Is the Christian life mainly about trying not to sin?

Psalm 37:4 Delight yourself in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart.

This verse is life changing if we can fully grasp it. I believe and have even preached that the Christian life is about surrender. This is true But it is only half of the battle. Just recently I preached a sermon about surrender and I wish I could go back and add an addendum to my sermon because it falls short.

Many Christians believe that the Christian life is about surrender and trying not to sin. We try and empty ourselves of our sinful nature.

We see verses where Jesus says to deny ourselves and take up our cross and this is what we do, or try to do.

I have heard stories of people going to get gas at the station in a hurry and they pull up to the pump in a car that uses gas and by mistake they fill up their tank with diesel fuel. Now they have to empty the tank of the bad fuel.

This is how we live the Christian life, just get the bad stuff out on our own.

I think you can see where this gas tank illustration is headed. Just because we empty the tank of the bad fuel the car still will not run. We have to fill tank back up with good fuel, the right fuel.

The Christian life is no different. If we just empty ourselves and put nothing in we leave an empty tank.

Jesus did not stop with deny yourself and take up your cross.

Matthew 16:24 Then Jesus told his disciples, "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.

He said follow me. Be consumed with me.

The Christian life is not just an emptying. It is filling with the right fuel.

Psalm 37:4 Delight yourself in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart.

True faith in Jesus is about delighting in Him not just trying not to sin. When we empty ourselves we have to fill ourselves with the right things.

We need to not just get rid of the bad fuel but fill our tanks with good fuel.

Romans 12:1 I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.

We offer ourselves as a living sacrifice, one that worships. A sacrifice or emptying that leads to delighting or worshipping the Lord.

Here is my practical tip for this idea. We need to not fill our minds and our hearts with the things of the world or it will not matter how many times we empty ourselves. We must turn The tv off and sit down and spend time in God’s word and in prayer. We need to sing and play worship music and remember what God has done for us. We need to delight ourselves in the Lord.

If we fill ourselves up with the right things the bad things will be pushed out of the way.

Fill it up, please.