Undeserving of Anything

People - all people, feel as if they deserve things. Why is that so? Because we all think of ourselves as special. Of course you New Agers are thinking: People with low self-esteem don't feel like they deserve anything.

Of course, just like most psychology, the concept of self-esteem is heretical. (See my thought on Self vs. Christ Esteem).

Ephesians 5:29  "... no man ever hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as Christ also the church;"

Love and hate are the extent of feelings. There is no in between.  Hence, this passage just as well says, everyone loves their own self. That thought is complemented by: but nourisheth and cherisheth it. There seems to be no exceptions! Of course, the skeptic is right now thinking: How about those who commit suicide?

Think on that. Anyone that desperate to alleviate bad feelings is the one who is protecting their own self to the extreme. Depression is horrible, but those who choose death to life are in effect protecting themselves from horrible feelings of despair. They don't hate themselves. Scripture says that no one does.

Scripture validates Ephesians 5:29 elsewhere:

Matthew 22:39 "And the second is like unto it (love God), Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself."

Where have we seen that command before? Leviticus 19:18b "Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: I am the Lord." The original commandment way back in the Garden was of course to love the Lord (tend his Garden), and the other commandment was always to love thy neighbor as thyself. How to love thy neighbor is operationalized by Commandments 5-10.

By expressing the amount of love we are to have for others in reference to the standard to self love, means that everyone does love themselves. If not so, then God's command would be to hate thy neighbor as you do thyself. Self-love is the reference point of love because we all do know that love.

Since we are the other gods besides God, not only is self-love the standard toward others, but also the standard for loving God!

Luke 10:27 "And he (Jesus) answering said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself.

Therein, Jesus uses the same frame of reference for both loving God, and loving others. We are to love them as we do ourselves; with all our heart, soul, strength, and mind.  Our standard is ourselves. If we didn't love ourselves, then we would hate God. That is not an option because God always uses our own self-love as a reference for loving him and everyone else. He knows that we love ourselves because we were created that way. It's just that we abused self-love by demanding things our way!

Scripture says many places that men did what was right in their own eyes. That's because people love themselves to the extent that they place the self above God; and we become the other gods besides him.

Because we come first, even before God, we have an issue with the importance of our self. It's that person we are to present as the living sacrifice to God when we are born-again. We in effect, trade our lesser god to the One True God, and with the flesh sacrificed at God's altar, the old person should be dead. If he is not, then the altar must be re-visited until we actually, and truly sacrifice the self.

God created mankind for one reason: to love Him! Our only job assignment is to tend the Garden, Since the Tree of Life is in the center of the Garden, then our vocation is the same as the reason that we were created: it's all about God, never the self. God deserves our love and reverence because his first act of grace was creating us. Without Him, we would have never been!

Grace is not defined in the bible, but one particular verse spells it out quite well:

John 3:16 " For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life."

Where is grace hidden within that passage? God so loves us that he wants us to have everlasting life. Notice that there are no stipulations in there, such as "Johnny, be good." He is ready to take us just as we are! That is grace in action. However, for us to partake of his grace, we must trust that he can give us everlasting life. That trust is called faith and it is a gift. Hence, God, because of his grace, gives us faith, but we must use that faith to make right decisions. We must take up our cross and follow him; that is making ourselves a living sacrifice.

You see, grace means that we don't deserve eternal life, but God is willing to give it to us in exchange for ourselves. Scripture says that all our works are as filthy rags to God. Part of our faith is realizing that we have no power to save ourselves, and only God can by his sacrifice of Jesus. The entire concept of Christianity is that we don't deserve anything. God hates that word because those who use it have never made their living sacrifice. They are still their own god.

I sit here right now, just as you probably do too, and know that my heart is continually evil. I don't deserve to even live because my flesh does selfish things; then I certainly don't deserve eternal life. In my selfishness, it's even hard to even be remorseful enough to repent of things because my life is too much about me! I still feel like I deserve to have things, be loved by others, be admired, be given gifts, and be pampered. What do I really deserve? Death!

It sickens me, as it surely does God, to hear people say things such as: "I deserve a new car." That's self-worship. You don't deserve anything, but because God blesses those who are his, you may get one because of God's grace. It has nothing to do with your status of self-worth, but in spite of it. In fact, the more that you have crucified your flesh, the more grace God can give you. Of course that cannot be the motive for faithfulness, but it can be the outcome of faith. That was God's deal in perpetuity with Abraham!

We have much, but don't deserve anything! Look at some of the things we have because of God's grace, and none of it did we deserve:

• Our own universe.
• Our own planet.
• The animals.
• Mankind's existence with his creation.
• Our mind, body and soul to be different from the animals.
• Air to breath, and water for life.
• Nourishment, shelter and health.
• Our mate, and companionship.
• Our children to enjoy.
• Mercy as God is always ready to pardon.
• Our own conception and birth.
• The Holy Spirit to call us.
• Salvation.
• The Holy Ghost to comfort us.
• Communion with God.
• Our own health.
• Joy, happiness and hope.
• The promise of eternal life.
• Eternity with a glorified body,
• A room in a mansion forever.
• Communion with God face-to-face.
• The destruction of Satan and his angels.

The list goes on and on! Anything we do or have, is because of God's grace. That means we don't deserve anything, so get that notion out of your head! All those things that we have are due to the deal that God cut with Abraham, and the deal is in force only if we love and honor God. Americans don't even deserve America. It may even cease to exist because Americans continue to crucify Jesus.

Commercial time: Look for my new book, The Skull of Adam" on Amazon and the bookshelves of Barnes and Noble and Christian bookstores. I think you'll be enlightened with God's Plan for mankind.