Sin by thought

Message / Question

Hey Dave When does a thought become a sin? For instance if it has crossed your mind that a particular child (of the opposite sex) is attractive, does this disqualify you from kids ministry? Or does it only matter if you act on this? Should we ever share these thoughts lest our leaders think poorly of us? Thanks

Response

The issue of “thought sin” is an issue where there is a reasonable level of debate. So let’s start by noting that for which there is general agreement – a thought or temptation in itself is not a sin. If what you may want is inconsistent with God’s will, that “want” (a thought in its own right) it cannot be deemed to be sin. The reason that this is clear is that we are told that Jesus was “in all points tempted just as we are tempted” and He remained free from sin. Likewise, Jesus the man did not WANT to go to the cross as we see in His prayer in the Garden when He prayed “...not my will but Yours be done”, thus indicating that His will and The Father’s will in this matter were different.

So temptations are not sin in themselves, however they can lead to sin if not rejected. It is the destructive thoughts that a person allows to germinate that first constitute sin. The Bible says, "Everyone is tempted, when his own desire allows it. Then desire conceives and produces sin, and the sin produces death" (James 1:14,15). So James is saying here that sin does not occur when the emotion, thought, or passion first comes. In order to get a person to sin, Satan gets them to think about the action that is sinful. So if those thoughts are not resisted, then we are likely to give in to the emotion, thought, or passion and act on it – that action is where the sin occurs.

If a person finds that a particular child (of the opposite sex) is attractive, they need to take care, because sin may be close at hand. I would suggest that anyone in such a position would be strongly advised to make himself unavailable for children’s ministry whilst they deal with the issue – it’s much better to remove yourself from an area in which you may be tempted, than continue in that ministry area and risk the temptation produce sin – a sin that would be extremely damaging to the perpetrator, the victim, the families involved and the church. Should you share these thoughts with leadership? If you have difficulty dealing with the issue, you are far better off getting some wise counsel and support than taking the risk that the thoughts may develop into sinful action.