WHATEVER IS NOT OF FAITH IS SIN

I knew sin to be disobedience to God’s commandments.  But from the day I read from the scripture that whatsoever is not of faith is sin (Rom. 14:23) and I meditated on the verse, I had another dimension to my Christian journey.  I was able to know the difference between self righteousness and works of faith.

Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen (Heb. 11:1).  Faith is believing or trusting God, and it is not a one off thing, it is a process that plays out all our fruit of the Spirit- faith, love, joy, meekness, gentleness, goodness, temperance, patience and peace.   Believing and trusting God which is a process entails a lot of things, it entails all other fruit of the Spirit.  While we are believing and trusting God, we need to be patient (Heb. 6:12, 10:36), we need to persevere, endure and tolerate difficulties and hardships that come our way.  We need to have peace with God, ourselves and neighbors (Heb. 4:3, 12:14).  Our actions and reactions must edify others (Rom. 14:19).  While believing God which is our faith we must love God and our neighbors (Matt. 22:37-40).  In a situation where a person is trusting God for a car and he does not see anything wrong in defrauding his employer to buy the car and still claiming to be of faith.  This is not faith but sin.  Faith entails loving, being patient, gentle, joyful, peaceful, having self-control, being good, and being meek.  Whenever you fall short of any of the fruit of the Spirit while believing God, you are not faithful, but sinful.  It is either you are faithful or sinful, you cannot be in between. More reason when you have one fruit you have all.

Our faith which is our believing and trusting God is the substance (part and pieces) of what we hoped for. We need to understand this faith very well so that we will not be sinful while we are waiting for its establishment (Isa. 7:9).  Take for example, I am a bachelor hoping for a wife, evidence of having a wife is my faith, that is believing and trusting God is the part and pieces (substance) of the wife not yet seen, and all I can show for my hope now is my faith (believing and trusting God).  Therefore, all that is of faith in getting a wife is believing and trusting God.  Which means, crying, getting fed up, lamenting, murmuring, running into secret sins like masturbation, pornography, is not of faith but sin.  Some will say, there is nowhere masturbation or pornography is mentioned in the bible, but can one believe and trust God for masturbation?  Whatsoever you cannot trust God for is a sin, whatsoever is not of faith is sin, please do away with it, and do not justify it.

Believing and Trusting God

Our faith is not only centered on what we hope for, but also on our motive for believing God and our attitude towards establishing it.  If my hope is to have a car, which is a good thing to have, what is my motive? Is it for a necessity or to let people know I have arrived?  What is my attitude towards getting it? Am I going to work hard and pray as commanded in the scripture, or look for how to defraud someone?  Therefore, faith which will not lead to sin is believing and trusting God for the right substance with the right motive and the right attitude towards getting it.  Whenever any of the three (substance, motive or attitude) is not right, it is not of faith but sin.

More reason our faith of giving our lives to Christ must solely be because of love we have for Him and not because of fear of eternal punishment or material things we will get in returns.  Let us wait patiently to allow Holy Spirit to shed God’s love abroad our hearts (Rom. 5:5).  Our hope is Jesus Christ and the substance of our faith, and we must not be ashamed.  Your motive of requesting a thing from God must be centered on the fruit of Spirit: if not to show love, it must be to reflect joy; or to make peace; or to be kind.  Your attitude must be based on the Word of God, keeping His commandments.  Our attitude must be obedience to work of faith (believing God), being righteous before God – walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless (Luke 1:6).

Obedience to God’s commandment is not by our might, we need His grace and Holy Spirit to help us (Heb. 12:28, 13:9, 1Pet 3:18, 1 Corint. 2:10-16).  We must not fall into the act of self-righteousness, no one can make himself righteous.  Evidence of your faith in Christ cannot be justified by the following, though they are good but not sufficient: conviction of sin; visible morality; intellectual knowledge of the scripture; religious involvement, assurance of salvation or past event like Spirit manifestation.  But evidence of our faith is justified by: love for God; ongoing repentance of sin; a brokenness; a certain longing to be freed from sin; grieving over sin; hating the flesh; genuine humility; a sweetness and a grace; self-denial; a beatitude attitude; the attitude of the father of prodigal son; overwhelmed with the goodness and grace of God that humbles you; devotion to the glory of God; humble submissive prayer that expresses your true faith and trust in God; selfless love for others; separation from the world; spiritual growth; progressing in Christ’s likeness; obedience to the word of God; love for the word of God.

Perhaps you have not come in contact with Jesus Christ the great deliverer or you need to restitute your way, it is not too late to know Him, all you need to do is declare Him as your Lord and Saviour, confess and repent from your sins.  He will save you and give you a brand new beginning, and there after pursue the spiritual things to give your soul and heart permanent peace and rest they deserve.

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