I was having a chuckle today, I really do love the Lord and so I try to keep His commandments. John 14:15 says, “If ye love me, keep my commandments.”
Have I succeeded perfectly? No, not at all. I’ve managed to break them all in some form or another. Those who believe they’ve kept them all are probably lying to their own selves, bearing false witness, which actually violates a commandment. Kind of a catch-22 there. There’s a couple of different versions of the ten c0mmandments. It doesn’t really matter, I’ve managed to break them all, all translations, the Greek, the Hebrew, in some form or another.
All you law breakers can take heart, when Moses first tried to share the Ten Commandments with people, he saw them in such a sin state, worshiping a calf, building an alter, that Moses’ anger waxed hot, and he just smashed the tablets in frustration.
You may wonder why I am chuckling at the idea of sin. It’s the joy of grace, it’s the beauty of Salvation, it’s an understanding of who and what Jesus Christ is and why we need Him so much. I honestly believe if there isn’t some joy in your heart, you haven’t fully met our Savior yet.
For many years I hung onto that one commandment, Well Lord, I haven’t killed anyone yet. Partial grace, I call it. Grading oneself on a curve. Just not fully in His arms. Saved perhaps, but not really sanctified.
Like an old Western, God put some people in my path that really needed killing. Actually, like a Western, killing was too good for them. They needed murdering. Then I needed to hunt their souls down and kill them some more. Not to confuse genres, but if I had my way, I’d still be out with a shovel whacking cowboy zombies upside the head until I was sure they were all annihilated.
And so I came to understand what murder in my heart and spirit really felt like. Could I murder? Absolutely. Even me.
In Matthew 5:28 Jesus Christ speaks to us of adultery, “That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.” It speaks to the idea of sin being in our heart, in our spirit, long before it even manifests itself in the physical. In fact, it may never do so. We may be delivered from temptation. We don’t have to act on it, but it is still there. It is our spiritual condition when it lives within us. (All those who struggle with lust or adultery can relax, I’ve struggled with murder, so no judgment coming from me. I get it.)
I did not actually murder anyone. There is no-one buried beneath rose bushes. Instead, God lead me down a powerful path of forgiveness, one that truly blessed me because I drew closer to Him, I came to understand the price He paid when He said, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do. The price He paid for me.
What is on the inside, what resides within us, is so much more important than what is being shown on the outside. It is the condition of our heart and spirit that truly matters, it is there that genuine healing happens, where we are washed clean in the blood of the Lamb and become new creatures.
See, there's this thing called biology... 
Oh yes.
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Hmmm,not bad – I’ve always had an uncomfortable feeling about how many interpret keeping your mind pure. I did a short survey of scripture and it seems that most acknowledges that we entertain and dismiss thoughts constantly – and that impure thoughts will enter our heads and are not held against us provided we do not hold them and that we recognize them when we ponder. Romans has quite a bit to say on this topic and typical scripture sounds like Romans 8:11 “But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. …” or Romans 3:23: “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”and so on. It is possible with some practice to recognize many impure thoughts before they bloom but some will sneak up on you – like you’re thinking about new shoes and suddenly you wish you had your neighbor’s new shoes because they are perfect. Covetousness.
Anyway, it concerns me when folks say they have no impure thoughts – they are just making themselves feel guilty and those around them low or second class. Another reason why I eschew religion.
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Well said, Paul. There are exceptions of course, but for the most part we think ourselves into being.
2 Corinthians 10:5 speaks of how “Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.” Practicing mindfulness can be really useful for things like depression, anxiety. “Bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ,” can simply be bringing our thoughts in alignment with what He says about us, that we are loved, cherished, and worth dying for. Often our feelings, and eventually our whole being, is impacted by not being aware of the thoughts we are entertaining.
Someone once told me thoughts are fleeting things, they float by on a river, completely harmless. It’s when we reach out and embrace them, invite them in, and start feeding them that they grow. We can do this without even being aware of it if we aren’t paying attention.
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Absolutely IB – perfect. Mindfulness is the key word.
