F.B. Meyer was an evangelist and crusader against sin who was born in England in the mid-1800s. Meyer taught that only the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives can keep us from sinning. To drive home his point, he used the following illustration.

Some years ago I lived in a house where the underground kitchen was so damp that when we failed to keep a vigorous fire, the floor was encrusted with so much mold that the maid could fill her dustpan with it; but when the fire was burning bright and warm, the bricks and walls were kept perfectly dry, There was always the latent tendency to produce dampness; but it was kept in abeyance by the heat, so it could not do as it otherwise would.

 

He went on to make the application to our lives: “So when the Holy Ghost, as fire, works mightily within the heart, the tendencies to sin are. . . thwarted.”[1]

The Bible clearly teaches that when we become believers in Jesus Christ, confessing Him as our Savior, the Holy Spirit comes to live in us. This is taught in Romans 8:9 (NKJV): ^“But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His.” That means that none of us has to give in to sin. We can call upon the Holy Spirit to fill us with Himself and burn brightly in our lives.

If you are trusting Christ as your Savior, remember that the Holy Spirit has made His home in you. You can ask Him to control your life, and He will give you victory over that nagging sin that wants to drag you down.

[1] F. B. Meyer, The Present Tenses of the Blessed Life (Harrisburg, PA: Christian Publications, Inc., reprint 1965), 75.