“Now therefore, listen to me my children, for blessed are those who keep my ways, 33. Hear instruction and be wise, and do not disdain it. 34. Blessed is the man (person) who listens to me, watching daily at my gates, waiting at the posts of my doors. 35. For whoever finds me finds life, and obtains favor from the Lord. 36. But he who sins against me wrongs his own soul, all those who hate love death.”
In Proverbs, Solomon personified wisdom and had it talk as though it was a person. In fact the voice of wisdom is so closely allied to the voice of God that it is impossible to tell the two apart. In fact, Godly wisdom is an integral part of the Godhead. For example look at verses 23 and 27 of Proverbs 8: 23. “I have been established from everlasting, from the beginning, before there was ever an earth.” 27. “When He prepared the heavens, I was there.” We can surmise from this that the voice of wisdom is in essence the voice of God. What does the “voice of wisdom” tell us in these verses? First, it tells us in verse 33 that when we hear the instruction of wisdom we will be wise, and the implication is that if we disdain the instruction of wisdom, we will be unwise. I do not know of anyone who wants to be considered unwise, but I know plenty of people who are. (I can sometimes include myself in this category. Don’t laugh, you probably can too.) The “instruction of wisdom” is instruction from God, for from Him comes all wisdom. For example, we were given the Ten Commandments to enable us to live in God’s wisdom. If you will think of them, to break those commandments has proven unwise since the beginning of time, even before they were given. Who thinks of a person broken and destitute because of a sinful lifestyle as wise? In fact, people might look at him or her and say, “What a fool.” Second, it tells us in verse 34 that when we hear the instruction of wisdom we are happy: “Blessed is the man (person) who listens to me, watching daily at my gates, waiting at the posts of my doors.” “Blessed” can be translated as “happy.” So it might read, “Happy is the man (person) who listens to me.” True happiness is found the will of God. I know that when I have been careful to adhere to the will of God, my life has been happier than when I have not. You can probably say the same thing. It has been shown over and over again that happiness is not found in a sinful lifestyle. One might find momentary happiness, but not the kind that is built upon the joy that Christ gives us as we do His will. It is interesting that in John 10:9, Jesus said: “I am the door: by me if any man (person) enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out and find pasture.” This is close to “watching daily at my gates, waiting at the posts of my doors.” True wisdom and happiness are found by entering the door furnished by God, which is Jesus Christ. Third, it tells us in verses 35-36: “For whoever finds me finds life, and obtains favor from the Lord; 36. But he/she who sins against me wrongs his/her own soul; all those who hate me love death.” The point here is that to walk in the wisdom of God is live and to fail to do so is death. To find life here is compared to obtaining the favor of the Lord. Who, among those who believe in Him, does not want God’s favor? When I pray for people such as myself, my family, friends, and missionaries, etc. I pray for God’s favor on me and on them. But we can’t have His favor by simply asking for it, we have to live a life that personifies the wisdom of God in order to have it. This does not mean that we have to be perfect, but it does mean that we have to be obedient. Why would anyone in his or her right mind want to be out of God’s favor. The “voice of wisdom” is talking to you. I hope that you will read the verses carefully, and read the accompanying article carefully, and choose to heed the voice that leads to happiness, life and favor. Bro. Joe
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“But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost. 4. In whom the god of this world has blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine upon them.”
