Post by Cindy on Oct 16, 2015 12:52:03 GMT -5
Often when we’re first saved, we think of sin as being when we break one of the 10 commandments. We rarely look any deeper then the bare literal reading of them. While that is certainly true, sin is much more then that. The Bible defines sin for us in a number of ways.
“and everything that does not come from faith is sin.” (Romans 14:23)
“The schemes of folly are sin, and men detest a mocker.” (Proverbs 24:9)
“Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn’t do it, sins.” (James 4:17)
“All wrongdoing is sin, and there is sin that does not lead to death.” (1 John 5:17)
“Everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is lawlessness.” (1 John 3:4)
“For rebellion is like the sin of divination, and arrogance like the evil of idolatry.” (1 Samuel 15:23)
“Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For everything in the world—the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does—comes not from the Father but from the world.” (1 John 2:15–16)
“Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace;” (Romans 8:5–6)
This last scripture shows that the root of sin is selfishness and rebellion for we tend to want “our wills” instead of God’s Will in our life – unless of course God’s Will happens to coincide with our own. In fact, all the scriptures show that the root of sin in our lives is selfishness, pride and rebellion; just like what caused Satan to sin. Why do I include pride? Because there’s no better indication of pride then when we say we won’t follow God, and think we know better? The scripture defining sin that we tend to have the most problems with is “and everything that does not come from faith is sin.” (Romans 14:23) and that means that 99% of our life or more is spent in sin, even after we’re saved. This explains why a person who lives a very good life but hasn’t been saved, will still go to Hell, because they have not done any of those good things for the right reason. They’ve done them to be “good” or “kind”, or the kind of person they think is right. They’ve done them because it makes them feel good to do those things, or to please another person, and any number of other reasons. But they do not do them to bring glory to God, or because they love God and want to please Him. And that is sin. Remember, Hebrews tells us “And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.” (Hebrews 11:6)
Further, the Bible tells us that relying on the Law instead of Faith in Christ is a sin: “All who rely on observing the law are under a curse, for it is written: “Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law.” Clearly no one is justified before God by the law, because, “The righteous will live by faith.” The law is not based on faith; on the contrary, “The man who does these things will live by them.”” (Galatians 3:10–12) Of course, all through the bible we’re told that relying on ourselves or any other person, place, situation or thing besides God is a sin, and that again is something we tend to do a lot of.
As I began learning about what sin really was, I became aware that I often sinned without even realizing it. That was a horrible thought to me because I wanted to please the Lord, and how could I do that if I didn’t know when I was sinning? So, I did the only thing I knew to do at that time; I prayed and asked the Lord to show me when I sinned so I could be aware of it and repent of it. I asked Him to teach me more about it as well. True to His Word, the Lord did show me my sins. He never dumped them on me all at once, bless His heart. Instead, He would show me one and once I got that one under control, He would point out another. I wish I could say we were all done with those lessons, but even though it’s been many years, I still pray daily for Him to make me aware of my sins, and He still does so I can repent and know I’ve been forgiven yet again.
The more I learned about sin, the more horrible I realized it was. It spreads quickly and constantly if not quickly stopped. It’s contagious and affects others. It loves darkness, and loves to isolate us, causing us to dwell on it, and keep it secret or at least try to. It defiles us and reaches out tendrils to defile those closest to us as well. Just like the saying that one lie always leads to another, so one little sin always leads to another and another and so it multiplies, making us sick in body, mind and spirit. It puts up a barrier between us and God until we confess and repent of it and are cleansed and forgiven. One of the things that surprised me the most was learning that another way the bible defines sin is spiritual adultery and idolatry. Like most of us, I never viewed myself as an idolater. I thought that was at least one sin that I didn’t have to worry about. The Bible showed me differently though. When our trust or faith is in anything or anyone other then God, that’s idolatry. When we put anyone or anything ahead of God in our lives, that too is idolatry. I know that we’d all instantly say we’d never do that. So did I, but I found to my shame that my life showed that I actually did. Whenever I decided that I had to do something else instead of spending time with the Lord in His Word that day, it was idolatry. Sure, I had to go to work and do all those things, but if the Lord was really first in my heart, I would have made time for Him and that would have been my first priority. Sadly it often isn’t a priority for many of us at all. Having faith or trust in someone or something as well as God is also idolatry. God isn’t interested in sharing us with anyone or anything else. The bible calls this being double minded. I noticed this in my life first when I realized that when I got sick the first thing I thought of was going to the doctor, not God. Normally, I didn’t even think about God when I got sick. Instead I quite literally trusted my doctor to give me the right antibiotics that would make me well. God has no problem with us going to doctors, or taking medicines, but He does want to be first in everything in our hearts. I discovered that I needed to include Him in literally everything I thought and did in my life.
