Abase yourself continuously, always esteem others above yourself, be the servant of all, do all that you can to destroy every vestige of pride within you, despise every offering of awards. Such is the life that those who have been born again are to live.
“Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.” (James 4:10)
Try saying those words to one who is yet unrepentant, to one who still lives in and for this world, for self, and watch the response you will get.
This is what we are to willingly do because of the price that was paid for us, this is in part the fulfillment of John 14:15, and we are expected to exert all possible effort in doing so.
“If ye love me, keep my commandments.”
Do not repay evil with evil, do not lash out towards others, not even in your thoughts, accept everything that arrives in your life as a blessing, a mercy of the Living God as to one that deserves nothing. Count every accomplishment of your past as dung, as a complete and total waste of time, throw all those awards and certificates into the trash bin, count nothing as gain in your life unless it has brought glory to the Lord Jesus Christ, unless it has in some way exalted the name of the Most High above the heavens.
“The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God.” (Psalm 14:1a)
And all that has been written here so far is one of the main reasons why, in their minds, as was once in many of ours, that any god that wants all the glory for himself would be a selfish god, any god that required, nay, even commanded complete and unquestioning subservience to his every whim and pleasure, could be no less than a cruel taskmaster who gives not one thought to the desires of those he demands everything of.
“Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.” (1st Cor. 10:31)
Love is not part of the equation of their thoughts, the sacrifice of love from His Son for our sins does not enter into their minds. What they hear my friends is that you had better abase yourself in every facet of your life, do everything, all the time solely for His glory, or you will be cast into eternal fire.
Why would anyone serve this God who demands every aspect of our lives, who says He loves us, but if we do not love Him back, in fact serve Him with all our being, we will be cast into eternal darkness and everlasting pain?
If they haven’t already, one day someone is going to ask you these questions. Do you have your answer prepared?
I am not going to answer it for you, if you have been doing as you are commanded to do, studying His Word, seeking His face, praying without ceasing, then you should already have the answers.
If you love Him, then you know the reason you serve Him.
I hope it’s not just because of the rewards that await you, because of those pleasures forevermore, because you have been commanded to only.
Remember, these people I speak of here do not outright and openly hate Him, not most of them at least, they just don’t want to give up the most important part of their life, self.
This is the pride that goes before destruction, this is Spiritual death.
Telling them you love the Savior will not be enough, they will want to know why you love Him. This may help, it depends on how far gone they are.
“We love him, because he first loved us.” (1st John 4:19)
