our attention back toward God. Then God can reach down and purify our hearts. It starts with the fight against sin.