Seeking The Praise Of Man

But seek ye first the kingdom of God, 

and His righteousness; and all these things

 shall be added unto you. Take therefore

 no thought for the morrow: for the morrow 

shall take thought for the things of itself. 

Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.

Matthew 6:33-34 

     The nature of man is to be independent, to be their own person, to do all that they want to do and to be able to do all without condemnation. It is this desire to be independent that cause a person to reject the principles of God, His instructions. It is true that man does make laws and write about the problems of immorality, but here is a part of that which is not written about: the internal motivation for that action. To address a problem and find the correct solution is to know the motivation, the internal factors leading up to such actions. For instance: there is not a person, no matter what they say, that abortion is wrong, it is a problem and they would rather not have to deal with this problem. Only they do deal with this problem by allowing abortion, to allow even that which they know is wrong and by this they do not have to deal with the reason why so many women are having abortion. Or, how about marijuana, a drug and this is true for it is an hallucinate much as any other hallucinate, opium, heroin, etc., so they acquiesce by giving it some sort of benefit: i.e., it medical, which is not really the case as it only makes the mind to be dull, but it does reduce pressure so it does have some benefit to those with glaucoma. We do have medicine to deal with disease or ailments, only the person wanting to use marijuana enjoys the dulling of the brain: Marijuana and hashish, two substances derived from the hemp plant (Cannabis sativa), are also considered natural hallucinogens, although their potency (power) is very low when compared to others. Marijuana (also called grass, pot, tea, weed, or reefer), a green herb from the flower of the hemp plant, is considered a mild hallucinogen. Hashish is marijuana in a more potent, concentrated form. Both drugs are usually smoked. Their effects include a feeling of relaxation, faster heart rate, the sensation that time is passing more slowly, and a greater sense of hearing, taste, touch, and smell.http://www.discoveriesinmedicine.com/Enz-Ho/Hallucinogens.html

     Man loves to gain the approval, the applause of other men so if they desire is for the approval or applause seems to be beneficial to society it is viewed as a good thing. The Bible teaches the opposite that this desire for human admiration is in of itself a problem. How? When this motivation is corrupted, and that is very probable, not just possible, it will then seek to give credit to man instead of giving all the good to God to whom all the glory belongs. Do we have to give God the glory for the good? Yes! God created all things for man so that man could live in a world that is beneficial to them and if God had not done so, then we would be living in nothing more than a bad world. Man may do good, but can only do good because man was made in the image of God, therefore has the ability to do good (something made out of material that has not one bit of goodness in it cannot do this for man), the choice to do good or evil is man's choice. 

     Do you believe that the Bible is accurate and that it's evaluation of man true? Think on this: we need to understand that the world's culture, its commendation or even its condemnations may be skewed and twisted. This is going to be the case more often than not if the Bible is ignored and its rules for living are darkened or depraved. The Bible gives us standards of living, better standards than what this world gives and if we follow the world's standards then it is probable that there will be a problem. Is this not what we see in this world? Yes! Improper focus leads to improper behavior. Improper focus and understanding of Scripture leas to behavior that even is wrong in those Churches that teach a form of experiential worship. When praise is lavished on a person we must stand up and take notice as this is not what an Authentic Christian does as this will puff up a person, their vanity. 

     This improper focus will keep us from focusing on eternal things. We are told to set our minds on things above, to "seek the kingdom of God" not on this world and its culture. This seeking the culture of the world distracts a person from the truth and leads to cultural Christianity. We we receive lavish approval then we are led to self-reinforcement and we want more of it and this, and is often false praise, gains a foothold in our lives. This Authentic Christians do all they can to avoid this problem leading to cultural or liberal Christianity and this can be done by "seeking first the kingdom of God." The choice is yours, and mine: will you or I do it? Eternal life is at stake, not that Authentic Christians lose eternal life, only that we will give an account of our life at the judgment seat: "Now he that planteth and he that watereth are on: and every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labor" (1Corinthians 3:8). 

Wisdom is before him that

    hath understanding; but

the eyes of a fool are in the

    ends of the earth.

               Proverbs 17:24

Are you preparing now for the Sabbath?

Richard L. Crumb