Eventually I made up a list to help me remember what kind of things were sins to better avoid them whenever possible. I’ve found the list to be a big help to me because it shows me in no uncertain terms just what the Lord has forgiven me for. You know I’m sure, that when we were saved, we were each forgiven a great deal – more then we will probably ever totally realize here on earth. We were forgiven for ALL our sins, past, present and future at the moment of our salvation. That amazed and thrilled me when I was first saved, but now that I understand more about sin, it amazes me even more. Knowing that I can confess my current sins and be forgiven every day is such a big relief, for we can’t go a day without sinning as long as we’re in this body. Having this list has made me appreciate what the Lord did and does for me every day so much more. He forgives my sins, and cleanses me from all guilt. (Hebrews 10:22)
I’ll include a copy of my list for those who are interested. Believe me, it does not list every single possible sin, just those I’ve thought of so far. There are many, many more, but this will give anyone a pretty good idea of just how much we’ve been forgiven of and will be forgiven of. You'll notice that some are mentioned in more then one way to get the idea across better. We need to keep in mind too that our forgiveness cost God a great deal. It most certainly didn’t come free for Him. He paid a very dear price for us and our sin. Knowing this, and seeing what He paid for, will help remind us that we do not belong to ourselves any longer, but to Him who paid for our sin with His blood: our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
Before sharing this list, which are all found in scripture, I want to remind us that God does not beat us up over our sins. He does not treat us as our sins deserve. He “forgets” our sins once we are forgiven, never to bring them up to us, to Himself or others again. He doesn’t hold them over our heads and remind us of them. As far as He is concerned, they are as if they never happened. We tend to think that’s great, but what about when we keep doing the same thing over and over again? If we have sincerely repented of it each time, meaning we don’t plan on doing it again; meaning we really don’t want to repeat it, then the simple answer is that it is forgiven every single time and when we ask, “what about all those other times”, His reply is, “what other times”? Satan is our adversary. He’s the one who’s always accusing us, to God and to ourselves, because he knows he can often get to us that way. Don’t let him. When that happens, remind yourself that Jesus paid the price for that sin and it is forever forgiven and you are completely cleansed of it. Remind yourself that God not only forgives our sins, but also cleanses our consciences from those sins. “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus,” (Romans 8:1)
SINS TO WATCH OUT FOR:
Pride: ability pride; verbal or bragging pride;
Self righteousness,
Self savior; trying to save myself or others usually by attempting to manipulate people or situations instead of trusting Jesus to take care of the situation.
Self centered instead of God centered;
Self justification (vindicating myself);
Self reliant;
Self indulgent;
Self serving;
Self seeking;
Self-interest-putting myself, my needs & wants, before others;
Self sufficiency,
Self realization—my claim to my right to myself, and/or to rule my own life; self-realization— I am my own god;
Self pity;
Selfishness;
Stubbornness;
Not loving sacrificially;
Putting your own desires or needs before another's
Putting others down;
Slandering someone;
Gossiping,
Keeping a list of how I've been wronged in my mind (or even on paper!)- in other words, not "forgetting" the way God forgets our sins. I need to remember to take those thoughts captive
Unforgivness;
Being vengeful or thinking vengeful thoughts;
Holding a grudge;
Running away from someone instead of forgiving and/or being forgiven and patching up the problem.
Not seeking forgiveness from those I've wronged or hurt;
Bringing up another persons sin again after you've forgiven them;
Not seeking the person to forgive them or be forgiven by them immediately, waiting, or putting it off instead, or expecting them to come to you.
Not being willing to be reconciled to someone who has hurt you or who you have hurt.
