A deep pain sears your heart because you and your spouse have been trying to have a baby for years with no success. Another couple shares the exciting news that they are pregnant with their first baby. You and your spouse are sitting in your Church community group. Plotting Evil in Your Heart Toward Another Proverbs 22:17 instructs us to “listen to the words of the wise apply your heart to my instruction.” (NLT)Ĥ. Not everyone is going to murder someone, but we are sometimes faced with decisions to support people, organizations, or situations that lead to this unfortunate reality. After the results are tallied, you hear on the news the question you voted in favor of passed and now more money will be provided to fund organizations directly or indirectly involved in spilling the blood of the innocent. Imagine heading to the voting polls without any knowledge of the proposed questions or candidates. Not only does this look like a first-hand murder in today’s world, it can also include the end result of any decision we might make. If you find yourself in a situation where it would tear someone down, stay out of it. Ephesians 4:29 says “Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.” (NIV). If you hear someone gossiping about another individual, ask yourself if repeating what you heard will build people up or tear them down.
That same evening you run into Stan at a local restaurant only to hear Stan confide in you that he’s only had two drinks in his life and can’t come to terms why he was fired for a ridiculous rumor. Rather than letting those words go in one ear and out the other, you turn to another co-worker and say “Did you know Stan was an alcoholic?” The next week you find out Stan has been fired because he had been accused of drinking on the job. They casually toss around the word alcoholism. Sitting down at your desk for the day, you overhear a co-worker mention something about another co-worker’s drinking habits.
Once you start to get to know those around you, it makes it easier to love them, because you start to realize they are human just like you. If it’s a co-worker you find yourself putting down, try asking that co-worker out to lunch or catching up with him or her in the breakroom. Listen to their stories and ask questions about their life. Volunteer at a soup kitchen and sit down next to the men and women. Mark 12:31 says, “Love your neighbor as yourself.” (ESV) If you begin to see that you are not loving those around you as you should, try finding intentional time to spend with those hard to love. Even across the street, you do your best to not make eye contact with this individual. Rather than continue your journey on the path you have chosen, you decide to cross the street to avoid them. Imagine you are walking down the street with a loved one and you see a homeless person sitting on the sidewalk ahead. Putting Others Down While Considering Yourself Superior In order to find what these seven deadly sins look like in today’s world and discover breakthrough, we have to tackle each of these seven deadly sins one by one:ġ. Praise the Lord for laying out these sins so deliberately, because it means we can not only learn them, we can find breakthrough to help us overcome them. These are entirely despicable to God!” ( The Passion Translation) Proverbs 6:16-19 says, “There are six evils God truly hates and a seventh that is an abomination to him: Putting others down while considering yourself superior, spreading lies and rumors, spilling the blood of the innocent, plotting evil in your heart toward another, gloating over doing what’s plainly wrong, spouting lies in false testimony, and stirring up strife between friends. How does a person follow every single instruction in the Bible? Are there certain instructions that are more important than others? While all sin is heartbreaking to God, there are seven deadly sins He truly hates and says are an abomination to Him. But when it comes to the matters of the heart, sometimes God’s word is hard to follow.
Christian Lifestyle, Leadership, Ministryįollowing God’s Word seems easy enough.