After his conversion on the Damascus Road, Paul’s whole life was consumed with telling the world about Jesus. He shared the “glorious gospel” with Jews and Gentiles alike. His primary ministry was to Gentiles, but he did not withhold his witness from anyone. But there were people who did not respond positively to the gospel. In our text verses, Paul explains why, and it is the same today. At this point we might say that “the more things change, the more they remain the same.” The gospel is hid, or veiled, to “them who are lost.” “Lost” is a word that people who are not Christians do not like. I have heard people say, “I’m not lost, I know where I am.” We do not use this word because we think people do not know where they are, but because they are lost from the salvation that is offered by Jesus. This means that they are lost to the blessings of God in this life and the blessings of God in heaven. It is a biblical word and we do not need to apologize for it. (Actually, the Greek word translated “lost” in the KJV, also means “perishing,” which is less complimentary than “lost.”) Why are people without Christ lost? Paul’s explanation is that they have been blinded by the “god of this world.” The “god of this world” is the devil. Lost people are also offended by making reference to the devil in dealing with their being lost, but Paul makes it plain that those who refuse to believe in Christ have been blinded by the devil. This is the devil’s job: to lie to people and blind them with the ways of this world in order to keep them from believing in Jesus. The devil has been the enemy from the beginning. (Think of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden.) He has convinced the world that he either does not exist, or that he is an ugly little red thing who is really a joke. The devil doesn’t care how people think of him as long as he can keep people from obeying God. What the devil does is blind people to the reality of Jesus so that they will not believe. There are hundreds, if not thousands, of books in print that deny the reality of Jesus Christ. Some teach that He did not even exist. Some teach that He existed but that He was not really the Son of God. Still others teach that Jesus was not really resurrected; therefore He is dead and God only knows where His body was hidden. But there are many other scholarly books that teach the reality of Jesus Christ, but they are not as popular to the world as the negative books. We should not be surprised, for denial of Jesus’ resurrection, and, consequently, His being the Son of God, is the devil’s main ploy. If people are blinded and will not believe, it is because they willingly choose to deny the reality of Christ. Why would people choose to deny the reality of Christ when there is so much evidence of His reality? Paul gave the answer in verse 4b: “Lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, Who is the image of God, should shine unto them.” They are kept from seeing the light of Christ because they do not want to see His light. In his book, The Case for the Real Jesus, Lee Strobel interviewed Michael Licona, who is a real scholar who is also a real believer. When Lee Strobel asked Licona why people would reject Christ’s reality, Licona’s answer was that many of them did not want to believe, because they did not want their lives to change. His meaning was that they were happy with the world and did not want to give any of it up. Understand that this is not the case for every unbeliever, but it is the case for many. This brings us back to the word “blinded.” The devil has blinded them to the way of Christ, because he has made the way of the world so appealing. Why did Paul continue to witness for Jesus, and why should we? Because He is real, and we are told to tell others, not to necessarily convince them. That is the work of the Holy Spirit. So “keep on keeping on,” and do not let the world, controlled by the devil, keep you from obeying Christ’s command to witness. Bro. Joe This is my commandment, that you love one another, as I have loved you.
I have been reading a lot lately about what Jesus said about love in the gospels. The consensus of what I read is that Jesus told us to love everybody; therefore, because we love people we are supposed to agree with them about everything. In my many trips through the Bible, I have never understood Jesus to mean that. It is a fact that Jesus told us to love people, in fact if we go by the New Testament we are not excused from loving anybody. Think of the worst person that you know. Jesus said to love him or her. This is how Jesus looked at people. We read in the gospels that Jesus lived his life that way. He loved the rich, the poor, the righteous, the self-righteous, whatever. I know this because He died on the cross for everybody because of His love for them. All of this is true, but I really haven’t found that His love always figured into agreement. One example is found in John 8:1-11, where a woman was brought to Him who had actually been caught in an act of adultery. Jesus defended the woman against her accusers, because, in my opinion, He knew that her accusers were guilty of the same thing. Jesus asked her, “Where are your accusers, does no one condemn you? And she said, “No man Lord.” Jesus said, “neither do I condemn you: go and sin no more.” It almost appears that Jesus didn’t think that the woman had done anything wrong, but, to the contrary, He called what she did sin. His point was that she had been forgiven, but that she needed to give up her sinful lifestyle. Jesus loved the woman, but He did not agree with the way she was living. Take a look at Matthew 5:27-28 where Jesus said: “You heard it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery: 28. But I say unto you, that whosoever looks at a woman to lust after her has committed adultery with her already in his heart.” If we take Jesus at His word, He loves the adulterer, or adulteress, but He does not love their adultery. Jesus loved/loves people of all kinds. He was accused of fraternizing with “tax collectors and sinners.” When Jesus went into Jericho, there was a wealthy tax collector there named Zacchaeus. You remember that Zacchaeus was short, so he climbed into a sycamore tree in order to see Jesus. When Jesus passed by Zacchaeus, He looked up at him and told him to come down because He was going home with him. We are not told details about Jesus’ visit, but we are told about the result of His visit. Since he was a chief tax collector, Zacchaeus made his money at the expense of all who paid taxes by taking out part of their taxes for himself. After Jesus visited Zacchaeus, he decided to restore fourfold to anyone whom he had cheated. Jesus loved him, but somewhere along the line He disagreed with him and convinced him that what he had done was wrong. Nowhere in the gospels did Jesus compromise with sin. He loved people whom He encountered, but He did not accept what they did that was wrong, whether it was adultery, cheating people out of money, or any other sin condemned by the Bible. Jesus was even hard on the people who were considered the most righteous in the Jewish faith – the scribes and Pharisees. Jesus being Jesus, He loved them, but He certainly didn’t agree with them. Here is a portion of what Jesus said to the scribes and Pharisees: “Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess.” (Matthew 23:25) Do you agree with me? Wait, you have to, because, based on what some of you might be saying about Jesus, if you love me you can’t disagree with me. I also remind you that "judge not" cuts both ways. Bro. Joe “Watch ye (be alert), stand fast in the faith, quit you like men, be strong. 14. Let all your things be done with charity (love).”