Being resentful;
Bitterness;
Not responding to others in love when upset or angry;
Hateful thoughts toward others or self;
Being unwilling to admit my sin against someone else and against God;
Being rude or disrespectful;
Ingratitude;
conceit;
Criticism;
Being judgmental,
Complaining, grumbling;
Discontent;
Jealousy; envy;
Greed; wanting more;
Living beyond my means;
Not paying my debts on time;
Not giving toward the Kingdom with my money, time, and material possessions etc;
Not being a good steward of the money/things God's given me;
Not being content with what I have;
Helping but only "some" instead of sacrificially as He tells us to;
Manipulating people/situations to get my way,
Arrogance;
Worry;
Being fearful;
Depression;
Vanity;
Abortion;
Murder; (remember, thinking hateful thoughts is the same as murder Matthew 5:21–22)
Swearing, cursing,
Crude jokes, words, or behavior; (even in teasing);
Lying;
impatient;
Worldliness ;
Boasting;
Looking for the bad in others instead of the good;
Not submitting to my husband;
Not submitting to those in authority;
Not obeying immediately;
Not obeying the laws of our country including the speed limit;
Being lazy;
Not taking my "bad" thoughts captive and replacing them with His Truth;
Causing another to sin or stumble or to continue in sin by something I've done or said or not done or said, even if it wasn't a sin for me;
Immodest in word, deed, or dress;
Sexual sins of thought, word or deed;
Viewing pornography of any kind;
Blaming God;
Any way of thinking/speaking as though He doesn't have the right to do whatever He wants to with me and my life;
Dabbling in the occult, witchcraft, new age, astrology, horoscopes, eastern religions etc.;
Not speaking the Truth in love when a loved one is living in sin;
Not witnessing when the opportunity is there;
Not learning to defend the faith and rightly divide God's Word;
Forgetting God's my provision and not my job or disability check
Forgetting that God gave me my talents, intellect etc and so thinking that “I” did something good on my own; I've nothing to brag about that He didn't give me;
Not taking care of my family; (emotionally, physically, materially, and spiritually)
Doing anything that others might think is a sin even if it's not;
Being doubleminded: trusting/not trusting; believing/doubting; accepting His love/pushing Him away....etc.
Not studying the Bible every day with Him;
Not praying; not staying in constant communion with Him;
Not reflecting on His Word during the day;
Putting anything or anyone including self before God and His Word;
Not seeking the Lord first
Not trusting the Lord;
Not remembering all He's done for me;
Not seeing Him in His creation;
Rebellion;
Idolatry;
Unbelief that characterizes all sin;
Not hating a sin.
“and everything that does not come from faith is sin.” (Romans 14:23)
“The schemes of folly are sin, and men detest a mocker.” (Proverbs 24:9)
“Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn’t do it, sins.” (James 4:17)
“All wrongdoing is sin, and there is sin that does not lead to death.” (1 John 5:17)
“Everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is lawlessness.” (1 John 3:4)
“For rebellion is like the sin of divination, and arrogance like the evil of idolatry.” (1 Samuel 15:23)
“Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For everything in the world—the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does—comes not from the Father but from the world.” (1 John 2:15–16)
“Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace;” (Romans 8:5–6)
This last scripture shows that the root of sin is selfishness and rebellion for we tend to want “our wills” instead of God’s Will in our life – unless of course God’s Will happens to coincide with our own. In fact, all the scriptures show that the root of sin in our lives is selfishness, pride and rebellion; just like what caused Satan to sin. Why do I include pride? Because there’s no better indication of pride then when we say we won’t follow God, and think we know better? The scripture defining sin that we tend to have the most problems with is “and everything that does not come from faith is sin.” (Romans 14:23) and that means that 99% of our life or more is spent in sin, even after we’re saved. This explains why a person who lives a very good life but hasn’t been saved, will still go to Hell, because they have not done any of those good things for the right reason. They’ve done them to be “good” or “kind”, or the kind of person they think is right. They’ve done them because it makes them feel good to do those things, or to please another person, and any number of other reasons. But they do not do them to bring glory to God, or because they love God and want to please Him. And that is sin. Remember, Hebrews tells us “And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.” (Hebrews 11:6)
Further, the Bible tells us that relying on the Law instead of Faith in Christ is a sin: “All who rely on observing the law are under a curse, for it is written: “Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law.” Clearly no one is justified before God by the law, because, “The righteous will live by faith.” The law is not based on faith; on the contrary, “The man who does these things will live by them.”” (Galatians 3:10–12) Of course, all through the bible we’re told that relying on ourselves or any other person, place, situation or thing besides God is a sin, and that again is something we tend to do a lot of.
