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The sins of the heart
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The Bible says if we love God we will keep his commandments. It also says that without the law there is no transgression. But is there more to sin then just violating the Ten Commandments that were handed down to Moses on Mount Sinai?
Some of the Ten Commandments make reference to outward sins, which involve a physical action on our part and can be witnessed by others (adultery, murder, stealing). But there are other parts of the same law that refer to inward sins that cannot be easily witnessed, covetousness being the best example. When we covet we are envious of our neighbor in our heart although we might not say or do anything about it. The commandment tells us that such thoughts are sin. But perhaps the outward sins each start as their own specific thought or feeling. Murder doesn’t happen without intent. Adultery is part of fulfilling a pre-existing fantasy. Lies are only told when one stands to gain from them. As we can see, sin is not just an act but can be traced to specific thoughts or feelings in the mind that preclude the actual event.
This means that sin is intellectual in nature. It is a belief that we hold erroneously. We are holding on to a belief about something that is not true perhaps out of genuine ignorance. But even as our civil law demonstrates ignorance of the law is not excusable. The same is true of God and his laws.
Take adultery for instance. The emotion driving the adulterous behavior is a feeling of love, romance or lust. Lust is not biological, although sexual attraction is. Lust is when we give ourselves over to sexual fantasies which become intensified by our natural desires. But at some point the mind must attempt to justify the act before the person permits himself to act out the fantasy. The belief behind the act of adultery will be a justification. Nobody likes to think of himself or herself as immoral.
One justification might sound like this:
“It’s okay to share yourself with someone you love. My spouse and I no longer feel that we love each other. I have feelings of love for another. Therefore its okay to share myself with another person.”
This argument is flawed because romantic feelings are fleeting and do not represent the commitment of true love. The feeling of love is not the same as the reality of love. This is a self-deception and should illustrate the nature of sin at its root. There can be no greater sin then when we lie to ourselves.
As Christians we need to learn to be accountable for our sins, not just of the body but of the mind as well. We are responsible for all of our thoughts whether we act on them or not. We are guilty of thoughts involving sex, violence, envy, pride, hate and contempt. We can recognize these thoughts and elect not to indulge them further. Pray for forgiveness from the Lord and ask to be delivered from temptation. This purging of sin should be a normal process for us. As vain as the self can be, such are the depths of our inward sin.
The worst deception of all is to say we have no sin. Sin is distasteful for us to address because it makes us feel guilty. But rather then ignore the guilt we confess the sin and thus have guilty feelings purged from us. For whether our deception is uncovered or not, the guilt can stay with us forever.
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