The Devil Made Me Do It - The Pursuit of Holiness by Jerry Bridges

From The Pursuit of Holiness by Jerry Bridges


...Not only must we guard our minds, we must also guard our emotions.


We need to realize that while God most often appeals to our wills through our reason, but sin and Satan usually appeal to us through our desires.

It is true Satan will attack our reason to confuse and cloud the issues, but that is only to enable him to conquer us through our desires. This is the strategy he employed with Eve. He attacked her reason by questioning God's integrity; but his primary temptation was to her desire.

We read that Eve saw the tree was good for food; it was a delight to the eyes; and desirable for making one wise (Genesis 3:6).

Knowing that Satan attacks primarily through our desires, we should watch over them diligently and bring the Word of God to bear on them constantly.

This is not asceticism, it is spiritual prudence. Each of us should seek to be aware of how sin attacks us through our desires and take preventive actions. This is what Paul urged Timothy to do when he instructed him to "flee the evil desires of youth" (2 Timothy 2:22).



But the guarding of our desires is more than fighting a rear-guard defensive action against temptations from the world, the flesh, and the devil. We must take the offensive.

Paul directs us to set our hearts on things above, that is, on spiritual values (Colossians 3:1). The psalmist encourages us to delight ourselves in the law of God (Psalm 1:2), and it was said prophetically of Jesus, "I delight to do Thy will, O my God" (Psalm 40:8). So we see that we are to set our desires on spiritual things and delight ourselves in the law and will of God.

Normally our reason, wills, and emotions should work in that order, but since we so often reverse the order, giving attention to our desires, we must work at directing those desires toward God's will.

We must guard what enters our minds and what influences our emotions. Solomon said, "Watch over your heart with all diligence, for from it flows the springs of life" (Proverbs 4:23).

David said, "How can a young man keep his way pure? By living according to your word"(Psalm 119:9)

David guarded his way with the Word of God. The Bible speaks to us primarily through our reason, and this why it is so vitally important for our minds to be constantly brought under its influence. There is absolutely no short cut to holiness that bypasses or gives little priority to a consistent intake of the Bible.

From The Pursuit of Holiness, by Jerry Bridges