As I began learning about what sin really was, I became aware that I often sinned without even realizing it. That was a horrible thought to me because I wanted to please the Lord, and how could I do that if I didn’t know when I was sinning? So, I did the only thing I knew to do at that time; I prayed and asked the Lord to show me when I sinned so I could be aware of it and repent of it. I asked Him to teach me more about it as well. True to His Word, the Lord did show me my sins. He never dumped them on me all at once, bless His heart. Instead, He would show me one and once I got that one under control, He would point out another. I wish I could say we were all done with those lessons, but even though it’s been many years, I still pray daily for Him to make me aware of my sins, and He still does so I can repent and know I’ve been forgiven yet again.
The more I learned about sin, the more horrible I realized it was. It spreads quickly and constantly if not quickly stopped. It’s contagious and affects others. It loves darkness, and loves to isolate us, causing us to dwell on it, and keep it secret or at least try to. It defiles us and reaches out tendrils to defile those closest to us as well. Just like the saying that one lie always leads to another, so one little sin always leads to another and another and so it multiplies, making us sick in body, mind and spirit. It puts up a barrier between us and God until we confess and repent of it and are cleansed and forgiven. One of the things that surprised me the most was learning that another way the bible defines sin is spiritual adultery and idolatry. Like most of us, I never viewed myself as an idolater. I thought that was at least one sin that I didn’t have to worry about. The Bible showed me differently though. When our trust or faith is in anything or anyone other then God, that’s idolatry. When we put anyone or anything ahead of God in our lives, that too is idolatry. I know that we’d all instantly say we’d never do that. So did I, but I found to my shame that my life showed that I actually did. Whenever I decided that I had to do something else instead of spending time with the Lord in His Word that day, it was idolatry. Sure, I had to go to work and do all those things, but if the Lord was really first in my heart, I would have made time for Him and that would have been my first priority. Sadly it often isn’t a priority for many of us at all. Having faith or trust in someone or something as well as God is also idolatry. God isn’t interested in sharing us with anyone or anything else. The bible calls this being double minded. I noticed this in my life first when I realized that when I got sick the first thing I thought of was going to the doctor, not God. Normally, I didn’t even think about God when I got sick. Instead I quite literally trusted my doctor to give me the right antibiotics that would make me well. God has no problem with us going to doctors, or taking medicines, but He does want to be first in everything in our hearts. I discovered that I needed to include Him in literally everything I thought and did in my life.
Eventually I made up a list to help me remember what kind of things were sins to better avoid them whenever possible. I’ve found the list to be a big help to me because it shows me in no uncertain terms just what the Lord has forgiven me for. You know I’m sure, that when we were saved, we were each forgiven a great deal – more then we will probably ever totally realize here on earth. We were forgiven for ALL our sins, past, present and future at the moment of our salvation. That amazed and thrilled me when I was first saved, but now that I understand more about sin, it amazes me even more. Knowing that I can confess my current sins and be forgiven every day is such a big relief, for we can’t go a day without sinning as long as we’re in this body. Having this list has made me appreciate what the Lord did and does for me every day so much more. He forgives my sins, and cleanses me from all guilt. (Hebrews 10:22)
I’ll include a copy of my list for those who are interested. Believe me, it does not list every single possible sin, just those I’ve thought of so far. There are many, many more, but this will give anyone a pretty good idea of just how much we’ve been forgiven of and will be forgiven of. You'll notice that some are mentioned in more then one way to get the idea across better. We need to keep in mind too that our forgiveness cost God a great deal. It most certainly didn’t come free for Him. He paid a very dear price for us and our sin. Knowing this, and seeing what He paid for, will help remind us that we do not belong to ourselves any longer, but to Him who paid for our sin with His blood: our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
Before sharing this list, which are all found in scripture, I want to remind us that God does not beat us up over our sins. He does not treat us as our sins deserve. He “forgets” our sins once we are forgiven, never to bring them up to us, to Himself or others again. He doesn’t hold them over our heads and remind us of them. As far as He is concerned, they are as if they never happened. We tend to think that’s great, but what about when we keep doing the same thing over and over again? If we have sincerely repented of it each time, meaning we don’t plan on doing it again; meaning we really don’t want to repeat it, then the simple answer is that it is forgiven every single time and when we ask, “what about all those other times”, His reply is, “what other times”? Satan is our adversary. He’s the one who’s always accusing us, to God and to ourselves, because he knows he can often get to us that way. Don’t let him. When that happens, remind yourself that Jesus paid the price for that sin and it is forever forgiven and you are completely cleansed of it. Remind yourself that God not only forgives our sins, but also cleanses our consciences from those sins. “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus,” (Romans 8:1)
SINS TO WATCH OUT FOR:
Pride: ability pride; verbal or bragging pride;
Self righteousness,
Self savior; trying to save myself or others usually by attempting to manipulate people or situations instead of trusting Jesus to take care of the situation.
