How long can you go without sinning? Now of course we all know that in nature, man is sinful. If we say that we have no sin, we call God a liar. So I understand that no one is without sin, for sin dwells within us.
But at the same time, we strive to be Holy and sin not. We have repented and set the sin down, and turned towards the Lord in spirit and in truth and strive to endure to the end. No one is perfect and some sins we don’t even know we did them until afterwards.
After Jesus was baptized and was starting His ministry, the first thing was, He was led into the desert to be tried and tempted. As new Believers and Christians turn to the Lord and perhaps get baptized and now are born again…Now we have been led into the desert to be tried and tempted, just Like Jesus was. On a planet which is like a Carnival of Horrors, and everything looks like a FunHouse, but is actually a death house of horrors, aka the valley of the Shadow of Death. Consequently, many Christians struggle with certain sin(s). We hear about them regularly.
Everybody likes something too much, but is it really impossible to, sin not? I wondered this and began paying attention and discovered that, it’s not really all that hard to not sin. I do not do many things that I used to consider normal. But not any more having been exposed to the truth.
Actually I’m retired now so it’s easy for me to go a day without sinning. How long have you ever gone without sin?
I think the obvious response to your question is another question.
How long can you retain perfection?
How long can you go thinking exactly like God thinks and acting exactly like God acts.
Sin is ungodliness (un-God-likeness). Anything short of the perfection of God is sin. Maintaining sinlessness, maintaining perfect Godliness is, of course, impossible for the heavily damaged creature. That is EXACTLY why we need a perfect redeemer. Our inability to remain without sin is precisely why we need a Godly sacrifice.
Humbly, 4 your consideration
KP
P.S. I originally thought you asked “how long can you go without singing”. If that were your question, I would agree with you, “it’s easy for me to go a day without singing”
The question shows that what sin is, is not understood.
read Deut6:**5 **Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.
and Matt22:36 “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”
**37 **Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ **38 **This is the first and greatest commandment. **39 **And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbour as yourself.’ **40 **All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
Now that’s the question to respond with. The answer is, as long as I can abide in Christ and be led by the spirit. Man in his current state can not achieve sinlessness. Scripture instructs to be led by the spirit and then, since we have surrendered to the spirit we are released of the law and besides the Holy Spirit will not lead us into sin. Believers and unbelievers alike should take note that scripture basically says that we will be judged on our very thoughts.
Matthew 5:28
**28 **But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart…/KJV
What we think about goes into our heart and becomes a part of who we are. (Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks.)
So we sow a thought, and reap an action. We sow an action and reap a habit, because we keep sowing the same action and it becomes habit. We sow a habit and reap a character because the habits in our life determine our character. We sow character we become something we reap, we reap a destiny and this is who we are and this is our future. Unseen thoughts bring visible consequences so we must all learn to control our thoughts. By abiding in Christ and always being led by the spirit.
It sounds to me, @Edward429451, that you equate sins with actions. God has enabled me to overcome outer sins, but there are many inner sins that do not result in actions, for example, impatience, worry, impulsiveness, prayerlessness, lust, frustration, and so forth.
I am always sinning in that sense, but through Jesus’ victory, he has given me his strength to overcome some of them, including lust, impulsiveness, and other inner sins.
However, the final victory ending in inner and outer perfection will only come when I die or when Jesus comes to perfect you and me. Come soon, Lord Jesus!
I have heard this melodic, marketable idiom before and I gave it some thought at the time. After my mulling and musing I realized I actually have no clue how to sow a thought, or an action, a habit, or a character. Maybe I’m just dense. Who knows, I may be an oblivious thought-sower, an air-headed Johnny-Appleseed type of nomad sowing thought-seeds willy-nilly as I go, while carelessly heaping up an ugly destiny I surely don’t want. If the idiom is true, I’m probably doomed. I don’t think it is, however. There may be a scintilla of sagacity contained in the caution that ungodly actions begin in ungodly thoughts, and if left unchecked, will naturally progress from bad to worse. Maybe. If we have found this to be true in our life from our experience, we certainly don’t find it to be taught in Scripture.
I’m not sure, but the idiom shared may derive from this passage:
Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life. And (so), let us not grow weary while doing good (sowing to The Spirit), for in due season we shall reap (everlasting life) if we do not lose heart. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all (sowing to The Spirit), especially to those who are of the household of faith. (Galatians 6:7-10)
In this passage, (as a grace to those as dense as I am), the apostle is careful to make clear HOW one “sows to the spirit”; i.e. “by doing good to everyone, but with special attention to those who are of the household of faith.” The shared idiom seems to be an attempt to make the Apostles admonishment more salient, or maybe more saleable, but fails on the first even if it succeeds on the second. (IMHO).
