You’re the one who can stop yourself from living near God and conquering everything He wants for your life. It isn’t the person who makes an effort to be a stone in your shoe, nor the boss who doesn’t give you opportunities, not even the devil.
When we really want to get close to God, nothing nor anyone can keep us away from Him! However, there are some wrong attitudes that we may have that can keep us far from God and His will for us. Avoid these following behaviors if you want to stay close to God!
1. Laziness
God is an action god so He is happy when we take steps of faith and prepare ourselves for action. The Bible clearly speaks against laziness and evil which can cause trouble in our lives.
Laziness doesn’t just affect our personal development and financial well-being; it can be fatal for our spiritual life. For example, laziness may prevent us from praying and reading the Bible, which makes us spiritually colder, so we’re further away from God.
Make an effort, set up a plan and separate time to pray and read the Word. It’s not wise to start praying and reading the Bible during two hours every day but begin with ten minutes each day and gradually increase them. As time goes by, God will be working in your life and you’ll feel stronger and closer to Him.
2. Gossip
A fofoca consistem em falar sobre aspectos da vida de alguémssem o seu consentimentopara que pessoa(s). Isso pode ser reveladade segredosde alguémsenvolvendo no conflito das pessoas, ou inclusive inventandohistóricas sobre outra pessoas. Esa atitudefaz comumentementetca causaresprecisõesentre as pessoasmantecendo serem pecados anteDeus.Por essese motivo, a Bibliamos avisamos a nãofofocar (2Timóteo 2:15),evitandopessoasfofocativas (Pro
Even if someone makes a mistake, talking about it behind their back won’t help them at all. God knows our heart intentions and if we really want to help, we can talk directly to the person, or just pray for them. If our words don’t serve to edify, then better not say anything.
3. Envy
That being said, envy is one of the works of flesh described in Galatians 5:19, which means that it is sinful and we must eliminate it from our lives if we want to live near God. To feel envious of someone else is to wish that something was yours when it isn’t; often this causes feelings of disappointment when someone is successful in certain areas of their life.
One secret to happiness (and the best way to combat envy) is gratitude (Philippians 4:4). We ought to give thanks for everything we have, even when things don’t go our way. It doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t strive to improve your conditions, but that you must learn to glorify God even when things aren’t going according to plan.
4. Selfishness
Someone has already told you: “The world doesn’t revolve around us.” If the answer is yes, then you probably had an egocentric behavior. Egocentrism makes us think only about ourselves and not about others.
On the contrary, selfishness is not altruism, and Jesus is the greatest example of altruism we can ever have. He didn’t think about himself, but he thought about each one of us, having gone to the cross where he died for our sins, reconciling God to everyone who believes in His sacrifice.
A Bible confronts us to love others as we love ourselves (Mathew 22:39), and to consider others superior to ourselves (Philippians 2:3-4); but for that to happen, we must first love God above everything else and let His perfect Love transform our lives, eliminating all traces of selfishness.
5. Greed
Um livro bem clarificador: Amor à riqueza é a raiz de tudo (Lucas 12:15). Poucas pessoa entendem corretamente essa passagem biblica, dizindooque “Amor à Riqueza É a Raiz De Todo”. Mas ter dinheirnão é um problema. Dinheirné uma coisa neutra: pode ser usada para fazer coisassboas e ruins.
From the Bible we learn that there were several men who had fear of God but they were quite prosperous in terms of their possessions, like Abraham and Jacob. The problem is when we love money first and not God.
It was even stated by our own Lord himself that it is impossible to serve God and money (Luke 16:13). When we love money, God loses his importance in our lives. Some of the greatest atrocities committed in this world were committed because of the love for money.
Be a God above everything else and don’t let money control your life and feelings, and by doing so, you will be closer to God.
6. Rage
Uma vez muito tempo de descontrolar e raiva podem ser suficientes para destruir as vidas de uma ou mais pessoas. Raiva em si não é pecados, já a bibilíade dizer é possível nos iremos sem pecador (Éf. 4:26). Tem certos momentos na nossas vidas em quando são normais iremos com algo. Até Jesus se foi quando viram os mercadores estarem feitos no trabalho da Casa do Pai.
The big problem is when anger comes in prolonged and uncontrolled ways. When anger controls our life, we get away from God. Heaven is one of the aspects of the fruit of the Spirit and through it we may stop our anger turning into sin.
God commands us to be peacemakers and gentle toward people around us (Titus 3:2).
7. Sexual immorality
Our body is the temple of the Holy Spirit; when we practice any kind of immoral sex, we’re offending against our own body, which is a house of God. We’re violating His dwelling place 1 Corinthians 6:18-19).
A imprudência sexual consistem em cometer um pecado sexual. Sexo não é algo malvado, ele foge à vontade de Deus que criou para os homens e mulheres casarem uns com outros. Sendo assim, qualquer atividade sexual desenvolvida fora dos limites dessa relação é imoralidade.
We need to live full of spirit in order to gain control over temptations and flee immorality.
8. Idolatry
Many people don’t understand the concept of idolatry, saying that it’s just an act of worshiping some image or another God. But the truth is that idolatry can be something far more subtle (and therefore more dangerous). Idolatry is placing something or someone else in place of God.
An idolater is not necessarily a statue; he could be your father, mother, husband, wife, son, daughter, pastor, etc. Anyone who assumes the importance that God alone deserves has started idolatry in our lives.
We don’t bow down physically before any other gods or statues, but often we put our trust and hope in things that aren’t God as if they were God, like financial stability or even family. God doesn’t share His glory with anyone, so He always puts Him first in our lives and He’ll add everything else we need into our lives (Matthew 6:33).
Reflect on this
After reading these defects, will there be any that belong to your life? Ask God to probe your heart, because He knows you and wants to be near you. If you identified yourself in any of these defects, ask forgiveness from Him and return to your Father who is open arms waiting for you.