God knows we aren’t perfect, but He is! With His help, we can be much better versions of ourselves; but being the best version of one’s self has nothing to do with pride and self-exaltation. The Bible already keeps our egos in check. It elevates us with the knowledge that we are fearfully and wonderfully made after the image, likeness, and beauty of God Most High. New age misinformation or quite frankly, DECEPTION, might suggest we are gods, but this is not so. In some ways, we are as gods (especially “in knowing both good and evil things”(c.f. Gen 3:22), but let us not be deceived. The Bible also humbles us in the knowledge that we are all sinners.
The Bible says that everyone has sinned and fallen short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). Yet we tend to perceive our goodness on a relative scale when it should be based on a fixed, timeless standard. What is good is not so much a “feeling” as it is what brings glory and honor to God. Genuine love, for instance, is good. Loving your neighbor and looking out for him or her is also good, because it pleases God. Giving to the poor is good. Being humble glorifies God, unlike boasting (even about one’s good deeds), which brings glory to ourselves and feeds our pride (our potentially unhealthy and unrighteous self-love), which then opens a gateway to other self-seeking sins. Sex between a married couple is good because it glorifies God, who created it for husbands and wives. He designed a wife to receive and be pleased by what her husband has to offer and a husband to give and be pleased in the act of giving and sharing himself.
Sidenote: Women tend to be unsatisfied in a romance when things aren’t provided, and men aren’t satisfied when they don’t feel like adequate providers. Take it up with God—it’s how we’re made. In addition to this dynamic, women want to be respected as equals, and yet they want real men who understand how to lead. While a wife should be encouraged to take leadership at times, there are manners in which her leadership should complement that of her husband and vice versa to achieve and maintain harmony within the household. Women who have effeminate husbands and men who have controlling wives tend to unsatisfied with each other. Men who seek to control their wives instead of leading with love and consideration ultimately end up hurting their wives and consequently themselves. Marriages do not work well when God’s will is disregarded.
Back to the message: Many people are deceived into thinking a loving God should not be righteously strict enough in judgment to send the souls of sinful people to hell, but they’re not heeding His warnings! Though God should not be subject to the will and desire of His creatures, He shows his concern for us by warning us repeatedly (through prophets and prophecies). Therefore, do not be deceived into thinking our incredibly patient and forgiving Heavenly Father will pardon sin committed with reckless abandon on that fateful day. How sad and frightening will the reality be when His perfect record of our every move is used to accept some while rejecting others sans discrimination. Worldly power, influence, wealth, and all the good deeds we kept score of will not matter if we never committed our lives to our Creator and His son Jesus, the Christ.
SOUL HAVEN 