TEEN TREE
OF LIFE
THE DOCTRINE OF MENTAL ATTITUDE SINS
Part 3
July 23, 2017
BEFORE we begin, if you are a believer in Jesus Christ, take a moment to name your sins to God the Father. This will allow you to be filled with the power of The Holy Spirit as you read this booklet (EPH 5:18 & 1JO 1:9). IF YOU HAVE never believed in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, you have that opportunity right now. Simply tell God the Father that you are believing on His Son Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. If you make that decision, you are now a believer and will always be a child of God! When you die, you will spend eternity with Him forever in heaven! (JOH 3:16 & ACT 16:31).
The next Mental Attitude Sin is fear. Fear is actually a whole system of sins, including worry, anxiety, insecurity, and the inability to apply doctrine (including the Problem-Solving Devices). Fear is an emotional sin which torments those who live in it and the lives of those around them. 1JO 4:18 puts it beautifully: God is love. When we take up permanent residence in a life of love, we live in God and God lives in us. This way, love has the run of the house, becomes at home and mature in us, so that we’re free of worry on Judgment Day—our standing in the world is identical with Christ’s. There is no room in love for fear. Well-formed love banishes fear. Since fear is crippling, a fearful life—fear of death, fear of judgment—is one not yet fully formed in love. (The Message Bible) Fear increases like a disease in the life of the believer who allows it into his/her life. And this type of believer will eventually become afraid of life itself!
Our next Mental Attitude sin is guilt. Guilt can be a devastating thing if it’s not handled properly. Satan accuses God’s people to try to make them feel guilty so that they hide from God and separate themselves from Him. Think of it. If you do something wrong like take some money from your brother and you become guilty, you will avoid what is making you guilty: God! You’ll be thinking, “If I ignore God, I won’t have to face my sin of stealing.” What you should do instead is name your sin to God in His Son’s Name and let it go! Guilt is useless!
There was a very big guilt trip in the Garden, after Adam and the woman sinned as we learn in GEN 3:7-10: Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loin coverings. They heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. Then the Lord God called to the man, and said to him, “Where are you?” He said, “I heard the sound of You in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid myself.”
In our Christian walk, we will all fail in some area and we must move on with our spiritual life through rebound (naming your sin to God in His Son’s Name). Do not get distracted by feeling guilty about your past failures, except to learn from them. God’s
Word teaches us to forget the past and move forward toward spiritual maturity. Past failures must never become present handicaps. You must learn how to handle your past including that great villain called guilt. The essential element for living in freedom from guilt is understanding grace. If you understand that grace is free, unmerited love and forgiveness from God, you cannot be guilty because you have no reason to be guilty: His Son Paid for your sins! If you don’t realize that God’s Justice and Righteousness are completely satisfied, and that your relationship with Him is based on the Accomplishments of The Cross, then guilt will torment you until it drives you from Him.
The next Mental Attitude Sin is worry. Worry is anxiety regarding anything in life. It is a disquieting and painful state of mind involving undue concern over something. Worried people anticipate the worst, leaving them in constant fear of danger, misfortune, trouble, or uncertainty. Worry is a state of restlessness and agitation, producing mental disturbance, uneasiness, foreboding, anxiety, and painful uncertainty. Worry can destroy your soul. If unchecked, it can easily result in mental illness. Worry in the mind causes shock to the body: Anxiety in the heart of a man weighs it down, but a good word makes it glad. (PRO 12:25 )
The Bible teaches us that believers worry about sin which causes guilt. This is covered in PSA 38:18: For I confess my iniquity; I am full of anxiety because of my sin. And you know what?? Worry is a sin, so, we are ordered to stop worrying!!
LUK 12:29 sums up God’s take on worry: And do not seek what you shall eat, and what you shall drink, and do not keep worrying. Worry is horrible because it insults God’s Character by insinuating that He is not capable of taking care of you.
Our next Mental Attitude Sin is a very popular one! It’s anger. Anger is expressed through antagonism, hatred, exasperation, resentment, and irrationality. It can be mental or emotional or both. Anger motivates jealousy and cruelty: A person can’t be angry without being cruel and unfair. (PRO 27:4) Anger is related to stupidity according to ECC 7:9: Do not be hasty to be angry in your heart [right lobe]; for anger resides in the bosom of fools. Anger results in self‑induced misery. What this means is that when you allow yourself to be angry, you bring misery to yourself in the way of losing friends, estranging your family, making yourself ill and much more!
The next Mental Attitude Sin is judging. MAT 7:1‑3 is the practical application to the believer’s life: “Do not judge so that you will not be judged. For in the way you judge, you will be judged; and by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you. Why do you look at the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye?” Judging makes you look very ugly. Think about what it sounds like to hear someone judging another person. Remember that, next time you judge!
Hatred is also a Mental Attitude Sin. It is self-punishment; the coward’s revenge for being intimidated; madness of the heart; and the anger of the weak. Hatred does more harm to the believer who harbors it than to the object of his/her hatred. Hatred paralyzes life; love releases it. Hatred confuses life; love harmonizes it. Hatred darkens life; love illuminates it. The believer who executes the Pre-Designed Plan of God will be humble and will not waste time hating anyone. True humility manifests itself by the avoidance of hatred.
We’ll end our study with murder. It might surprise you that murder can also be a Mental Attitude Sin but it is plainly taught in 1JO 3:15: Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer; and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him. If this is the first time you’re learning this verse, take a moment and repeat it to yourself. And remember it whenever you feel or show hatred toward someone.
Always remember these Mental Attitude Sins, especially when you confess your sins to God in His Son’s Name. It’s easy to overlook the things we do in our heads throughout the day but God knows all…