Paul had just completed the great resurrection chapter, the 15th chapter of 1 Corinthians, and was writing some advice to close out the book. In the text cited above, he gave a summary statement of what their behavior should be in the light of the problems in their church and the persecution from outside of the church. Paul’s first bit of advice was for them to stay alert. This is good advice for all Christians. It is possible that as we get involved in the daily routines of life, we can drop our guard. How can we stay alert? I don’t know what Paul’s answer would be, but I know what my advice is: start and end each day with prayer and read the Bible every day. I know that prayer and Bible reading makes me more alert. I’m sure there are some other things that you can think of to help you stay alert, but these two things are a good start. His second bit of advice was to “stand fast in the faith.” The first thing that comes to my mind to help us do this is the same advice that I gave above about prayer and Bible reading. Beyond that, however, we need to be careful not to let too much of the world’s philosophy creep in on us. Almost without realizing it, we can be influenced by what the world thinks over and above what the Bible teaches. This is why Paul warned in Romans 12 that we should not “be conformed to the world, but to be transformed by the renewing of our minds.” It is easy for us to have a kind of “live and let live” attitude. We call it “taking the line of least resistance.” We have a tendency to want to be comfortable with the world and to not be too different from those around us. Paul’s third bit of advice is “quit you like men (act like men), be strong.” I think that this means for us, men and women, to think maturely and not be easily persuaded by those around us. We need to stay strong in what we believe and how we behave. Certainly, what we believe will influence how we behave. Satan will certainly creep up on us in our weak moments and tempt us to do what is wrong. We need to be aware of this. I think Jesus showed us the best way to stay strong in His own temptations. Each time Satan tempted Him, Jesus threw scripture back at him. One of my favorite to throw at Satan is, “I can do all things through (Christ) who strengthens me.” The last bit of advice in these two verses is the most important: “Let all your things be done in love.” As we pray, read the Bible, go to church, whatever, we need to do it all in a spirit of love. It would be easy for us not to love the people who try to influence us to do wrong. We can take on a militant attitude that tempts us to engage in combat with people. Our battle is "against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places." We can begin to look with contempt at the people we encounter each day. If we are not careful, we can resent people who do not agree with us. The correct attitude is to love the people who oppose us. This is what Jesus did. He was rough on the self-righteous Pharisees, but He died on the cross for them. The Pharisee, Saul of Tarsus, found out about His love on the Damascus Road. I know that we are not Jesus, and it is not easy for us, but if we want to be effective witnesses for Christ, and to stay alert and strong, we will have to love. Jesus told us in the Sermon on the Mount to: “Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you.” (Matthew 5:24) This is not just good advice from Jesus, it is a command from Him. If we fail to love, we will fail in our influence on the world. To love the people of the world does not mean that we agree with them, but it means that we have their best interests at heart. This is all good advice, let’s keep it. Bro. Joe “Incline my heart to thy testimonies, and not to covetousness. 37. Turn away mine eyes from beholding vanity; and quicken me in thy way. 38. Stablish thy word unto thy servant, who is devoted to thy fear.” "Keep not thy silence, O God: hold not thy peace, and be not still, O God. 2. For, lo, thine enemies make a tumult: and they that hate thee have lifted up the head."
