On a recent trip to a remote area of British Columbia, Canada, I encountered the flames of a fresh wildfire. The smoked oozed up the mountain side and fire engines screamed in the distance. The Royal Canadian Police Force quickly shut the road down; our car was the last to exit. We pulled over a few hundred feet later to watch the fighting unfold.

Twenty firefighters held high-powered hoses, the water helplessly consumed by the blaze. Helicopters with long ropes and large buckets dipped down into the river and dumped load after load of water to no avail. It was hardly a matter of time before huge planes started circling the valley. Spotter planes scoped the area for gigantic cargo planes to squeeze through the mountains and dump reddish, fire-quenching chemicals on the heart of the flames. Only then was the fire suppressed.

In today’s world, the powerful fire of sin is more evident than ever. Seeping its way into everyone’s lives, destroying everything in its path. Sin causes pain, sadness, and anger—all feelings that sit uneasily in the gut. The truth is, we don’t like those unpleasant feelings as they just eat and eat away at our happiness. So, we try to find ways to cope with the damages of sin. Some people try to ignore their problems by overwhelming themselves with work, extreme exercise, or binge eating. Others try to mask their problems with alcohol and drugs. And finally, others try to fix their problem themselves.

Unfortunately, none of these strategies work because they are like spraying water on a massive wildfire—it just feeds the fire. We need something, someone, bigger than all of our problems and sin. Jesus Christ. Jesus came and poured his blood out on the cross so that we can be released from the burden of sin.

Galatians 5:1 states, “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery [sin].”