For I say, through
the grace given to me,
to everyone who is
among you, not to
think of himself more
highly than he
ought to think, but
to think soberly,
as God has dealt to
each one a measure
of faith.
Romans 12:3
Sin is the
plight of men. It is sin that makes cause for men to think more highly of themselves
than they ought. What a Christian must remember, our grace that God has given,
and each has enough grace for themselves according to God’s Providence and
Omniscience. Think upon this: God made men out of the dust of the ground which
God made out of nothing, and by this we are made from nothing according to the will
of God. Our life is what God has bestowed upon His creatures and it was by His
own life that we have the grace of God Which is by the Word; the Logos, the
Only Begotten Son of God, Jesus Christ. Notice this fact: God gives the grace
and not man earning His grace. It is by this grace given by God that should
lead us to live according to His commandments. Adam and Eve sinned by turning
from eternal things to things that are corruptible. We too do the same thing
and often that turning from the incorruptible to corruptible is thinking too
highly of oneself and this leads to greed and greed leads to poorly acting out
lives that are in opposition to God. We too often blame the devil for all the
wrongs we do or are done to us, but is this absolutely true? In ones sense it
is for by the counsel of the Devil Adam and Eve became the cause for their own
corruption and this corruption was death. It must be admitted that Adam and Eve
by nature were subject to corruption and whole subject to corruption had no
need to turn from incorruption to corruption. Neither do we for we have as they
had, and this by the grace of union with the Word which makes us capable of
escaping from the natural law, and this only is provided when we retain the innocence
that we have been given by the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. We have
the presence of the Word with us and by His presence; we are shielded from
natural corruption. The writer in the book Wisdom (Wisdom ii. 23
f.) wrote these words: “God created man for
incorruption and as an image of His own eternity; but by envy of the devil death
entered into the world." When man made cause for death then men began
to die, and corruption then grew worse and worse and holds sway over men
because this is the penalty of which God had forewarned them that would happen
for transgressing His commandment. We too are under this same forewarning that
if we transgress then we are subject to the same penalty, in the least it is
chastisement and that chastisement is for our benefit: “You have not yet
resisted to bloodshed, striving against sin. and you have forgotten the
exhortation which speaks to you as to sons: ‘My son, do not despise the
chastening of the LORD, nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by Him; for
whom the LORD loves He chastens, and scourges every son whom He receives’”
(Proverbs 3:11-12; Hebrews 12:4–6). When we are pursuing that which makes
us think more of ourselves than we ought then we find that it is hard to be at
peace with others and yet this is what we ought to do when we present our
bodies, our minds as a living sacrifice to God: “Pursue peace with all people,
and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord: looking carefully lest
anyone fall short of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up
cause trouble, and by this many become defiled” (Hebrews 12: 14–15). From
the beginning of the fall by Adam and Eve men have sinned by inventing
wickedness, even surpassing all limits, not stopping at any one kind of evil
but doing so with insatiable appetites, devising such things as adulteries,
thefts, murder, raping, disregarding law and justice. It seems as though each
generation strives to outdo the other in wickedness. As I wrote about and
quoted by Paul’s writings to the Romans: "Their women changed the
natural use into that which is against nature; and the men also, leaving the
natural use of the woman, flamed out in lust towards each other, perpetrating
shameless acts with their own sex, and receiving in their own persons the due
recompense of their pervertedness" (Romans 1:26).
To think
highly of oneself leads to much perversion which is common among those who do
not believe in God and to our shame this cultural perversion has in some way
entered into the Church. Many Churches allow that which God has specifically
spoke against. Our reasonable service (Romans 12:1b) is to not allow our bodies
to be perverted, rather to be a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God
(Romans 12:1c). We are to protect those who are Christians, those whom we associate
with, our brothers and sisters in Christ: “For as we have many members in
one body, but all the members do not have the same function, so we, being many,
are on body in Christ, and individually members of one another” (Romans 12:4–5).
We do not think more highly of member of our body, the arm is just as
important as the leg, and the knee as important as the elbow, so why would we
think differently about other members who are as we are, the body of Christ? Let
us then love our brothers and sisters, and care for their needs, to associate
with them as often as we can, and not let things get in the way of our love and
service towards others members of the body of Christ, which we are also. It is
by grace we have been saved and not of ourselves, so do not look upon
yourselves as greater than others, rather allow the love and life of Jesus
Christ to rule all our actions and thoughts.
Blessed is every one who
Fears the
LORD,
Who walks in His ways.
Psalm 128:1
Trust in the LORD
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