RUN LIKE A CHAMPION

One of the great lessons I’ve learned over my years as a Christian is that no one is beyond the reach of sin. David was a man after God’s own heart. He had been used mightily over a span of many years. Yet during the time of his greatest success, he succumbed to temptation. This man of God committed adultery and murder. His legacy was forever stained. If David, the great king, could fall into sin, then we must take extreme caution. Perhaps that is why the apostle Paul wrote, “So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall” (1 Corinthians 10:12).
The Bible describes clearly the events that led to David’s downfall. “One evening David got up from his bed and walked around on the roof of the palace. From the roof he saw a woman bathing. The woman was very beautiful and David sent someone to find out about her. The man said, ‘Isn’t this Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam and the wife of Uriah, the Hittite?’ Then David sent messengers to get her. She came to him, and he slept with her. (She had purified herself from her uncleanness.) Then she went back home” (2 Samuel 11:2-4).
God never allows the cover-up of sin. No matter who did it, God will expose the sin. I believe God allowed us to know what happened to David so we can learn how not to fall into similar temptation. The first thing we can learn from David’s sin is that it didn’t begin with committing adultery. It began with what some would call an “innocent look.” But the look wasn’t so innocent.
When David went on the roof of his house, he saw Bathsheba bathing — and was immediately attracted to her beauty. In that moment, he had a decision to make that would affect the rest of his life. He could have chosen to turn his back and walk away, but he didn’t. The implication is that he continued to look at Bathsheba until his heart was filled with lust.
Several decades ago, I pastored in Germany. There was a theater right around the corner from our house. Often the posters outside would display pornographic scenes. I was a jogger, and when I jogged I had to go past that theater. Every time I passed it, I had a decision to make: to look at the poster or to keep my mind fixed on Christ. I made a decision every day as I jogged past the theater to keep my eyes on the ground. As I jogged past the poster I would whisper a prayer: “I choose Jesus. I choose Jesus.” God gave me victory over that temptation, but I had to make a daily choice.
Most people who commit adultery didn’t do so because of a moment of overwhelming temptation. It usually begins with a small look: a wrong choice. The adultery of David began that way — and ended with murder. It’s small, wrong decisions that can lead to some terrible sin that devastates our lives. It’s peeking at pornography or harboring impure thoughts. It’s making the wrong, small decisions that leads to the terrible, big decisions that wreck our lives.
But there was a second thing David did. Instead of confessing his thoughts as sin, he acted on them. He first inquired about Bathsheba. Then he sent for her. And finally he slept with her. There was a process in his sin. At any point he could have repented. But he didn’t.
Sin that isn’t dealt with in our lives will always lead to greater sin. So it’s critical that we confess and repent of sin — the moment the Holy Spirit convicts us of our wrong. I’m sure He will convict us. He will bring an uneasiness into our lives, and we will know we are wrong. The man David sent to inquire about Bathsheba asked David, “Isn’t this Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam and the wife of Uriah, the Hittite?” That was the Spirit of God bringing a check and conviction to David’s heart. But he didn’t listen. If we are to be victorious over sin, we must learn to listen and obey.
My desire is not to have only begun my walk with Christ well, but also to finish well. That will be determined by the small choices I make.