Your admonishment that “we must all learn to control our thoughts” is recieved, but the most important part of that admonishment is missing; the “HOW”. How does one “control his thoughts”? I’m having one right now, and it is out of my control. I should stop typing…
We may get better mileage when we remind each other the positive testimonial results as we yield to The Word of God, as elucidated by the Apostle in his letter to the church in Rome,
I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. (Romans 12:1-2)
Renewing our minds comes by intentional yielding. It might be true that “renewing” is also a kind of “controlling”, but “controlling” is not the same as “renewing”.
I think I’m beginning to understand why Enoch went away and lived in a cave. Just him and God. The Lord told me once that Earth is His University of Brotherly Love, so He had to stack the deck against us that it be impossible for man to be sinless in the natural state. So maximum experience and learning can be achieved.
Right, and anything not done in faith is sin. All we can see is the material world, not the spiritual realm, and our Lord remains mostly concealed from us and we are to look past everything of the world to the unseen Lord and develop a relationship with Him in total faith and unseen. And learn to love God with all our might and our Brothers & Sisters. But one can not be taught how to love without free will at the same time. Because all we can see is the material world, we are guaranteed to fail perfection and this teaches us to depend solely on Him, the unseen. But! God is not looking for perfection, He is watching our efforts and consistency. His blood covers a multitude of sins, but when we sin, what do we do? Do we run from Him? Or do we do as King David did and turn back quickly to the Lord and say, Lord I messed up again, please forgive me.
That David did not run from God is what made him to be a man after God’s own heart. If material earth has shown us anything at all, it’s that we as a species will die without Him. We need Him. We need our creator. Our Savior. We must endure until the end and give consistent diligent effort to coming completely out of the world Surrendering our entire will to Him. Abiding in Him. Abiding in Him means dwelling with Him for long enough periods, not just for 1 hour on Sunday! To be led by His Spirit, all the time. Always aware of His presence beside you and in you. Then we are abiding with Him.
He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High, shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty…(Psalm 91:1)
Yep, you are right, we haven’t touched on those sins yet. inner sins and sins of omission and so forth. I work on those too. Even though no man is perfect or can be Holy in this life, still, He says, be ye Holy even as I am Holy…So it shouldn’t discourage us that we can’t be perfect yet. We have to try and that’s how to do it. Walk with Him, talk with Him, Abide in Him…
**5 **Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;…/KJV
If say, a lustful thought enters our mind, this is not a sin (yet) What do we do with that thought? Dwell on it? No, grab that thought as an attack and cast it out of your mind and say no. Take it captive to Christ and do not dwell on it. So Don’t think on these things or they turn into sin and get in your heart.
Ok so a lustful thought came into my mind and I rejected it and made the decision to not think about it in obedience to the Lord. Ok done, now what? I’m glad you asked!
Philippians 4:8
**8 **Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things…/KJV
So there you have it. Don’t think on those things, think on these things…anything about the Lord and the Kingdom of God. Just pay attention and make the effort to obey.
That’s some great advice. I see much of what you have shared seems to come from your own personal experience. That’s wonderful. Your words are heard and understood. I appreciate your sage admonitions.
Just to be scripturally clear, however, the passage you used to illustrate your point actually means something quite different from the way you seem to be using it. In the passage you quoted, Paul is NOT admonishing his hearers to "take their own thoughts “captive to the obedience of Christ”, although this passage is frequently used as a reference for that idea in contemporary Christian circles. A good understanding on this passage is only possible in its context.
Now I, Paul, myself am pleading with you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ–who in presence am lowly among you, but being absent am bold toward you. But I beg you that when I am present I may not be bold with that confidence by which I intend to be bold against some, who think of us as if we walked according to the flesh. For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, and being ready to punish all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled.
Do you look at things according to the outward appearance? If anyone is convinced in himself that he is Christ’s, let him again consider this in himself, that just as he is Christ’s, even so we are Christ’s. For even if I should boast somewhat more about our authority, which the Lord gave us for edification and not for your destruction, I shall not be ashamed-- lest I seem to terrify you by letters. "For his letters," they say, “are weighty and powerful, but his bodily presence is weak, and his speech contemptible.” Let such a person consider this, that what we are in word by letters when we are absent, such we will also be in deed when we are present.
(2 Corinthians 10:1-11)
Actually, Paul is warning the Corinthians that he is not excited about having to be as bold (blunt) with them when he visits them as allows himself to be in his letters to them. He plans on being bluntly bold with those who are spreading false ideas among the church, and reminding them that his weapons are not of the flesh, but “mighty in God”. He WILL use those mighty weapons against those who underestimate him; who think he walks according to the flesh, like they do. When he gets to Corinth he plans on wielding these powerful Spiritual weapons against those who spread false ideas, and against their ideological strongholds of error, their futile arguments, and against every high thing that dares to exalt itself against the knowledge of God. In this imminent battle he plans on bringing every one of these erroneous thoughts “captive to the obedience of Christ”, and is willing to punish those who do not fold peacefully to the truth.
