My Father let me know when it was time for bed. Once laid down for rest from a wearisome day, He spoke to me from His book of truth until I floated into a peaceful sleep. Because He always is faithful, these words could be said before too late. So, cast not your eyes downward but look above. Treasure is wherever your heart is and no one can steal what’s locked behind heaven’s gate.
To be confident that you’re never going to sin again in a certain area is to rob God of His glory, because your faith is in your self then instead of in God. God can remove His grace at any time and He will as soon as He thinks its time someone is getting too proud and independent. It’s an excellent method He uses to humble His elect whenever they are due for for some “correction” during the training period here on earth.
God is supernatural. Only He can create a thing out of no thing. He spoke and it was as good as done. He wrote and His word is never ending. He placed His spirit in His elect so they too will do supernatural works such as returning good for evil. What is spiritual shows its symptoms in the physical world. Agape love is complete unselfish love and looks for nothing in return. All other love is natural and subject to human nature, therefore this love ceases when the returns no longer gratify self. A supernatural heart is what needs to beat in order to exemplify a supernatural health. Staying in harmony with God’s will by design causes healing to be ongoing. Being out of God’s will guarantees disease(s) of some sort. Cavities even can heal if diet (physical, mental, and spiritual) lines by up with God’s plan. [Dentist Dr. Weston Price documents cases of this happening.] Nothing is impossible for God. He uses everything to serve His purpose. Humility versus pride is what the battle is all about with human nature.
Then what about all the “new agers” and their pride held over how much better they eat and live than others? Is it true though that they are healthier? They might be physically healthier at a later point in their life (which doesn’t necessarily mean they are free of disease), but never do their minds grow to be more sound. Being out of God’s will is insanity and shows just like a thorn bush grows thorns.
This is why whatever man does in his natural state is ironic. Go to the doctor (&/or hospital) to get sick; take medication for worse health; visit a psychiatrist to nurture insanity; take laxatives to become more constipated; take sleeping pills to stay awake; go to lawyers to be treated more unfairly; go to school to get more stupid; etc.
God gives you all these insights and talents to share them; but, if these insights are self-righteously used, they will only end up proving to readers all the more it’s to God only goes the glory. Depend on self and no good thing will become of it. Depend on God and no thing will be impossible. In the the ironies revealed, can it come to pass that the one who gets the most wisdom is actually he who acts foolish in the eyes of this world? It’s something to consider.
Here’s more to consider:
Anger, bitterness, envy, jealousy, etc. is inevitable when coddling self as the center of life. In order to forget self, God’s mercy has to be appreciated constantly. That’s why He says to give thanks continuously. As soon as you stop being thankful for His grace, self gets magnified. To the same degree sight is lost of God’s sovereignty, who He is (creator and sustainer of life), and how righteous and demanding of justice) He is (along with Him owing His righteousness and/or faith to no one) is the degree self-deception takes place and substitutes self in place of all God’s qualities. You can’t be humble without awareness of God’s grace/mercy and you can’t be proud with that awareness. One is oil and the other is water…they don’t mix.
Remember a spoiled child that trains his parents in the way to go ends up expecting the world to be his servant. Children trained by their parents are more adjusted to know that if they want something, they must seek after it themselves. Neither the spoiled child or the well trained child will depend on God if His grace and mercy isn’t imparted to her/him. Either will depend on God if her/his eyes and ears are opened to truth. Parents who spoil their children do it because they need more love than they have to give. Only parents who are not needy of their childrens’ love can give more love than they need. The best gift a man can give to his children is to love their mother. True love is agape love. The gift of love is given independent of how lovable the recipient is. However agape love is not possible by humans apart from God because human nature is selfish.
Faith is the insurance of things hoped for.
The difference of motives between self-righteous work fueled by the pride of needing to feel acceptable by being a “good” person versus God’s spirit working His self out in your life to bring glory and honor to Him only shows up in what order good deeds are done. When actions are derived from the inside out, then the horse is in front of the cart so to speak. When actions are derived from the outside in (as in the case of self-righteousness), then the cart is in front of the horse.
Using the example of baking a pie to give to someone who has been at odds with you for restoring the relationship, one decides s/he will be the “better” man by making the first move to do good. The idea alone already begins to bring a “feel-good” sense of being. It’s enhanced as one walks up the steps to ring the doorbell while carrying the work of art in hand. A smile can even enhance the experience as the door opens. If the recipient greets the pie-giver with appreciation, less likely will it be evident as to which motive drove the baking event. It’s easy to be good when goodness is shared. To love those who return your love is natural.
However if the recipient rejects the pie-giver’s “good” deed, then it becomes more evident which motive was behind this pie-full endeavor. To return good (love/warm affection) for evil (hate/neglect) is a supernatural work. True love is supernatural. Real love is not natural nor can it ever be since man is basically selfish.
If the pie-giver’s attitude after rejection is, “Well it’s obvious who is the good man here (me of course). The one who rejects my gracious offer is the loser. Now I can go home and feel even better about myself. Actually this confirms our friendship ended. If s/he was like me, she would have gladly accepted my gift offering of peace.”
Evidence of the motive being God’s spirit when a peace offering is rejected would be a humble attitude filled with fear and reverence for God. The pie-giver would be fully aware of “therefore but by the grace of God go I.” S/he would have already examined her/his heart to know if such a thing as a pie would be an insult to the recipient if the level of damage the relationship suffered went far deeper and longer than any pie could restore. A physical murder isn’t the only thing which can destroy the life out of someone’s heart. In fact, prolonged and subtle bad attitudes can do more damage to another being than even a quick and deep jab with a knife into the heart. A pie works for situations which consist of rare instances when a person behaves out of the norm for the relationship by doing something(s) foolish by temporarily thinking only of her/him self. A pie definitely doesn’t restore behavior that has been progressing gradually worse, especially when the malicious and selfish behavior doesn’t even begin to convict the baker’s conscience into breaking her/his heart of stone by having a contrite spirit. Unless a person has come to the point of seeing how subtly and continuously she/he has been hurting the one whom the pie is baked for, handing over a pie into wounded hands is no different than rubbing the pie into her/his hurting face. When someone has been hurt long enough, she/he might be able reach the point of knowing that she/he has never really been ever held in warm affection. That acceptance hurts less in the long run than to stay in denial and remain in the pattern of being hurt indefinitely by the other person’s toxic fruits of human nature (like jealousy, envy, bitterness, etc.).
Toxic pie is what’s baked to conceal guilt. A confession of foolish behavior can only contain good fruit and be a humble pie. Proud pies can never contain good fruit since it sprouts out of a bad seed. You can use a pie like a band-aid when a relationship has only suffered a scratch or minor cut. You can no more expect a band-aid to fix internal bleeding than a pie to fix a relationship that suffers critically and is in need of intensive care. How can anyone trust a person with a band-aid mentally towards cancerous behavior?
