Willing in General, Unwilling in Detail
"The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?" — Jeremiah 17:9
An Observation Worth Sitting With
A great preacher of a previous century made an observation about the human heart that is worth reading slowly, more than once:
"Sinners may strongly wish or desire to be rid of all their sins, and may pray for it, even with agony. They may think they are willing to be perfect, but they deceive themselves. They may feel willing to renounce their sins as a whole, or as an abstract idea, but taken in detail, one by one, there are many sins they are unwilling to give up. They wrestle against sin in general, but cling to it in the detail. When they are truly willing to give up all sin, when they have no will of their own, but merge their own will entirely in the will of God, then their bonds are broken. When they yield absolutely to God's will, then they are filled with the fullness of God."
The Sentence That Explains Everything
"They wrestle against sin in general, but cling to it in the detail."
That is why so many sincere prayers about holiness change nothing.
It is entirely possible — and extremely common — to hate sin as a concept, to pray about it with real tears, and to have no intention whatever of giving up three or four specific things.
The general prayer costs nothing. The itemized one costs everything, which is precisely why we keep it general.
This Is the Crucifixion of Self
That is the literal meaning of the phrase we use so casually.
And note what the observation says about who can accomplish it: we cannot do this work in our own lives.
"The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? I the Lord search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways." (Jeremiah 17:9–10)
You will not identify the details on your own. Your own heart will hide them from you, and it is very good at it.
That is precisely why the fire must be asked for rather than attempted.
The Command We Find Impossible
"Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect." (Matthew 5:48)
Why do we tolerate sin so easily? Yes, we will remain liable to sin while we are in these bodies. But in light of that specific command, why are we so comfortable with a certain level of sin in our lives? Why are we so willing to settle for anything less than its fulfillment?
Because we want to be baptized with the Holy Spirit, and not with fire.
Point to Ponder
The general prayer costs nothing. The itemized one costs everything — which is exactly why we keep it general.
Verse to Remember
"I the Lord search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways." — Jeremiah 17:10
Question to Consider
If I made a numbered list of every sin in my life, which numbers would I fight to keep?
Today's Practice
Move from the general to the detail today. That is the whole exercise.
Take a page. Number it 1 to 15, and do not stop until every line is filled.
Write specific sins, not categories. Not pride — the actual behavior. Not lust — the actual habit. Not anger — the specific person, the specific tone, the specific evening.
Then go down the list and mark each one honestly:
W — I am genuinely willing to give this up today. U — I am not willing. ? — I am not sure, which usually means no.
Now look at the U items. Those are the details you have been clinging to while wrestling against sin in general.
Take each one to God by name:
"Father, I am unwilling to give up ______. I am not going to pretend otherwise. Make me willing. Work in me to will and to do. I cannot generate this."
That prayer is honest and God answers it. The dishonest general prayer He has been declining for years.
Prayer
Father, I have prayed about my sin in general for years and nothing has changed, and now I understand why.
I have wrestled against sin as an idea while holding onto it item by item. I have wept over my sinfulness and had no intention of surrendering three specific things.
Here is the list. I have written it out and I have marked the ones I am unwilling to release. I am not going to hide them behind a general confession any longer.
I cannot make myself willing. Work in me to will and to do of Your good pleasure.
Search my heart Yourself — I cannot do it, and mine is deceitful above all things. Show me what is on the list that I did not have the honesty or the sight to write down.
And where I yield, fill what I empty. In the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
"They wrestle against sin in general, but cling to it in the detail." That one sentence explains a thousand unanswered prayers.