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Just Stop It!
- 03/27/08
- 56
You’ve probably seen this video. If not, you’ll want to take six minutes of your life and give it a look. It’s Bob Newhart at his best, really. If you’ve heard his old bits about the discovery of tobacco or the invention of baseball you’ll see that not much has changed over the years. He’s as funny as ever. His stuttering, his naivete—it’s the same as it ever was. It’s brilliant.
In the case of this video, though, every time I see it I can’t help but think he’s just a little bit more than funny—he shares some advice that is surprisingly valuable, even if it is both abrupt and hilarious. I keep the video around and watch it every now and again. I think it’s good for me to do so. Sometimes I think that, as a Christian, I can go looking for cures for sin that are long and involved and a little bit mysterious. I can go to friends or pastors or books for counsel and, like the woman in this video, I’m looking for a cure that I can jot down in a notebook and follow step-by-step. I want something I can do twice a day for ten days and watch the sin magically fall away. I want a five or ten step program. Sometimes such strategies work. Often they do not.
In Mark Driscoll’s book Confessions of a Reformission Rev he shares a late-night conversation with a member of his church. This video reminded me of Driscoll’s tale. The man called him in the middle of the night crying and begging for help because he had committed a certain sexual sin yet again. Though Driscoll’s answer was a tad vulgar I think he essentially gave the guy the right one: Just stop it! His counsel to the man was probably exactly what he needed to hear: shut up, grow up, man up and stop sinning. The guy called his pastor looking for a shoulder to cry on but what he got was a lesson in growing up. I hope it wasn’t lost on him.
Some time ago I spoke to a friend about an ongoing sin in his life and tried to show him that the essence of his problem was this: he hates his sin just a little bit less than he loves it. Sure he wants to stop sinning, but even more he wants to keep sinning. And I think he came to agree. My advice was pretty well what Newhart offered the woman in this video: “Stop it!” Are you fighting sin? I’ll pray for you—really, I will. And I’ll recommend that you memorize some Scriptures, some fighter verses, that will help you battle that sin by bringing to mind the promises of God. But I’ll also challenge you to just stop it and to stop it now. You stop sinning by turning your back on it. You do not sit back and wait for God to change you while you remain in your sin. Rather, you join him in the fight, joining your will with His strength. And together you go to war.
I can memorize Scripture from Genesis to Revelation and I can have the whole world pray for me. But there comes a time when forsaking sin, truly putting it to death, requires a decision of the mind and an act of the will. Sooner or later I need to just stop it. And God can give me the strength to do so.
I am a follower of Jesus Christ, a husband to Aileen and a father to three young children. I worship and serve as a pastor at 
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Comments (56)
You’re right, Ken. We love our sin too much. Many times the sin has been with us so long that it feels like part of ourselves and to give it up would mean losing part of ourself. But then isn’t that what Christ meant when He told us deny self and die to self in order to follow Him?
When talking of sanctification one has to remember that the believe has been justified. That means not only are they declared innocent, but that by grace they are transformed by the grace of God, taken from death to life (Eph 2), freed from bondage to sin (Rom 6), removed from condemnation, and given the Spirit (Rom 8 among others). All of that is grounded in the work of God, but to say that we have absolutely no part in the sanctification that grows out of that justification would be to miss that as believers all this is true. That means there is an obligation and a freedom granted to live for God that was not there before justification. Does this striving earn anything (as was implied earlier), certainly not, for even if we were to do all we were called to do, we are not doing anything meritorious we are but being faithful servants. Even more, the good we do, is good that God prepared in advance for us to do (Eph 2), Yet, we have a responsibility a command even to work out the salvation God has given us with fear and trembling (Phil 2). To, as did Paul, work harder than everyone else (1 Cor 15). But again this is always by the grace of God. I think part of the problem is that this working with the Spirit graciously given to all believers is quite different than the situation would be in terms of justification. In justification we are dead, slaves to sin, followers of Satan. In sanctification we are born again, freed from sin, followers of Christ. That is a HUGE change, all founded in the sole working of God in Christ applied by the Spirit who is now in the believer.
As Jerry Bridges wrote, “No one can attain any degree of holiness without God working in his life, but just as surely no one will attain it without effort on his own part.” Or John Owen speaking of sanctification, “God works in us and with us, not against us or without us.” Or finally J.C. Ryle, “The is no holiness without a warfare.”
So for a true believer both, “There, but for the grace of God, go I.” and “But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.”
Thank you for this post.
Let us not forget that some people are naturally more disciplined and have stronger wills than others. I am speaking now of unregenerate humanity. Some (once they put their mind to something) can successfully accomplish it more easily than others; i.e., sticking to a diet, quitting smoking, training for the olympics. Unregenrate man can be very “strong” in the flesh without the aid of living a life yielded to the spirit of God.
Once we are saved, God does not level the field and make us all the same. For some (and I say few) once they decide to “just stop it”, they can just stop it in their own strength. Those of us who reflect back on our lives, know who we were and what we were capable of in terms of behavior modification (without Christ) and who we are and what we are capable of because of Christ.
Let us keep that in mind when “counseling” others. God gets much more Glory when a “naturally” less disciplined or “weaker” brother gains victory over a particular sin after years of struggling and defeat because everyone knows without a doubt where the credit and praise belongs. Those of us who have always found it relatively easy to “just stop something” once we put our minds to it—tend to praise the Lord a lot less for the victory! Let us be honest - we all know who we are. Keeping that in mind will help all of us have compassion for others and discern how to best counsel them.
In light of Geerhardus Vos’ point on the New Testament relationship between the indicative and the imperative, would it be more helpful to say, “Therefore, stop it!”? Much the same way that Paul turns his arguments between what it means for the believer to be “in Christ” and what it means to live out that reality.
Great video! I, too, recommend Powlison’s reflections linked above.
First, let me say this skit is hysterical. My teenage daughter and one of her friends run these lines like others run “Who’s on First” by Abbot and Costello.
Secondly, may I just point out how human we really are? As humans, we take something as easy as “Stop It” and almost immediately add something to it. As the post went on, and the comments went on, “Stop it” became “JUST stop it”. And that word, JUST, changes the entire meaning of the sentence! Just implies that you “simply” stop. I’m pretty sure there cannot be much argument that sin is hard to “just” stop.
I can look at sin and say “Stop it.” I can encourage others to “Stop it.”, because I can help them [and myself] identify what steps need to be taken. But to tell someone - or myself - to “Just stop it” is to set myself up to fail.
1 Cor. 10:13 says that God will provide a way for escape so you will be able to endure. Now I am not a Greek scholar so I cannot state with assured authority, but I have always believed this to indicate that there would need to be action for the escape; that the escape would not just push me into it or open up right before me. That is to say there would be steps needed to stop it. The step may be nothing less than to pray for release - but even that is a step.
I’m “just” saying…..