A sure way not to sin | Gospellife Bible Teaching

A sure way not to sin | Gospellife Bible Teaching

We often hear that sin is sometimes not so much a crime, not so much the execution of an evil intention, as a mistake… And sometimes in many ways it is. We do not want to sin, we are tired of sinning, we are tired of sinning, we have a firm intention not to repeat our previous sins. But then circumstances are selected in a certain way, a situation develops that is tempting for us, and we fall…

Why? Here, probably, you can always talk about a whole set of reasons. And about sinful skills, easily acquired, but difficult to get rid of. And about weak will, lack of determination to resist their passions “even to the point of blood”. And about the lack of faith that deprives us of God’s help when we need it most. And about the depravity of our nature, the General propensity for sin for people.

But there is another reason that stands apart from the others and is most “responsible” for sin as a mistake. It is so self-evident, so ordinary, that it is even somehow inconvenient to talk about it… And we can’t help talking: too often we all stumble on something other than that.

The reason for this is the lack of a necessary habit: think first and then do it. I can say definitely and with full conviction: if we always thought before, and only after we started in this or that enterprise, then the lion’s share of our sins would not be committed.

This, of course, applies primarily to “involuntary sins”.

I was talking to a man the other day, and he told me about this dramatic episode:

“We went to the river in the winter,” she says, ” and the ice broke under my friend, and she began to fall through. And I think: we should run to her, but what if we go under the ice with her? Thank God, before I had to do anything, she got out on her own. And if not, what then? And how in General in this case to be, how to overcome yourself?

— How to overcome yourself,— I answer, – the question is certainly important, but I think we should first ask another question: why did you go for a walk on the ice in the first place, what was the need for it?..

How many tragic, absurd ,and at the same time terrible “accidents” occur precisely because of this-the lack of the habit of asking myself: what am I doing, why, what can it lead to? One jumped into the water from a steep Bank and stuck his head in the rocky bottom, another-with a parachute at a very young age and broke his back, a third raced through the city in a car racing with a man as stubborn as himself, and hit a man, a fourth drank, despite the opening of an ulcer, and ended up in the hospital. And everyone repented afterwards: “Why, why did I do this!.. If only I had thought of it before!»

And in quite everyday and less tragic situations, it is similar. You see, for example, that your friend / co-worker / boss is irritated, literally not in himself, but you go to him with some conversation that is predicted to lead to an explosion. Only you don’t predict — you’re too lazy to do it. And in the end-a quarrel, a scandal, because you could not keep silent: word for word, and such things were said to each other that it was definitely better to be silent from the very beginning. And again you repent and lament: «If…»

Or it is unbearable to want to speak out on a topic-slippery, complex, ambiguous. And spoke out, and slipped, and got confused in the complexity, and condemned, and unwittingly deceived, slandered someone. Once again, there is only one thing to do: go to confession.

But we can say almost the same about “ordinary” and “free” sins. “Free” – this is when you understand that you are going to commit not some neutral in principle act that can turn into a sin, but actually sin as such.

Your heart is already almost inclined to it, you have already made up your mind to it… That’s where you should stop even for a moment and think: “How many times has this happened? You have sinned, and trampled on his conscie

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