Self centered instead of God centered;
Self justification (vindicating myself);
Self reliant;
Self indulgent;
Self serving;
Self seeking;
Self-interest-putting myself, my needs & wants, before others;
Self sufficiency,
Self realization—my claim to my right to myself, and/or to rule my own life; self-realization— I am my own god;
Self pity;
Selfishness;
Stubbornness;
Not loving sacrificially;
Putting your own desires or needs before another's
Putting others down;
Slandering someone;
Gossiping,
Keeping a list of how I've been wronged in my mind (or even on paper!)- in other words, not "forgetting" the way God forgets our sins. I need to remember to take those thoughts captive
Unforgivness;
Being vengeful or thinking vengeful thoughts;
Holding a grudge;
Running away from someone instead of forgiving and/or being forgiven and patching up the problem.
Not seeking forgiveness from those I've wronged or hurt;
Bringing up another persons sin again after you've forgiven them;
Not seeking the person to forgive them or be forgiven by them immediately, waiting, or putting it off instead, or expecting them to come to you.
Not being willing to be reconciled to someone who has hurt you or who you have hurt.
Being resentful;
Bitterness;
Not responding to others in love when upset or angry;
Hateful thoughts toward others or self;
Being unwilling to admit my sin against someone else and against God;
Being rude or disrespectful;
Ingratitude;
conceit;
Criticism;
Being judgmental,
Complaining, grumbling;
Discontent;
Jealousy; envy;
Greed; wanting more;
Living beyond my means;
Not paying my debts on time;
Not giving toward the Kingdom with my money, time, and material possessions etc;
Not being a good steward of the money/things God's given me;
Not being content with what I have;
Helping but only "some" instead of sacrificially as He tells us to;
Manipulating people/situations to get my way,
Arrogance;
Worry;
Being fearful;
Depression;
Vanity;
Abortion;
Murder; (remember, thinking hateful thoughts is the same as murder Matthew 5:21–22)
Swearing, cursing,
Crude jokes, words, or behavior; (even in teasing);
Lying;
impatient;
Worldliness ;
Boasting;
Looking for the bad in others instead of the good;
Not submitting to my husband;
Not submitting to those in authority;
Not obeying immediately;
Not obeying the laws of our country including the speed limit;
Being lazy;
Not taking my "bad" thoughts captive and replacing them with His Truth;
Causing another to sin or stumble or to continue in sin by something I've done or said or not done or said, even if it wasn't a sin for me;
Immodest in word, deed, or dress;
Sexual sins of thought, word or deed;
Viewing pornography of any kind;
Blaming God;
Any way of thinking/speaking as though He doesn't have the right to do whatever He wants to with me and my life;
Dabbling in the occult, witchcraft, new age, astrology, horoscopes, eastern religions etc.;
Not speaking the Truth in love when a loved one is living in sin;
Not witnessing when the opportunity is there;
Not learning to defend the faith and rightly divide God's Word;
Forgetting God's my provision and not my job or disability check
Forgetting that God gave me my talents, intellect etc and so thinking that “I” did something good on my own; I've nothing to brag about that He didn't give me;
Not taking care of my family; (emotionally, physically, materially, and spiritually)
Doing anything that others might think is a sin even if it's not;
Being doubleminded: trusting/not trusting; believing/doubting; accepting His love/pushing Him away....etc.
Not studying the Bible every day with Him;
Not praying; not staying in constant communion with Him;
Not reflecting on His Word during the day;
Putting anything or anyone including self before God and His Word;
Not seeking the Lord first
Not trusting the Lord;
Not remembering all He's done for me;
Not seeing Him in His creation;
Rebellion;
Idolatry;
Unbelief that characterizes all sin;
Not hating a sin.
!!
