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continuation...
For God, darkness and light are alike. What does God consider as beautiful? What does He prefer? I Corinthians 12:23-24 says—
“And those members of the body, which we think to be less honourable, upon these we bestow more abundant honour; and our uncomely parts have more abundant comeliness. For our comely parts have no need: but God hath tempered the body together, having given more abundant honour to that part which lacked:”
If we are going to talk about the body, St. Paul said that, some members, which we think are less honorable, or insignificant, are the ones most needed, while our members which are “comely” are of without much use. That is why God tempered the body together to give greater honor to the parts which are “uncomely”.
Take a look at our brows. They look good but they are not very important. Of course, they are important but not that much because we can live without our brows. The nose, for instance. Cut the nose but leave the nostrils and the person could still live. The same with the ears. Cut a part of your ears, and you’ll still live.
But the uncomely parts of our body – the ones that we cover and hide – are very important, like our buttocks for instance. For God, the physical appearance does not matter. The ugly and the beautiful are alike to Him. However, man does not regard his fellowman justly. Most of the time, he regards highly the beautiful, the intelligent, and the sexy, but despises the physically deformed. For that reason, God is giving him a reminder.
“For who maketh thee to differ from another? and what hast thou that thou didst not receive? now if thou didst receive it, why dost thou glory, as if thou hast not received it?”
Why are you bragging when you just received everything that you possess? Your riches and your intelligence came from God. All of the good things that a man possesses came from God. Therefore, have you anything to brag with God? None! Do you have anything that is really yours? None! You just received all of them from God. So, why did Christ say that if you want to serve Him and follow Him, you have to deny yourself first? What was He referring to?
In my thorough studies of the Bible, I have found out that there is but one thing that we can consider truly ours. Your mother is not yours. She was given to you by God. Your child is not really yours. You received him from God. Your body, your breath, and your whole being are not yours. They all came from God. But there is a particular thing in man that is truly his. Do you know what that is? That is the very thing that Christ is asking you to deny – yourself. What, specifically, does it mean? Lamentation 3:35 says—
“To turn aside the right of a man before the face of the most High,”
The only thing in us that is truly ours is our own righteousness. Your own righteousness, your point of view, your own beliefs, your likes, your preferences – they are all yours. And you have to set aside all of those if you want to follow God. I Corinthians 6:12 says—
”All things are lawful unto me, but all things are not expedient:”
St. Paul said that, for him, all things are lawful and righteous. However, he was also aware that’ in the sight of God, not all things are expedient for him. Man has his own sets of standard; he has his own righteousness. But it does not follow that, whatever is righteous and expedient for him is also righteous in the sight of God. In fact, Proverbs 14:12 says—
“There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.”
There was a woman who thought that in getting married she made the right decision. Only to find out that the man she married was a good-for-nothing idler. So, after three months of marriage, she came back home to her parents very repentant for the mistake that she committed in marrying her husband. She was very sorry for not listening to the admonitions of her parents. She thought that the man she was marrying was a saint, but later, she found out that he was a devil.
That is a realization of God’s pronouncement. There are people who think that what they are doing is right, without them realizing it that their inevitable end is death, or perdition.
We, human beings, have our own righteousness. That is the only thing that is truly ours. And our self-righteousness is what Christ is asking us to deny. The Bible says—
“Turn aside the right of a man before the face of the most High.” Because if you will not turn that aside, you will still insist what you think is righteous.
Let me say it straight. There are people who get engaged in religion without them understanding first what they are in to. Many would say, “I’ll just stick to the religion where I grew up with. Why do I have to change my religion?” Well, that is just their point of view. That is not biblical, and that is wrong. “To stay to where you woke up” is a wrong principle in life. Supposing that you woke up with your house burning, don’t tell me you’ll just stay there because that is how things were when you woke up. See if you’re not consumed after an hour.
Let us suppose you woke up with some mote in your eyes, will you just leave it that way? Will you not even bother to wash them off? Of course, you will. You were born with a long umbilical cord. If you will leave it that way, if the doctor will not cut it, you’ll end up dragging it while you are walking. Chances are, a dog might even chase you, thinking that such is a “longanisa” or a “chorizo de bilboa”. It is just to prove to you that it is wrong to say that you’ll just stay to where you where born, or to where you grew up with.
In the same manner that in practicing religion, God does not want you to abide by only your own righteousness. God does not want you to follow your own beliefs only. God does not want you to do what you think is good and right. That is why God said that if we want to follow Him, we have to deny ourselves. You cannot say that you are following God if you are exercising only what you believe is righteous. Luke 16:15 says—
“And he said unto them, Ye are they which justify yourselves before men; but God knoweth your hearts: for that which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God.”
God does not want you to do only what you think is righteous, if you want to follow Him. What is the use of serving Him when you would only follow yourself instead of God? What is the use of your service to God if you will only let your own righteousness prevail instead of God’s? The Bible said that, he who serves his own righteousness is an abomination in the sight of God. That is why, what did St. Paul do when he learned of the right way of serving God, what did he do? Philippians 3:9 says—
“And he found in him, not having mine own righteousness …”
On the other hand, there are those who claim that they are serving God, yet, they follow not His laws. They are at liberty to do what they want to. They are just like the drivers who, in their desire to earn much, take for granted the traffic rules. They don’t care about the traffic lights. In the first place, they have no plans of following the laws.
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Bible
The
Way to Salvation
