The other day I was listening to some people talk, and this one minister said something that didn’t sound like it was Bible. Just because someone is a minister of God, that doesn’t mean everything they say agrees with the Word of God. How many of us know that just because someone’s a Christian, that doesn’t mean their life lines up with the Word of God 100%? Of course not. That’s why we need to eat the hay and spit the sticks, as the old saying goes. That means we have to know the Word of God and know how to be led by the Spirit of God so we can discern what is the truth and what is someone’s opinion that is not based on the Word.
Well, I went and found this teaching by this minister, listened to what they had to say, and looked at the scriptures that they used to come to their conclusion, but they really didn’t have a full grasp of what they were talking about. Even though this minister is known worldwide, that doesn’t mean that they’re infallible. In fact, because of the position that they stand in, the devil is going to try to take them out a whole lot more than your every-day Christian. If the devil can deceive them, then he can deceive everyone who listens to them and doesn’t study the Word or themselves.
The topic that they were talking about is somewhat controversial, and that’s not the focus of what I want to say. It dealt with sin, though. But what it all boiled down to was that it was a condition or attitude of the heart, and not an act of doing something that was the sin. The issue that they were discussing—there’s people on both sides; some say that doing this thing is a sin, some say it’s not.
The bottom line is that this minister was saying that this sin was an act, but according to the Word, it is a condition of the heart. For example, Jesus talked about committing murder and adultery in the heart and not actually acting on those things. I would dare to say that the majority of sin is an issue of the heart in some way, shape, or form.
Look at the New Testament. Jesus tells us at the Sermon on the Mount to pray for our enemies. Does that really have anything to do with our hearts? That’s pure obedience. It is an act. And in 1 Timothy 2, we’re told to pray for our leaders. That is an act. It has nothing to do with the heart. The heart should be involved, but it is purely an act. In the book of Acts, it says that the Holy Spirit forbade Paul and his company from preaching the gospel in Asia. Their choice not to preach the Gospel in Asia was an act. The Bible tells us to renew our minds to the Word of God. That is an act. All these things are acts on our part. However, they work so much better when your heart is involved. In fact, without your heart involved, they become dry, monotonous, and hard to do. But once your heart gets involved, it becomes so much easier—even a joy.
You can go all throughout the New Testament and find places where God commanded us to do things, and it has nothing to do with our hearts. Then you can find places where He commanded us to do things, and the only reason or line that you can draw back to our hearts is that we love God. I love God, so I don’t want to sin. I love God, so I want to do what His Word says. I love God, so I want to pray for my enemies.
There’s things in the culture that the church has embraced that it never should have been embraced. And because it has embraced those things, and because it has opened up its heart and not guarded it, we think that certain things that the culture says are okay are okay for Christians. We think that it’s okay for the people of God. But it’s not. Then we find it so difficult to agree with the Word of God because one—there’s not too much mentioned in the Bible about the topic. And two—because we’ve grown accustomed to it being okay because the culture says so and because the church has embraced the culture. No, the church should embrace the Word of God and turn away from the things of the culture that are contrary to the Word of God.
When we can’t find specific scripture that mentions certain things that go on today, we have to rely on the principle behind the act. What does this boil down to? Does it boil down to stealing? Does it boil down to loving our enemies? On the other hand, we also need to rely on the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit will show us things that are impossible for our natural mind to know. For example, we are told to go into all the world and preach the Gospel. However, as stated previously, the Apostle Paul was forbidden to preach in Asia. Doing so would have been a sin. That’s why we need to rely on the Holy Spirit in our every-day lives.
There’s a scripture in the Old Testament that says if you are willing and obedient, you will eat the good of the land (Isaiah 1:19). That term, willing and obedient, covers what we’re talking about. Willing—this is a matter of the heart. Obedience is an act. We can be willing without being obedient, and we can be obedient without being willing. But just doing one of those things without the other will not guarantee us the blessing of eating the good of the land. Just doing one of those things cuts you off from totally following the commands of God. Are we called to pray for our enemies (an act)? Yes! But we’re also told to love our enemies (the heart). Doing both is part of being willing and obedient. It’s not until we are willing and obedient that the blessings will come upon us.
We must realize that the heart and the action are involved in everything we do. Sin does not start when we act it out. It starts in our mind as a thought (however, it is not sin just because you think on it), but then it moves to our hearts, and then we act on it.
Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded. – James 4:8 NKJV
As we draw near to God, spend more time with Him, our hearts are going to change. We’re going to become more like Him. As we do so, our hearts will change, and our actions will change. This biblical truth is found all throughout scripture. This truth is found all throughout the world. As you feed your habits, you want to do them more. As you feed your addictions, you want more. As you draw closer to God, you will want to be more like God and want to be with Him more. Your heart will change, and so will your actions. Stay with the Word and the Spirit.
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