Sin in disguise?

[butterflycharm]

So often I realize that my behavior or a thought I was having, was actually from a sinful point of view and not a Godly thing to do. Perhaps it was the devil trying to tempt me away from God.

I just don’t know and I tend to overanalyze things while trying to understand something. The more I learn the more I realize I don’t know. Sometimes I think the sin is in disguise and other times I feel if I had looked through “Godly eyes” I would have recognized it.

 

[Peripatetic]

Honestly, what you describe above is part of growing in wisdom, and a positive indication of Spiritual development. These two things in particular are clues:

1. Your perception on worldly vs. Godly "point of view"
2. Your realization that "The more I learn the more I realize I don’t know."

The second one is especially important, and applies to even the wisest person in the world. The people who think they've got it all figured out are usually the most ignorant. I think it's kind of exciting, actually... that I still have SO much more to learn. Makes life that much more worth living.

 

[Harry3142]

Butterflycharm-

At the core of our code of conduct as Christians is a set of motivations, rather than a set of laws. Not only are we to do the right things, but we are also to do them for the right reasons. And it is our recognition of which motivations are to be seen as the identifying characteristics of the sinful nature, and which are to be identified as the characteristics of the Christlike nature, which helps us to realize whether what we are urged to say or do conforms to God's will or not:

So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under law.

The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other. (Galatians 5:16-26,NIV)

The acts of the sinful nature are the motivations which culminate in the commission of sinful acts. And no action which has these motivations as its impetus can be seen as anything other than sinful. Just as a poisoned tree cannot yield good fruit, actions which have these motivations at their core cannot yield anything but evil results. And this rule applies even if the actions are cloaked in pietism. If someone tells you that it's okay to have a certain motivation listed as an act of the sinful nature because God said that it was okay, he's lying.

In order for the actions to be righteous, the underlying motivations which culminates in those actions being performed must also be righteous. And that occurs only when the motivations are 'the fruit of the Spirit'. Just as the motivations listed as 'the acts of the sinful nature' will always culminate in the commission of sinful acts, the motivations listed as 'the fruit of the Spirit' will always culminate in the performance of righteous acts. That's why the words which immediately follow the listing of these 'fruit' are, "Against such things there is no law."

God bless-

 

[asiyreh]

Honestly, what you describe above is part of growing in wisdom, and a positive indication of Spiritual development. These two things in particular are clues:

1. Your perception on worldly vs. Godly "point of view"
2. Your realization that "The more I learn the more I realize I don’t know."

The second one is especially important, and applies to even the wisest person in the world. The people who think they've got it all figured out are usually the most ignorant. I think it's kind of exciting, actually... that I still have SO much more to learn. Makes life that much more worth living.

Amen bro.

Christianity:- easy enough for the smallest child to accept and trust, yet deep enough for a scholar to spend a lifetime in study.

And after all his study the scholar turns to the smallest child and finds the answer he spent his whole life perusing.

From the voice of babes my brothers and sisters.

 

[therealandy]

Birds will always be flying over your head, but the trick is that you don't have to let them build a nest in your hair. ~Andy

 

[asiyreh]

To preen one's hair upon the mirror, yet never look deep, for fears betray the soul inside. - Kevin

 

[parsley]

The more I learn the more I realize I don’t know.

Lol, that is one of the natural wonders of the spiritual world! You can say that two decades from now, too.

One thing that can help, is to treat your first thought as not quite owned by you. What you do with the thought -- that's your responsibility.

All sorts of things fly through our brains, especially when we take in media clutter and our brains store phrases or facts we didn't plan to own. So accept that first impulse can be more neural response -- a trigger connecting a stored memory.

If you hold onto that memory too long --even in feeling guilty about it-- you reinforce its neural pathways. If you just resist it and change to a different topic, then that memory's connections will decay and it will be harder for your brain to retrieve.

Just resist the devil, and he will flee.

Distract yourself. Find something -- like a praise song, or memorized verse -- that you can speak out whenever an unwanted thought pops up. Replace the evil. It will lose its power over you if you don't allow fear to anchor it in.

 

[asiyreh]

This reminded me of something Parsley. Check it!

'Fear is the path to the dark side' [ Anakin Skywalker ] - YouTube

 

[jannikitty]

With such as you have shared I have learned to pray for the gift of discerning of spirits so to have guidance from the Holy Spirit as to whether something is from my own flesh, the enemy of my soul, or from the Lord. We need this gift more and more as we grow in the knowledge of the Word and the things of God because the enemy often tries to confuse us.

 

[Emmy]

Dear butterflycharm. In Matthew 22: 35-40: Jesus tells us: " The first and great Commandment is: Love God with all our hearts, with all our souls, and with all our minds. The second is like it: Love thy neighbour as thyself."
Then Jesus states this great truth: " On these two Commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets." Straightforward and easy to remmber.God is Love,
and God wants loving children/sons and daughters. Here it comes:
" Everything we say or do, everything we advice or stand for, MUST be from Love and Compassion. Jesus will give us His Love and Joy, and the Holy Spirit will empower us with His Love, also. We just ask and receive. Matthew 7: 7-8:
We keep on asking God and thanking God, then sharing all Love and Joy with our neighbour: all we know and all we meet, friends and not friends.
We might stumble and forget at times, but then we ask God to forgive us, and
Carry On Loving and Caring. God will see our sincere efforts, and God will Bless us. Anything without Love,( freely given and no favours asked) is Sin in
disguise, and best to be ignored. I say this with love, butterflycharm.
Greetings from Emmy, your sister in Christ.