If we are honest with ourselves we will admit that we are like the psalmist, i.e., we wish that God would speak and end all doubt. The psalmist was concerned because the enemies of God were raising havoc, as they always do. I, too, wish sometimes that God would just shout for the entire world to hear. He didn't do it for the psalmist, and He will not do it for us. Why? First, God does not have to prove Himself, nor does He have to prove His existence. The Bible makes it plain that God shouts in His own way. His creation speaks for Him. It just makes sense that where there is a design, there is a designer. All that we see in the universe could not have just happened. In Psalm 19:1-2, David said as much: "The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament shows His handiwork. 2. Day unto day utters speech, and night unto night shows knowledge." David did not know all that "the heavens" represent that we know. Knowing what we know about the universe, we should see the hand of God at work even more than David did. God has given us proof of His existence, if we will just look, listen and learn. If one does not want to believe in God, he will not believe, even if God should shout from heaven. Just know this: God does not have to prove anything to us. There are other evidences of His existence, like the Bible, but what we have dealt with should suffice. However there are some people that nothing that we quote from the Bible could suffice to help them believe in God. They have rejected any concept of God, and they scoff at the Bible. To them it is a book of antiquated myths. I would not trade places with these people for anything. Can you imagine going through life and all of its troubles and feeling that there was no God to whom you could turn for help and comfort? We need to pray for these people that the Holy Spirit will convict them and that they will turn to Jesus. Second, God wants us to come to Him by faith. Hebrews 11:6: "But without faith it is impossible to please Him (God): for he that comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him." In John 20:29, Jesus said to Thomas: "...Thomas because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are those who have not seen, and yet have believed." Thomas was absent when Jesus first appeared to His disciples after His resurrection, and when told that Jesus was alive, Thomas said that he would not believe unless he saw and touched Jesus' hands and feet. Like Thomas, we have to take God on His terms not ours. Faith in Jesus is our means of acceptance. We must simply believe that "He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him." In other words, we must believe that God exists and that He wants to be involved in our lives. Third, God wants us to seek Him, and when we do seek Him, we will find that He has been seeking us. Just come to God by faith in Jesus, take Him at His word, and devote your life to Him. He will be real enough then so that He will not have to shout from heaven. You will have accepted Him on His terms, and that is what He expects of us. Hebrews 11:1 defines faith as: “the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen.” Faith is one of those heavenly mysteries that we cannot explain, but it is real to us anyway. I have had so many things happen to me by faith that I would not try to count them. The problem with a lot of people is that they try to work themselves into faith, when faith is really the acceptance of Jesus. You just need to let yourself go and just “fall into His arms.” He will be there waiting for you. At that time God/Jesus will become a fact of life for you. Bro. Joe “For I am the least of the apostles, who am not worthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. 10. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me was not in vain; but I labored more abundantly than they all, yet not I, but the grace of God, which was with me. 11. Therefore, whether it was I or they, so we preach and so you believed.”
What is the worst thing that you have done? Paul’s confession here was that he “persecuted the church of God.” I don’t know the full extent of that persecution, but with the information that we have, we know that it was brutal. For example, Paul literally took people out of their homes to put them on trial because of their faith in Jesus Christ. We are always reminded that the only thing that separates sins in the Bible is a comma, but brutality is an awful thing and leaves scars on the people who are brutalized and on the people who do the brutal act. Paul had a lot to be forgiven, but he was, after all, forgiven for all of it. What was at work in Paul’s forgiveness is at work in our forgiveness. That is why I opened with the question about the worst thing that you have done. If you have trouble accepting your own forgiveness after you have repented and asked for God’s forgiveness, you need this lesson. What was at work was the grace of God. Grace is classically defined as God’s unmerited favor. This means that we do not deserve to be forgiven for any sin, no matter what we consider the seriousness of it. Paul was forgiven, and we can be forgiven, because God is the God of grace, mercy and love. Jesus sought Paul out, and called him into Christian service before he had chance to pray. But at some time, Paul had to seek God’s forgiveness for his many sins against Christ’s church. In fact, Christ told Paul that in persecuting His church, Paul was persecuting him. Good lands! What a wonderful reality. There are people who reject God’s love because of His judgments, when they could discover His grace if they would just turn to him. If God’s grace applied to Paul, it applies to anyone who seeks God’s forgiveness. Grace is not a dormant attribute of God. I will illustrate what I mean by what Paul wrote in verse 10, “But by the grace of God, I am what I am.” Another way to say this is “by the grace of God, I am not what I was.” Before his Damascus Road experience, Paul was filled with animosity, just pure hatred, toward Christ and toward Christ’s people. But because of the grace of God, Paul’s life had been changed. He was no longer filled with hatred. He no longer wanted to bring harm to people with whom he disagreed. God’s grace is so powerful that it literally changes people’s personalities. God’s grace turns people around and gives them a heart of joy instead of a heart of hatred and fear. The good thing is that God’s grace continues its work in our lives and continues to change us day by day, week by week, etc., etc. God’s grace can change you too if you will surrender to it. Another important aspect of grace was that Paul did not have to do anything to get it, but after he had it, he went to work for the Lord. We can see Paul’s heart on this matter in Ephesians 2:8-10: “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9. Not of works, lest anyone should boast. 10. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.” God’s grace saves us when we put our faith in Christ, but after we have been saved by “grace through faith,” we are given work to do. Paul pointed out that we are not saved by works because if we were we could boast about what we did to get ourselves saved. We are saved by pure grace, but grace is a catalyst to service for God. Paul didn’t do anything to get saved, but after he was saved he did a lot to serve the Lord. You should either marvel in the grace that saved Paul, or confess your sins and invite Jesus into your life by faith, and you can marvel at the grace that saved you. The extent of God’s grace is eternal and applies to you. Bro. Joe "And let us consider one another to provoke to love and to good works: not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another; and so much the more as you see the day approaching."
