When it comes to sin, we’re very good at deceiving ourselves. Just like the Pharisees who were criticized by Jesus for their hypocrisy, we religious folks find loop holes that let us off the hook. Guess what, it doesn’t work! God knows our heart, our motivation and even our thoughts. As the Bible says:
“Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap.” Gal. 6:7
We may be able to fool ourselves, but we can’t fool God. This quote by John Ruskin (8 February 1819 – 20 January 1900) explains just one example of how we look for “wiggle room.”
“The essence of lying is in deception, not in words. A lie may be told by silence, by equivocation, by the accent on a syllable, by a glance of the eye attaching a peculiar significance to a sentence. All these kinds of lies are worse and baser by many degrees than a lie plainly worded. No form of blinded conscience is so far sunk as that which comforts itself for having deceived because the deception was by gesture or silence, instead of utterance.”
So keep your conscience sensitive. Don’t forget to examine yourself for sins of omission as well as commission. There are no loop holes.
For more about sinful thoughts see:
Lutheran Ladies Connection 