Abstain from sinful desires,
which wage war against your soul.
—1 Peter 2:11
Robert Mounce labeled Peter “an ethical realist”—meaning the apostle was aware that committed Christians still find the desires of the old nature seductive.
In Romans 7, Paul confesses that “Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me,” and that while he spiritually delighted in God’s law, there were conflicting desires “waging war” in his fleshly nature.
Part of Satan’s strategy is to convince us that God wants to prohibit all things in life that are pleasant and fun. Thus, the caricature of God as a “celestial Scrooge” who, peering over the balcony of heaven and spotting a Christian having fun, yells, “Now cut that out!”
The only things God prohibits are those things that persistently pursued produce heartache and sorrow.
Win this war.