The Battle Within

Fighting Sin and Walking in Purity "Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a person commits are outside the body, but whoever sins sexually, sins against their own body."

— 1 Corinthians 6:18 We have spoken much about leadership outside of ourselves — in the home, in the church, in the community. Now we must speak about the hardest leadership of all: the leadership of ourselves.

The war within. The fight for personal holiness.

Brother, you cannot lead others into places where you refuse to go yourself. You cannot call your wife to purity if you are feeding on pornography in secret. You cannot teach your sons self-control if you are mastered by alcohol. You cannot instruct your daughters about modesty if your eyes wander when you walk down the street. The battle within comes before the battle without. Jesus said, "You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye" (Matthew 7:5).

Let us speak honestly about some specific sins that devastate men, especially in our East African context.

First, sexual sin. Sexual immorality has been a stumbling block for men since the Garden of Eden, and our generation has no shortage of it. Adultery is everywhere. Pornography is in every pocket that carries a smartphone. Polygamy, though sometimes dressed in cultural clothing, often feeds the same selfish desires. Young men sleep with girlfriends and call it "just how things are."

Older men keep girls on the side and think their wives do not know. Pastors fall. Deacons fall.

Elders fall. The newspapers are full of scandals.

The Bible's command is simple: "Flee from sexual immorality" (1 Corinthians 6:18). Not debate it. Not flirt with it. Not enjoy the edges of it. Flee. Joseph ran from Potiphar's wife so fast he left his cloak behind (Genesis 39:12). That is the pattern. When the temptation comes, your legs are your best friend.

Why flee? Paul gives the answer: your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 6:19).

You are not your own. You were bought at a price. Christ paid for every cell of your body with His blood. To defile what He has bought is to sin not only against your wife, not only against the woman involved, not only against your children, but against Christ Himself.

Practically, how do we flee? Set guardrails. Do not meet alone with a woman who is not your wife, especially not in private settings. Do not text late at night with a woman who is not your wife. Do not keep pornographic material anywhere — on your phone, on your computer, in your mind.

Install accountability software. Confess to a brother when you have stumbled. Do not romanticize your past sins by telling the old stories. Keep your mind and your eyes under the rule of the Spirit.

"I made a covenant with my eyes not to look lustfully at a young woman," said Job (Job 31:1).

Make that same covenant today.

Second, alcohol. This is a particular plague in East Africa. Home-brewed spirits, local beers, waragi, imported whiskeys — they have destroyed more African homes than almost any other single sin. A man goes out after work "just for one drink." He comes home drunk at midnight. His wife smells it. His children see it. His Sunday sermon dies on his lips.

Scripture does not forbid the moderate use of wine (Psalm 104:15, 1 Timothy 5:23). But it repeatedly condemns drunkenness. "Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit" (Ephesians 5:18). "Wine is a mocker and beer a brawler; whoever is led astray by them is not wise" (Proverbs 20:1). "Woe to those who rise early in the morning to run after their drinks, who stay up late at night till they are inflamed with wine" (Isaiah 5:11).

Let me speak clearly. If alcohol has any grip on you at all — if you need it to relax, if you cannot stop at one, if you spend money on it your family needed for food, if you have ever been drunk in front of your children, if your wife has begged you to stop — then you must put it down completely.

Not reduce. Not manage. Stop. The Bible calls it "not given to drunkenness" as a qualification for leadership (1 Timothy 3:3). Many men in our region cannot lead because they cannot rule their cups.

Third, anger. We have spoken of this in the chapter on gentleness, but it returns here as a deep sin to fight. "In your anger do not sin. Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, and do not give the devil a foothold" (Ephesians 4:26–27). Uncontrolled anger in a man gives the devil a direct doorway into his home. Many of our fathers passed rage down to us like an inheritance. We can break that chain. We can refuse to pass it to our sons.

Fourth, the love of money and corruption. In our culture, bribery is so common it has almost become invisible. Small gifts to get a job done. Larger payments to avoid traffic tickets. Business deals built on kickbacks. Government contracts that line private pockets. Some of this is simply theft from the poor, dressed up in polite language. The Bible is uncompromising: "Whoever loves money never has enough; whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with their income" (Ecclesiastes 5:10). "A greedy man brings ruin to his household" (Proverbs 15:27). "The Lord detests dishonest scales" (Proverbs 11:1).

If you are in a position where you can give or take bribes, there will be a cost to doing it God's way. You may earn less. You may be passed over. You may be laughed at. But "better a little with righteousness than much gain with injustice" (Proverbs 16:8). You cannot serve God and money (Matthew 6:24). Choose today whom you will serve.

Fifth, pride. This is the root of all the others. Pride is the sin that turned an angel into the devil.

Pride says, "I know better than God." Pride says, "The rules do not apply to me." Pride says, "I do not need accountability." Pride says, "I am the head — obey me." Pride is sneaky, and it hides in everything, even our humility. "God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble" (James 4:6). Brother, take note: God opposes the proud. Not just dislikes. Opposes. Actively works against. Do not let pride sit unchallenged in your heart.

How do we fight these sins? Not by trying harder alone. Willpower fails. Resolutions break. The pattern is always the same: repent, confess, run to Christ, be filled with the Spirit, find a brother to walk with you, stay close to the means of grace.

The Gospel is the engine of your holiness. It is not that Jesus saved you by grace and now you must become holy by sweat. No — "he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus" (Philippians 1:6). The same grace that saved you sanctifies you. You fight sin from a place of acceptance, not for acceptance. Your Father already loves you. Your failures do not drive Him away. They drive you to Him.

Consider Augustine of Hippo once more. He struggled with sexual sin for years. He famously prayed, "Lord, grant me chastity — but not yet!" He knew what was right, but he could not walk in it. When he finally broke through, it was not by his own strength. He was weeping in a garden, heard a child's voice saying "take and read," opened the Bible, and read Romans 13:13–14: "Let us behave decently, as in the daytime, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and debauchery, not in dissension and jealousy. Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ." The light flooded in. The chains snapped. The power of the gospel broke through.

Your breakthrough will come the same way. Not by grit, but by grace. Not by hiding, but by bringing your sin into the light. Not by self-righteousness, but by the righteousness of Christ laid hold of by faith. "It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery" (Galatians 5:1).

So fight, brother. Fight every day. Fight with your Bible open. Fight with your knees bent. Fight with brothers beside you. Fight with your wife aware. Fight with the Holy Spirit as your strength.

And know this: in Jesus Christ, you are on the winning side.

A Prayer Holy God, You are light, and in You there is no darkness at all. I confess I have walked in dark places. I have loved sins that You hate. I have fed desires that will destroy me. Have mercy on me, a sinner. Wash me whiter than snow. Break the power of every sin that has bound me — every lust, every bottle, every outburst, every bribe, every secret pride. Crucify my flesh with its passions and desires. Fill me with Your Holy Spirit. Give me brothers to fight beside me. Make me a man who walks in the light, who confesses quickly, who runs to Christ when he falls. And in the end, present me faultless before the presence of Your glory with great joy. In the name of Jesus, who is mighty to save, amen.