No Fear: The Danger of Sin in Your Heart

What are you afraid of? What keeps you awake at night or surges your veins with adrenaline?

A quick internet search of the most common phobias yields a CRAZY long list of fears so common they have their own names. A few examples:

• Ophidiophobia: fear of snakes
• Acrophobia: fear of heights
• Atychiphobia: fear of failure.
• Thanatophobia: fear of death.
• Aerophobia: fear of flying
• Cynophobia: fear of dogs
• Astraphobia: fear of thunder and lightning
• Mysophobia: fear of germs, dirt, and other contaminants
• Vehophobia: fear of driving.

See one on the list that fits you? (Vehophobia, right here. Particularly in large cities.) Many of our fears don’t come with fancy names, but they’re no less real. Fears about the future and failure. Fears about rejection and body image. Fears surrounding family tumult, mental health, political unrest, threats from overseas countries …

What about fear of sin? How many of us have ever been afraid, not of other people’s sins, but of our own? It’s time to consider something you truly should fear: the danger of sin in your heart.

Fear Only What is Truly Dangerous

While I don’t wish to undermine any of your fears—and I do hope you realize you can lay all of the above to rest at God’s feet (check out Why You Can Trust God Instead of Freaking Out, for starters)—allow me to point out a glaring omission from our list of phobias. I say glaring because when you pause to think about it, only one monster need invoke genuine fear, and for many of us, it slips right under the radar.

It’s the presence of unchecked sin.

I think I caught a few eye rolls there. Great, another Christian preaching about sin. Blah, blah, blah. Others of you might be nodding as your mind immediately recalls your current struggle with a certain temptation. You might feel guilt or shame, maybe even anger toward yourself for letting it in. But fear? 

Why should I be afraid of my own sinful heart?

The Danger of Sin

Sin Entangles

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus …”

Hebrews 12:1

If you don’t understand this concept, try sticking your hand into a bag of potato chips and taking just one. Not one handful, but one single chip. Now walk away. Strangely impossible, isn’t it? Sin works the same way. Once you have one, you can’t help but have two, then a handful, then a whole bag of whatever it is you’ve caved to. One stolen lipstick becomes two. One swear word becomes many. Sin won’t let you have just one.

Often, one of the first consequences of sin is now you’re trapped in it.

Sin Escalates

“Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery.”

Ephesians 5:88

I know what some of you are thinking right now. I don’t drink, so I’m good. Next verse! Hold your horses. This verse serves as a tried and true formula for how sin escalates: If I engage in Sin A, that will lead to Sin B. 

If I cheat on one homework assignment, that will lead to … cheating on a college admissions essay.

If I watch steamy romance movies, that will lead to … lustful fantasies that consume my mind.

If I kiss my boyfriend in the dark living room when my parents aren’t home, that will lead to … 

You get my drift. Fill in the blanks with whatever sin you can think of, but it’s true. As soon as you allow one sin into your life, you start to think it’s not so bad and push the limits to do more. Escalation is another of those sneaky consequences of sin.

Which leads to the next point.

Sin Controls 

“Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. The mind governed by the flesh is death …”

Romans 8:5-6

With a heart wrapped up in sin, your focus remains hostage to what your flesh wants instead of how to serve God and others. Once you’ve become entangled in sin, it’s catastrophically difficult to refrain from thinking about when, where, and how you’ll get your next “fix.” Drugs and alcohol are only two of the world’s many addictions. Power, money, sex, success, adrenaline … The list has no end.

The danger of sin is in its control over you.

Sin Kills

“For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live.”

Romans 8:13

You’ve seen how sin pulls you in and grows like a cancer until it controls your heart and mind. And like a cancer that goes unchecked, only one end can come of it. I’m not speaking in the strictly physical sense, either. If all sin could do was kill your physical body, there’d be less to worry about. See the next point.

​​Sin Separates

“For of this you can be sure: No immoral, impure or greedy person—such a person is an idolater—has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.”

Ephesians 5:5

The climactic consequence of sin is that it tears you away from God. Suddenly you find yourself on one side of a wide chasm with God on the other. Yes, sin will do that, even to a believer. Especially to a believer. Satan loves to prey on believers.

We have met the enemy, and it is in us. “The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?” (Jeremiah 17:9)

Thanks be to Jesus!

Now that you’re thoroughly terrified, what next? It won’t do to lock the doors and pull the blankets over your head to escape this one. Listen to what Paul said when he recognized his enemy:

“What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!” Romans 7:24-25

Go back to the cross. Jesus didn’t hang there to put on a blockbuster show for the world. He hung there so YOU could be free from the putrid, caustic, sticky sin that clings to your heart. He gives you the strength to guard your heart, fight back, and rise above the slime. 

Never let this message of salvation get shuffled to the bottom of your heart like junk mail in a stack on the table. Keep it in front of you at all times. Focus on it daily. Live it. Be holy. (See 1 Peter 1:13-16.)

No Fear

When you recognize the real enemy in your life, you might find that your other fears fade away. Have no fear of that which cannot touch your soul. Keep your focus on Jesus.

“Though the wicked bind me with ropes, I will not forget your law.”

Psalm 119:61

Guard Your Heart From Sin: Resources For Christian Teens

Just knowing the danger of sin in your heart isn’t always enough to break the habit. Check out these resources for practical advice on how to shake free from that which has you ensnared:

• How to Overcome Habitual Sin: Why Persistence Matters
• Your Deepest Desires: The Truth About Habitual Sin
• What to do When You Struggle With Temptation
• 8 Bible Passages to Stop Sin In Its Tracks
• How to Develop Self-Control as a Teen: Grow This Tree
• Feeling Left Out? Remember This When Sin Looks Attractive
• The Battle Against Lust and How to Kill it