“If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” (John 8:31-32). There are demons in this world, and there are people who “have a demon,” just as it happened in Jesus’ time.
There is much we don’t know about the spiritual realm and the battles that take place there. But are we owning the sin that is ours to own?
What Is Sin?
Sin is doing what God has expressly told us not to and failing to do what he has told us to do. Making a mistake is not sinning unless a sin is a catalyst for error.
If I do my homework and still fail the math test, I haven’t sinned. I’ve made math mistakes. If I haven’t done my homework but watched TV instead, and then I failed the test, my sin was sloth.
Behavior is only part of the problem. If I’m self-involved, I take advantage of my parents’ kindness by not doing homework or the chores they allowed me to forget about during exam week.
I don’t care about how that makes my parents feel. But sin can be more subtle than sloth: self-reliance, for example, or coping measures by which we turn to anything or anyone besides God.
Jesus modeled good behavior emanating from a tender heart toward his Father and towards others. He exemplified obedience with joy and total trust in the Father to save him, to be enough. Sin contributes to the “why” of our actions and inactions.
Why did Jesus choose to do the right thing? Because he loved God and his instructions, his wisdom. “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:6-7).
This reality is possible under any circumstances for the one who is in Christ. Peace. Rest. Wholeness. A restored relationship with God through his Son.
What Is a Demon?
Thomas Sappington wrote an essay about demonic possession, explaining that a demon might also be referred to as an “unclean spirit” and could be said to inhabit a person (possess or own that individual), or might exert influence on that person’s life externally.
For example, the spirit might attack a person in some way but not possess that individual. In Acts 16, a female slave, inhabited by a “spirit of divination [who] brought her owners much gain by fortune-telling,” troubled Paul and his companions for several days.
Paul eventually became so annoyed that he called out the spirit. “‘I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.’ And it came out that very hour” (vv.16-18). The spirit did not possess Paul; it singled him out for harassment.
An evil spirit or demon seeks to destroy its host, such as the man among the tombs who tore out of his chains and cut himself on rocks.
The demon’s strength overcame the instinct for self-preservation — who knows what damage was caused to his body before Christ cast the spirit away? (Mark 5:1-13).
Sappington argues that demons are not always obvious; they do not always cause such dramatic problems. But demons are subdued by Jesus’ name.
Sin Versus Demon Possession
Many will say that they succumb to the demon drink, the demon drug, the demon sex, etc. Is it possible that addiction is actually a form of possession? Paul wrote, “What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God” (2 Corinthians 6:16).
Christians cannot be possessed by demons. The Holy Spirit and an evil spirit will not cohabitate. The Holy Spirit is more powerful and, as one with the Father, cannot abide sin. A Christian, however, might suffer externally as Paul suffered.
As for addiction, this takes many forms, some of them socially acceptable. “Every descent into addiction is unique. There are thousands of ways to fall into this bondage,” Ed Welch has commented.
Welch agrees that a certain predisposition towards addiction is possible, but he argues that the world is highly influential.
There are circumstances that foster addiction: “an emphasis on individual freedom and personal indulgence, and the most common addictive substances must be readily available.
Leisure time is a plus. In these settings, addictions will flourish and multiply,” although “times of uncertainty and distress provide the ideal heat.” When we need relief, the human heart turns to “creation rather than the creator.”
There are good things in this world, which become ultimate things, even though (as Welch reminds us) the Bible says that the Lord is our refuge and our strength (Psalm 46).
I’m not saying it’s easy to submit to the Lord here; that overcoming addiction to a substance or behavior is smooth or simple. Addicts will so often fall off the wagon over and over, but they can also come back to the Lord over and over.
Compassion is important and an honest realization that, at some level, we are all addicted to something.
Even the idea of being a top athlete, the best mother, or the most godly Christian person can become an idol. This is just a result of human longing to please people, to be seen, to be admired, or to be powerful.
The Detriment of Denial
But no matter how understandable the problem is, succumbing to addiction for relief and comfort rather than turning to God for relief, comfort, for significance and giving up those ungodly desires is a choice to be made.
Our sin cannot overtake our salvation if we keep confessing, hating our sin, asking to be changed, and truly seeking transformation: that’s repentance. For some, this will be a lifelong struggle, and the Lord will always be there.
His love doesn’t run out, and neither does our hope and trust in Jesus’ victory over the flesh. Each of us has to decide how we will respond to spiritual warfare: put on the armor of Ephesians 6 or submit to socially acceptable but insidiously minor sins like self-sufficiency.
We’re lying to ourselves if we pretend we aren’t responsible; someone else made us do it; a demon was to blame. The flesh is what leads us into sin, and that is not supernatural. We can bury our heads in the sand and pretend, but God sees.
We miss an opportunity and fall short of a command. We are instructed to turn away from our sin — confess and repent. Paul wrote, “I rejoice, not because you were grieved, but because you were grieved into repenting. For you felt a godly grief, so that you suffered no loss through us” (2 Corinthians 7:9).
In John 4, Jesus led the woman at the well into a confession. In John 8, he told the adulteress to go “and sin no more” (v.11). We miss the chance to draw near to God and experience his forgiveness when we deny that we are responsible for our sin.
We also miss the chance to be healed. Whenever someone was healed by God, that person asked to be healed. Jesus sometimes invited them to ask (John 5:6), but they still had to ask. It was always the person’s choice.
The Joy of Choosing Christ
Jesus said we cannot have two masters (Matthew 6:24). If we love Jesus, He is our master. The other — the stronghold of sin in our life — can exert influence and power, but it is not our master.
No matter how much pain that sin causes, it cannot overcome the saving work of Jesus Christ in the life of a believer, even if that believer is caught up in a cycle of addiction or some other sin issue that is a stronghold in a person’s life.
Perhaps we could see that most vulnerable state — that of a desperate addict — as the deepest kind of weakness. Since we must be weak in order to experience the true power of Christ (2 Corinthians 12:9), this is an opportunity to know his closeness most powerfully.
No demon can get in the way of that, only the pride that says, “but I must be strong! I must overcome my problem, so I’ll be worthy of God.”
That idea doesn’t come from the Lord; maybe it comes from Satan: but we still have the choice of whose voice we listen to. And what did Jesus say? “Come to me, all who are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28).
For further reading:
How Can We Escape a Trap from the Devil?
What Is the Origin of ‘Idle Hands Are the Devil’s Workshop’?
Why Do Some People Say ‘The Devil Made Me Do It'?
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