Rather than telling the Corinthians to “take their own thoughts captive”, Paul is reminding them that he has been trained in the most powerful weapons known to man, The Truth of God, and that Truth will subdue every error that comes against it. When we rely on The Truth of God, we too wield powerful spiritual weapons, capable of crushing error, if and when the church is obedient to it.
That’s cool, because I wasn’t trying to be orthodox. This is about as far away from doctrine or orthodoxy as you can get. These are all spiritual things. As in, the time has come to worship God in Spirit and in Truth.
Before I retired I learned to not say my morning prayers and then leave for work, but to invite the Lord to come with me to work and I’d talk to Him all day, inbetween jobs driving around. If the Lord isn’t with us in spirit then that means that we turned our back to Him and went out into the world to make our own decisions. He taggs along anyway. One time something made me click on the radio, I used to listen to the AM sermon stations quite a bit. I don’t know what I was thinking. I turned it on and instantly, I heard it plain as day in my mind, Turn the Radio off…(I haven’t turned it back on since!) So it takes a bit of effort on our part. To not forget that we have the friend which sticks closer than a brother with us, my best friend! After awhile of going to work with Him, He became bored being left in the truck, so He gave me a real head scratcher of a job so He knew that I would need Him and invite Him into the Customers house with me. I felt like (facepalm) that I actually left the Lord in the truck while I went in to work. As soon as I invited Him in, I was given inspiration and the Job sort of fell into place real smooth. Praise the Lord !!
Over time, I learned to be able to stand there and talk to a Customer and hold a conversation with Jesus in my heart at the same time. All of my work got very smooth after that. I never left Him in the truck again! It was like, riding helper again for me, lol.
But at first, it was hard. It does take all of your strength and all of your heart, soul, and focus to be able to remain aware of the Lord’s presence with me, and not get distracted into the world. . This is what Enoch did. This is what King David did. Have you ever small talk with the Lord? It happens! I believe He loves it, because we re acknowledging Him as Lord and with us.
Friend, I strive to “work out [my] own salvation with fear and trembling” (Philippians 2:12), not because my salvation depends on my efforts, but because, as the very next verse says, “it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure” (Philippians 2:13). So there’s really no need to question my personal walk with Christ Jesus.
I’ve learned an immense amount from brother @KPuff on this forum. Time and again, I’ve found that much of what he writes seems to go over the heads of those engaging with him, not because it is obscure, but because he patiently challenges popular assumptions by bringing us back to what the Scriptures actually say.
I genuinely believe we have a seasoned, Spirit-filled brother in our midst, and I treasure the time and care he puts into every post. Whether one agrees with every conclusion or not, his commitment to letting Scripture speak for itself is something I deeply appreciate.
But thank you for bringing to my attention your “otherwordly, heavenly experiences”
I discovered my refrigerator took a dive yesterday. So it may be a day or so before I can pick this up again. But I will, I just have to chase down a used refrigerator today. Wish me luck!
Anything not done in faith is sin. That is the truth according to:
Romans 14:23
**23 **And he that doubteth is damned if he eat, because he eateth not of faith: for whatsoever is not of faith is sin…/KJV
Whatsoever is not in faith. Now in the original language, whatsoever means…whatsoever. As in anything. I’m not sure if you are taking into account that we are instructed in scripture to be led by the spirit, so everything is subject to situational concerns which must be taken into account. Is the man who is working, walking with truth and obedience in his heart, or evil? One man at work can be compassionate to the unknowing elderly lady and seeing that she does have money (He’s in her house and can see) so he could reset the safety switch for her which takes 6 seconds and charge her a minimal service call, or not even a service call charge, to help her. The other man being in the same house but has a dark heart thinks, Aha I’ll tell her it is broken and needs &1200 to fix it, and he takes advantage of her without compassion. Now which one was i faith and which one not? Man 1 did that job in faith and compassion. Man 2 is a liar and a thief so is not in faith and in sin. Understand? Everything is situational so we have to make a choice. And Jesus said if you give a man a drink that it’s like giving Him a drink personally. There was a guy who said sure but it vosts $1200. He did that to Jesus too.
I think everything is a set up on this planet. We’re constantly being tested and tried. It’s hard but it makes us grow spiritually. There’s o coincidences in life either. All is God-incidences.
So why wouldn’t enticements of the heart or the enemies temptations that they put into our minds as a thought not be taken captive to Christ in obedience?
I just reread that passage in the NLT and…I think you’re right Brother! Nevertheless, I myself have used that technique of stopping bad trains of thought when they came to me, and it has been successful for me. It’s easier for me to keep reminding myself that I must stay in obedience and not up up my precious time to dwelling on anything sinful.
We all have evil sinful thoughts come to us at times. It is not a sin to have a sinful thought enter our mind. But, what do we do with that thought? Spend time on it thinking about it, or rejecting it immediately and change to subject in your thought train to be one of the Lord.
If we choose to entertain the sinful thought, then at some point it goes, whoosh and gets into our heart and becomes a part of who we are. That’s when it becomes sin and not just ‘innocent thoughts’.