Attending worship services at church at the appointed hours for your church is important, but it is not an end in itself, it is a means to an end. What do I mean? Just sitting on a pew in church on Sunday is not the fulfillment of the call to Christian service. It is important to be there, but why we are there is of more importance. If you are there to chalk up "brownie points" with God, you are going to be disappointed. The point is that going to church should make a difference in your life. When you are in church, you are singing, giving, listening and responding. All of this is supposed to help you to live a better Christian life and to be a better Christian servant. Hebrews 10:24-25 gives three good reasons why we should attend church. First, attending church should "provoke to love." Being together in fellowship with Christian friends should help us to love them more. I can't say that this is always the case. There can be as many unloving acts and words at church as there are in secular clubs. But that does not diminish the fact it is, after all, a church of the Lord Jesus Christ. The church is made up of human beings who are given to human foibles. But my experience in churches over the last fifty-five years has been to predominantly experience love. Of course, there have been negative moments, but overall the positive has outweighed the negative. At any rate, our aim should be to “provoke to love” no matter what the prevailing attitude of the church might be. Does attending church provoke you to love? Second, attending church should lead to "good works." In other words we should leave church ready to serve the Lord in the world. For example, we should be provoked to do works of love in the world. There is a saying that I have read in many church bulletins: "Enter to worship. Depart to serve." As familiar as that saying has become, it gives us one of the good reasons for assembling with fellow Christians. Third, we are told to "exhort each other." The word exhort means to encourage. Attending church should make us encouragers. It should make us encourage each other at church. It should make us encourage people with whom we work on a daily basis. People should be able to say, "Man, I can tell ‘Suzy’ went to church Sunday, because her attitude is really encouraging me today." Is this reality? It could be for some but not so for others. Fourth, attending church should make us look forward to Christ's coming, which is the "day" that is referred to here. Going to church is important as a means to an end. Be sure that attending church makes you a more loving person, a better servant of Jesus Christ, and encourager to other people and among those who look forward to Christ's coming. What are your reasons for attending church? What effect does it have on your life? What does it provoke you to do? It's at least worth thinking about. Bro. Joe "Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God. 8. They are brought to their knees and fall, but we rise up and stand firm." (NIV)
Where do we place our trust? Is our ultimate trust in our arsenal of nuclear weapons? Frankly, the world being as it is today, I am glad that we have them, but if I thought that this was all we had, I would be afraid. I agreed with this quote from the notes in The LIfe Application Bible on these verses: "Throughout history, empires and kingdoms have risen to great power only to vanish in the dust. David, however, knew that the true might of the nation was not in weaponry but in worship, not in firepower but in God's power. Because God alone can preserve a nation or an individual..." When David fought Goliath, he did not really depend on his sling shot and those five "smooth" stones. He was glad he had them, but his total confidence was in God. David knew that God was with him, and that he could defeat Goliath because of it. I'm afraid that our nation has moved away from that kind of faith. As a nation, we do not know that God is with us. We even have trouble as a nation deciding if there is a God, and if there is, does He really care? I'm awfully glad that I am not in that crowd. Like most Americans, I believe in a strong defense, but unlike many Americans, I know that a strong defense is not enough. History should teach us the truth of this text. Verse 8 says: "They are brought to their knees and fall, but we rise up and stand firm." When we depend on "horses and chariots" alone, we stand on dangerous ground. Nation after nation have been "brought to their knees." Adolph Hitler is a good example. The Third Reich was to last 1,000 years. It didn't make it, because it was built on the premises of ungodly people who had faith only in weaponry. Nazi Germany discovered that its vast arsenal was not enough. There are many other examples, but this one should suffice. When Peter stood to preach his great Pentecostal sermon, he knew the dangers that he faced. He had recently seen Jesus arrested and