For out of the heart come evil thoughts—murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander.
Matthew 15:19
Sin doesn't originate outside of you (with temptation) but from within your own wicked heart (compare James 1:13-15). So, you can't blame anyone else when you sin because the battlefield on which you win or lose the battle against sin is inside yourself.
In Greek the word for 'heart' in Matthew 15:19 doesn't just mean the emotional part of yourself, but your passions, desires, and thoughts as well. It could be translated as 'soul.' That means that you lose the battle against sinful thoughts, attitudes, and feelings long before you lose the battle against sinful acts.
I believe we find this illustrated in the first murder. Genesis 4:8 says, "Now Cain said to his brother Abel, 'Let’s go out to the field.' While they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him." The text doesn't explicitly say that Cain's act was pre-meditated, but that seems to be the clear implication. It certainly reads like Cain intentionally lured his brother out to a remote place with the intention of killing him and hiding his body.
Who knows how many times Cain thought about killing his brother before he actually did it? Who knows how many different ways of murdering Abel he considered before landing on a specific method? Or who know how many times Cain played the murder out in his mind before he acted on it? We don't know. But unless we're to believe that Cain spontaneously killed his brother after inviting him out to the field for no particular reason, we have to assume that Cain thought this through. If this is true, then Cain gave in to sin and indulged in sinful and murderous thoughts and attitudes towards his brother long before he ever raised his hand against him.
What a powerful example of the truth Jesus teaches! When you are angry, be very careful what you allow yourself to think on or fantasize about. Be careful what thoughts you fill your mind with. Be careful what feelings you indulge or dwell on. Because sin begins in your heart and in your mind. If you lose the fight against sinful thoughts, desires and feelings, then you will never win the battle against sinful actions.
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