Presumptuous Sins
There are all types of sins. Most of the time we know exactly what is sin and what is not, because we know what God's Word says, and we know something about the character of God. Anything that goes against God's Word or His character is a sin. However, we can also sin by "presuming" upon God or "presuming" we are right when we are not. David prayed to be free from even the presumptuous sins and so should we.(Psalm 19:13)
I have found myself thinking that God would "cut me some slack" on some things, because I was one of His children, and I loved Him. However, that is presuming on the goodness of God. We must not assume He will be merciful to us. In fact, I have found that we are often more critical of the sins of others than we are of our own sins. We think God will give us a break, but the other folks deserve the full punishment. That is a terrible way to think. We should always be harder on ourselves than we are on others, because we can't know everything about their motives and circumstances.
Then, there are times we "assume" something is OK because the Bible doesn't say much about it, or at least, we don't know what the Bible says about it. We go ahead and do it without praying and asking God for direction. Mostly we do it, because we want to do it, not because we know we should. This is our selfishness coming out. We assume God will be fine with what we want to do. Usually, it doesn't work that way, because our hearts may not be set on Him and His will. Therefore, if we want to be free from sin in our lives, we need to only do what the Holy Spirit gives us freedom to pursue, after we have prayed about it, and waited to hear from God.
These presumptuous sins are important because they can snowball into bigger and bigger sins. We presume more and more, until we are found to be in "great transgression" like David says. Don't let yourself slide down this slope. Ask God to keep you back from presumptuous sins.
Tomorrow, I intend to read Psalms 21-24.
I have found myself thinking that God would "cut me some slack" on some things, because I was one of His children, and I loved Him. However, that is presuming on the goodness of God. We must not assume He will be merciful to us. In fact, I have found that we are often more critical of the sins of others than we are of our own sins. We think God will give us a break, but the other folks deserve the full punishment. That is a terrible way to think. We should always be harder on ourselves than we are on others, because we can't know everything about their motives and circumstances.
Then, there are times we "assume" something is OK because the Bible doesn't say much about it, or at least, we don't know what the Bible says about it. We go ahead and do it without praying and asking God for direction. Mostly we do it, because we want to do it, not because we know we should. This is our selfishness coming out. We assume God will be fine with what we want to do. Usually, it doesn't work that way, because our hearts may not be set on Him and His will. Therefore, if we want to be free from sin in our lives, we need to only do what the Holy Spirit gives us freedom to pursue, after we have prayed about it, and waited to hear from God.
These presumptuous sins are important because they can snowball into bigger and bigger sins. We presume more and more, until we are found to be in "great transgression" like David says. Don't let yourself slide down this slope. Ask God to keep you back from presumptuous sins.
Tomorrow, I intend to read Psalms 21-24.