When we think of sin, we usually think of doing something morally wrong. Murder is sin; adultery is sin; lying is sin. Watching tv is neutral; playing with the computer is neutral; going to the store is neutral.
But there's more to sin than committing moral wrongs. Tony Evans of The Alternative once stated, "The essence of sin is leaving God out." In other words, anything you have to leave God out of in order to do, to have, or to be, is sin.
Right here we have not only the heart of sin, but the heart of the Lordship of Christ and walking by the spirit of God as well.
In Deuteronomy 6:4-5 God said to Israel,
Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God [is] one LORD:
And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.
If you love God with all your being, with everything inside of you, and with all you do, you'll want God involved in everything you do -- not just as a good luck charm to bring you success and prosperity in your own endeavors, but as the moving and determining force behind what you choose to do.
Proverbs 3:5-6 puts it this way:
Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.
In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.
The way you stay in step with God in all you do is by running everything you want to do by God before you do it. Many times this is not a matter of asking God; it's a matter of checking out what you want to do against what He's already revealed as His will in His Word. This is more than just "following the rules" in God's Word; it is making sure that what you are doing is pleasing to God before you do it.
There are three ways we can go in life: we cam please ourselves, we can please others, or we can please God. Pleasing ourselves without first pleasing God is selfish and ungodly. Pleasing others without first pleasing God is unselfish and equally ungodly. Pleasing God first makes whatever we do, whether for ourselves, for others, or for God, godly. To live to please God, in accordance with His Word, is to walk by the spirit of God, to walk under the Lordship of Christ. It is not enough for us to live for others. We must strive to please God first, or our living for others is in vain.
In Isaiah 30, we have a picture of a group of people who left God out. What they were doing was not, in and of itself, sin: they were trying to save their own lives, something that most of us would regard as a noble and worthwhile pursuit! But they went about it the wrong way; they tried to do it without God. What was God's response?
Isaiah 30:1-2 (NIV)
"Woe to the obstinate children," declares the LORD, "to those who carry out plans that are not mine, forming an alliance, but not by my Spirit, heaping sin upon sin;
who go down to Egypt without consulting me; who look for help to Pharaoh's protection, in Egypt's shade for refuge.
What was wrong with their plan? It wasn't God's plan. Did God give in and go along with their plan? No, not at all. God pronounced judgment on their plan instead.
It's so easy for us to think, to plan, to pray, to live on the basis of our own thoughts and ideas that leave God and His will out. We make up our minds first, then invite God in afterward, as if it honors Him that we thought to include Him. The purpose of prayer is not to get God to fall in line with our will, but to help us to fall in line with His.
In Isaiah 31 we see God's judgment on their plans.
Isaiah 31:1-3.
Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help, who rely on horses, who trust in the multitude of their chariots and in the great strength of their horsemen, but do not look to the Holy One of Israel, or seek help from the LORD.
Yet he too is wise and can bring disaster; he does not take back his words. He will rise up against the house of the wicked, against those who help evildoers.
But the Egyptians are men and not God; their horses are flesh and not spirit. When the LORD stretches out his hand, he who helps will stumble, he who is helped will fall; both will perish together.
Do you want to be a failure as far as God is concerned? Do you want to live a life that counts for nothing? Then plan without God. "Do your own thing."
Pr 19:21 (NIV)
Many are the plans in a man's heart, but it is the LORD's purpose that prevails.
We can desire all we want. We can plan as carefully as we choose. We can execute our plans as flawlessly as is humanly possible. But in the end, it is the Lord's plans, the Lord's purposes, that will prevail.
Psalm 127:1-2. (NIV)
Unless the LORD builds the house, its builders labour in vain. Unless the LORD watches over the city, the watchmen stand guard in vain.
In vain you rise early and stay up late, toiling for food to eat-- for he grants sleep to those he loves.
When you bring your plans to God for His approval, you submit yourself to His will. As you do this, you are pleasing God, you are walking by the spirit, you are submitting yourself to the Lordship of Christ. You are living life the way God intended for life to be lived, and you can ask for and expect God's help, for you are doing His will.