crucified. He knew that the enemies of Christ were very serious about shutting the followers of Jesus up. When Peter stood to preach, he was armed with a great trust in God, or he wouldn't have preached the sermon. Peter had the courage of his convictions, which meant that he put total trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. I also think of Stephen. When he stood up to the enemies of Christ, he knew that they were serious and that they would stone him. Stephen had the greatest kind of trust, that is, trust that is willing to die - trusting Jesus to take him to heaven. I think also of Paul after he was converted. What great trust in Jesus it took for him to preach the Christ that he had persecuted just a few days hence. There are many examples of trust in Christ that made a difference in the Bible. Look into your life. Where is your trust? Is it only in your bank account or some other wordly thing? You can lose those things. Put your trust in God. I can't promise you that everything will go your way when you do, but I can promise you that "you will rise up and stand firm" as the text promises. Bro. Joe “Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others.”
All of us need to pause and ask ourselves if we are selfish or selfless. I don't think any of us will find it easy to answer. It is difficult to overcome "self." It would amaze us if we could find a way to count the numbers of times that we think of self or do something selfish on a daily basis. It is something that we need to think about seriously. This is one of the points at which Jesus wants to change our lives. Praying and attempting to live selflessly is one of the most Christ like things that we can do. This is, after all, how Christ lived. He didn't think of Himself when He ministered tirelessly to the multitudes who were "like sheep without a shepherd." He didn't think of Himself when He continued to heal and minister to people after he had passed the point of exhaustion. He didn't think of Himself when He went to the cross. As a matter of fact, His first words from the cross were "Father forgive them for they know not what they do." The verses that follow our printed text tell us this about the matter: "5. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. 6. Who, being in the form of God thought it not robbery to be equal with God. 7. But made Himself of no reputation and took upon Him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men.” Jesus certainly didn’t do this for selfish reasons. He did it to save us from sin. Christlikeness is not wearing our Christian faith on our sleeves. It is not talking in holy tones. It is doing something for others and not thinking about ourselves all of the time. Perhaps the most egregious kind of selfishness is to pretend to be interested in other people and their lives, and doing it in order to bring praise to ourselves. One of Jesus’ main problems with the Pharisees was that they did things that looked good, like giving alms for the poor, for the express purpose of adding to their own conceit. It is certainly not wrong if others notice our good works, but it is wrong if we serve for self-aggrandizement. In calling His followers the light of the world, Jesus said that we should let our “lights shine before men that they may see our good works and glorify our Father in heaven.” Another thing that we need to think about is that we should not always live to please ourselves. Don’t misunderstand what I am pointing out. It is not always wrong to do things for ourselves. For example, we need to look out for our health and be sure that we take care of ourselves. Also, there is nothing wrong with loving ourselves. In fact, it is healthy to have a good opinion of ourselves. The problem comes when we become preoccupied with ourselves and our love for ourselves turns into outright conceit. When we get to a point that all we think about is our own comfort, our own glory and our own image, we have gone beyond Christian love for ourselves. We should live so that we can feel good about ourselves, and that means not being selfish. One of the worst things about selfishness is that it is a poor witness for Jesus Christ. This can be said about churches as well as individual Christians. When churches turn in upon themselves and only serve the purposes of their own interests and when they become a closed family instead of an inviting fellowship, they have gone beyond where Christ would take them. A church should be a family, but it should be a family with open arms always willing to welcome people into the circle. Instead of turning our backs on the community, we should selflessly serve the community. It is not always easy to live selflessly, but it is always rewarding. We would be better people, better Christians, better neighbors and better church members if we would be selfless instead of selfish. Bro. Joe |
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