Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life. – Proverbs 4:23, KJV

There have been more movies released than I care to count that have the following plot: stop a deadly disease from spreading before it destroys the world. In such movies, the protagonists scramble feverishly to isolate and to eradicate the cause of the disease before it can infect billions. If they fail, they know that humanity will suffer terribly, even unto extinction.

The key component of such movie plots is this: stop the disease at its source. This is the same attitude we should have when dealing with the greatest disease facing mankind: sin. The cure for sin is Christ. Only He alone can save us from sin’s power and penalty. But even after salvation, we must guard against relapses into sin, and we can do so only by stopping sin at its source: the heart.

Long before the thief steals, he approves of the idea of stealing in his heart. Long before the adulterer destroys his family, he gives place to the idea of adultery in his heart. Long before the drunkard takes his next drink, he approves of the act of drinking in his heart. Outward sin is always preceded by inward sin, and the only way we sin with our bodies is by first sinning with our hearts. Christ illustrated this truth in Matthew 5:28 (KJV):

But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.

We must attack the thought of sin when it arises in our hearts. If we do not, then the thought will germinate as we give place to it, eventually manifesting itself in our outward behavior. Of course, we have no more power to overcome our sinful desires now than we did before Christ saved us. That is why we must attack inward sin not by will power but by calling on God to overcome the desires for us. When we detect evil arising in our hearts, our first reaction should be to call on Christ to squash the inward sin before it becomes outward sin. When we pray so sincerely, desiring His holiness more than the pleasures of sin, He will absolutely answer our prayers, thereby enabling us to obey the command of Proverbs 4:23.

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