Welcome to Part Two! In the previous post, I started to explain the sins listed in Galatians and 1 Corinthians, and here is a continuation of these so that you can have more insight into what is and isn’t acceptable to God.
Hatred
Do I even need to explain this one? Hate is the complete opposite of God, 1 John 4:8 says that “He who does not love does not know God, for God is love.” So, if there is any hate in your heart for anyone, and I mean ANYONE, you do not know God. We are called to love each other, as Jesus says in Matthew “love your neighbor as yourself” It is through love that we can effectively spread the gospel. Hate gives the enemy fuel and an entrance into your life, it makes us bitter and can corrupt our ways. Hate is what the devil operates on but love is what God operates on, for what good is anything we do if it is not in love? So try to love people as Christ called us to and not be disobedient by letting hatred into our hearts.
Contentions, and Outbursts of Wrath
“You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stay on You, because he trusts in You.”
Isaiah 26:3
Contentions are heated disagreements, now not all disagreements are bad, but when there is yelling, cursing, and physical abuse involved, that is when it turns into sin. This goes with outbursts of wrath because most of the time, contentions can lead to outbursts. The Bible says many times that we should remain peaceful; for the fruit of the spirit is peace (Galatians 5:22), He will keep in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on Him (Isaiah 26:3), and to be spiritually minded is life and peace (Romans 8:6). When you are in heated discussions, the more you’re tempted to give in to the flesh, to give in to anger, and then you can do something you regret. That’s why the Bible says to be angry but sin not, so yes people make me upset but I can’t allow them to make me act out of my Christ character by yelling and cursing them out or potentially hurting them. I have to keep my cool, turn the other cheek so that I don’t have to go and repent later; also, so I don’t have to reap bad seed. Contentions are a great way to start walking in the flesh, but as Christians, we must walk in the spirit, and one way to do that is to hold onto our peace and focus our attention on Jesus rather than on what provoked the argument.
Jealousies and Envy
Jealousy is a kind of resentment towards another person because they have something you desire. Jealousy can creep up on you so suddenly but it can lead you down such a dark path. Let’s use Joseph as an example, his brothers were jealous of him because he was his father’s favorite. Due to their jealousy, they devised a plan where they would sell Joseph into slavery and then tell their father, Jacob, that he was killed. This was extreme, but it was all rooted in jealousy. Same with Jesus, the Pharisees and Sacaceeds hated Him so much because they were jealous of His influence. Jealously can quickly turn into hatred if you don’t check it and we already established that hatred is a sin. Jealously is not rooted in love and if you really think about all the sins listed, none of them are rooted in the love of God. Envy is very similar to jealousy as it is the resentment of someone because of their possessions, qualities, or ‘luck’. Again, what started to make Joseph’s brother jealous was their envy for his coats of many colors and the love Jacob showed him. These two work together as they are rooted in the resentment of someone for what they have or who they are. It makes you bitter and you lose track of who God made you and what He has for you because you’re so focused on the person you envy or are jealous of. A common theme amongst these sins is they take away your attention from God, so focus on Him and His Will for your life and it’ll be hard to be jealous or envious of anyone.
Selfish Ambitions
“Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.”
1 Corinthians 10:31
Having dreams and ambitions is not a bad thing, it becomes a bad thing when those dreams and ambitions are rooted in selfishness. As Christians, our goals should stem from our love for God or out of what God told us to do with our lives. We live to advance the Kingdom of God, you’ll find in the Bible that as people went to follow the call from God, they succeeded, but when they strayed away from that, their life went downhill. A perfect example of this is Solomon, He was on fire for God when he first became King, but when lust and greed took a hold of him, he became a stranger to God. He was seeking out success for his own gain and not for the gain of God. As Christians, we need to be mindful as to why we do certain things and ask ourselves these questions, is this to glorify God or glorify me? In 1 Corinthians 10:31, it says “whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.” So no matter how big or how small the action may be, do it to the glory of God so that He may be praised. If you don’t have this attitude towards your goals and dreams, then it is easier to fall into pride, which God hates. When all your goals are about making your name big and making yourself successful, and you leave God out of the equation, you start to forget that He is the one that gave you those gifts and talents. He created you with those dreams and goals so don’t decide to go after them with selfish ambition. He gave you that wonderful mind to create success, and with selfish ambition, you take that for granted and become prideful because, in your mind, you got yourself there and not God. You have convinced yourself that you didn’t need God’s help to move forward in life but the Bible says “Before destruction the heart of a man is haughty” (Proverbs 18:12). So, just know when you developed that attitude, you will be humbled and the life you built without God’s instruction and glory, will be destroyed.
