The Match

My response to Chapter 2 of Overcoming Sin and Temptation by John Owen.  I have always appreciated the metaphors that Paul uses in 1 Corinthians 9:26-27, a text to which Owen refers in this chapter.  I was moved by Owen's assertion that sin, like the grave, is never satisfied:  “Sin aims always at the utmost, every time it rises up to tempt or entice, might it have its own course, it would go out to the utmost sin in that kind.  Every unclean thought or glance would be adultery if it could; every covetous desire would be oppression, every thought of unbelief would be atheism, might it grow to its head.”

The Match

The horseleech has two daughters that are never satisfied:

Like them, the sin within your heart will no way be denied.

Every idle word you say would be a blazing fire,

Every envious glance you cast would murder to acquire.

Every lustful thought you think would crawl into one’s bed,

The hate you hide within your heart would have your neighbor dead.

The clenching of your stubborn jaw would be a bloody coup,

Your thoughtless use of God’s own name would pierce the Savior through.

Your fixation – with this or that – wants you before it prone.

Every “little” sin, at heart, puts you on Yahweh’s throne.

And until your body breathes its last, sin will seek your death.

So you must jab this challenger with every single breath.

Do not beat at empty air if you desire to live –

Aim each blow right at your foe, who’s crying, “Give, give, give!”

- Sarah Mowery