Doing God's Will

If you were to list the most heinous sins, what might top your list?  Since God is the Judge of all the earth who has established an absolute standard of righteousness to which we will be held responsible, it's important to align our perspective with His.  Whilst we can be fixated on externals, God looks at the heart.  He recognises the source of the sin in our hearts and minds before any "crime" is committed.  The sins God despises often will not land the guilty in prison, but they lead souls to hell.

Consider the list of sins God finds disgusting in Proverbs 6:16-19:  "These six things the LORD hates, yes, seven are an abomination to Him: ¹⁷ a proud look, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, ¹⁸ a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that are swift in running to evil, ¹⁹ a false witness who speaks lies, and one who sows discord among brethren."  I would be willing to wager "a proud look" would not have topped the list of abominations before God, but there it is.  The source of pride is not in our physical features but in the perspective of our minds and the posture of our hearts.  It is not illegal anywhere (to my knowledge) to be deemed proud, smug, or arrogant, but it is great wickedness.  Pride was the sin of Satan, and it is a sin at the core of every soul born in sin.

All of these sins - lying, murder of the innocent, wicked plans, running to evil, being a false witness or sowing discord among brethren - all of these start in the heart and mind.  The shedding of innocent blood or lying under oath are sin punished in courts of men, but the justice of God probes and evaluates our unseen motives.  Many of these sins involve our words.  Jesus taught His disciples out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks, and a good tree bears good fruit.  If our mouths are filled with deceit and lies, if we use our words to harm and cause division, it indicates our hearts are not pure before God.  An honest assessment of God's righteous judgments is quite shocking, and praise God He has revealed the truth to us.  There is no fine print to contend with in God's Word that conceals the truth, just our own spiritual blindness and stubbornness.

It is of little benefit to only seek to avoid sin, but as children of God we ought to seek to do what pleases Him.  We are called to humble ourselves before God, and a contrite heart is pleasing in His sight.  We should speak the truth in love, protect the innocent and vulnerable, delight in seeking and doing the good will of God, remove our feet from the wicked way, and edify the Body of Christ.  Let us receive the exhortation of Paul in Philippians 2:12-16: "Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; ¹³ for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure. ¹⁴ Do all things without complaining and disputing, ¹⁵ that you may become blameless and harmless, children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, ¹⁶ holding fast the word of life, so that I may rejoice in the day of Christ that I have not run in vain or laboured in vain."