Heresies
Heresies are opinions and beliefs contrary to the Word of God. In the Bible, it says plenty of times how those who go against God’s Word are condemned, but the most important part of this is unbelief in Jesus. Belief in Jesus is the foundation for the Word of God as Jesus is the Word of God. John 1:1 states that “the Word was with God and the Word was God.” So obviously opinions and beliefs contrary to the Word of God is something that will keep you out of heaven. John 3:18 says “He who believes in Him is not condemned but he who does not believe is condemned already because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God” and John 16:8-9 reads “He will convict the world of sin…of sin because they do not believe in Me.” So it clearly states that unbelief in Jesus is a sin and if one didn’t have opinions or beliefs that are contrary to the Word of God, they would believe in Jesus. However, this is not where these opinions end, if there is someone who is against/doesn’t believe in healing, Godly provision, the Holy Spirit, or righteous living, they are in sin and teaching a false doctrine.
Murders
Again, do I even need to explain? In the ten commandments, it says thou shall not murder, and in general, if we are to obey God, we wouldn’t even think about murdering someone. Murder is rooted in hate and wicked and unclean thoughts. Any spirit that tells you to kill someone is not a spirit of God, any spirit that tells you to do something not rooted in love is not God. Through murder, you open a HUGE door for the enemy to come through, so huge that it’s like you invited him over and greeted him yourself. Committing murder is disobeying God’s commandments, thou shall not murder, and love your neighbor as yourself, and we all know that disobedience to God’s word is sin. I doubt you would ever kill anyone but be mindful of your thoughts towards someone you dislike, sin starts in the thoughts.
Drunkenness
Don’t stop reading now, yes getting drunk is bad and it is a sin. The Bible may not explicitly say don’t drink, but when you drink alcohol you’re most likely going to get drunk. 1 Peter 5:8 says, “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.” Being drunk or drinking, opens a door for the enemy, this is why when you’re drinking, you may become violent, sexually aroused, sad, or emotional. These are all spirits that the devil brings about when you open the door with alcohol. We are called to stay sober number one so that we give no place to the devil but also so that we can be sensitive to the spirit of God. You can’t hear the leading of the Holy Spirit when you’re drinking, so if you wish to get closer to God, you have to ban alcohol from your life. In the Bible, God told the mothers of Samson and Samuel to keep alcohol away from their lips and they both were greatly used by God. Another thing, when you drink, how are you giving glory to God? Remember, everything we do as Christians must serve a purpose, and that purpose is to glorify God. And last time I checked, drinking doesn’t do that, it glorifies and pleases my flesh, and pleasing your flesh over God is a sin. The Bible says many times that we must kill our flesh, and putting down the alcohol is how you can do that.
Revelries
Revelries are wild parties, specifically those that include large amounts of alcohol. So clubs, bars, tailgates, and wild parties, are not places that Christians should be, and those places led to sin. It can be tricky because yes if you go to the club, don’t drink, don’t engage in dirty dancing, you’re not sinning, but the temptation is there. If you’re in a place like that, enough times and for long enough, eventually you’re going to give in to the temptations that are present. As Christians especially, we should try to limit our attendance to events like that so that the enemy can’t tempt us and potentially open a door to unclean spirits. So be mindful of where you hang and how you represent God in all your ways.
I hope part two was helpful with clarifying some sins mentioned in the Bible. Did you peep anything that you’re currently dealing with? If so, share your thoughts, this is a safe space! God is always there for you and there is no sin that is bigger than our God! The power of the devil is not even a fraction of God’s power. You are loved and you got this through the power of Christ!
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