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The line between temptation and sin is blurry to us, because our minds already are tainted with sin. Jesus was tempted in every way, just as we are, but he never sinned. Was he tempted to commit adultery? I guess so. The Enemy sends us temptations, by the strength of God we resist them, and then the Enemy tries to make us feel guilty for being tempted. Other times the Enemy sends us temptations and we enjoy them, lingering over them, boasting that we are wrestling against them, when in our hearts we have already sinned. Martin Luther was fond of this saying: “You cannot keep the birds from flying over your head, but you can keep them from building a nest in your hair.” In other words, don’t blame yourself for being tempted, but do repent of the times you enjoyed temptation (lust, rage, coveting) far longer than was good for you. J.
PS: Yes, a mature faith can chuckle over temptation and even over forgiven sins in the joy of God’s love and grace. Thank you for sharing that in your post, IB. J.
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Indeed – when the Devil tempted Christ in the desert is a perfect example. The offer is constantly made – it just has to be rejected.
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Awesome post… Yes, in some way, we have all broken all the commandments even though we don’t know it yet.
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The Old Testament actually describes how to make a sacrifice for sins committed in ignorance.
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As the saying goes, “there is a reason God gave us two ears but only one mouth.” The longer I keep mine shut the more apt I am to realize the depravity of my own thoughts and not act upon them. Most of the time anyway….;)
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“Grading oneself on a curve.”
God doesn’t, so why do we try?
Great post and have a happy 4th IB
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The reality is, we sin with every thought, word and deed, by what we have done and what we have left undone. We do not love God with our whole hearts; we do not love our neighbour as ourselves. Ever.
I think that’s why legalism in all its forms makes me so crazy. As if following a strict set of rules, a moral code or whatever, can free us from sinning.
Sorry, but no. Sin is not a “behaviour” problem, it’s a HEART problem.
One day, we will all be called to account for our sin and what will I say? That I followed “the rules? No. I will point to Christ and say “Ask Him.”
My righteousness is not in my ability to keep the rules. My righteousness is in Christ, and no other.
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Oh, amen! I share your thoughts on this matter. This is so true, “The reality is, we sin with every thought, word and deed, by what we have done and what we have left undone.”
Even the act of not doing something can be sin, which is a concept not well governed by legalism.
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“For many years I hung onto that one commandment, Well Lord, I haven’t killed anyone yet.
[…]
And so I came to understand what murder in my heart and spirit really felt like. Could I murder? Absolutely. Even me.
In Matthew 5:28 Jesus Christ speaks to us of adultery, “That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.” It speaks to the idea of sin being in our heart, in our spirit, long before it even manifests itself in the physical. In fact, it may never do so. We may be delivered from temptation. We don’t have to act on it, but it is still there. It is our spiritual condition when it lives within us. (All those who struggle with lust or adultery can relax, I’ve struggled with murder, so no judgment coming from me. I get it.)”
You’re right about the idea of murder in the heart and spirit. But you don’t need to go to Matthew 5:28 for this idea. In fact (although only the section on adultery is well-known and often cited), Matthew 5 has five instances where Jesus extends Old Testament commands to involve the heart and spirit, rather than just the physical actions. You will find these sections beginning in verses 21, 27, 31, 33, and 38.
One of those sections deals specifically with murder and extends it to anger and beyond. Here is that section:
[Matt. 5:21-22 NASB] 21 “You have heard that the ancients were told, ‘YOU SHALL NOT COMMIT MURDER’ and ‘Whoever commits murder shall be liable to the court.’ 22 “But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be guilty before the court; and whoever says to his brother, ‘You good-for-nothing,’ shall be guilty before the supreme court; and whoever says, ‘You fool,’ shall be guilty enough to go into the fiery hell.
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You’re quite right, we could talk about those passages and we could extend that discussion to court too, should Christians really be suing one another like we often do? Are we seeking reconciliation or are we seeking revenge? These are all good discussions.
But in this context I like the idea of adultery/idolatry and how it all relates to soul murder, to the way we can stop perceiving people as actual human beings created in His image and instead convert them into objects, objects of lust, objects of covetness, objects of rage.
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It sounds like you have bought into the current fad of all sin being some form of idolatry and, then, I think, the sinner is considered to be a spiritual adulterer.
As to soul murder, I had to look it up. It seems to be a term from psychology or psychoanalysis popularized in the last 10 years or so. Having never heard of anyone surviving being murdered, I found it interesting that there are those who are considered to be survivors of soul murder.
For me, I think I’ll stick to calling sins by the names used in the Bible and in the way the Bible describes them.
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