Back to What is Your Life Goal
The next major step along this road to freedom from the slavery to our selfishness is to find the power to overcome your own tendency to live by your desires and feelings. In your search you should realize that only those living for others regardless of the cost to themselves, can help you find this power. This is not the power to escape from accountability or responsibility for your actions, but rather the power to accept accountability head on and meet each and every responsibility. Self-gratifiers will seldom encourage you in your search because your honesty will make them feel bad ~ something they wish to escape.
Once you have discovered the power to overcome your own natural tendencies and experience the true freedom from your slavery to desires and feelings, along with the peace of mind and lack of anxiety when doing what is right regardless of the pressure on you to do otherwise, you will have the tendency to tell others. This tendency must be tempered until you are consistently applying this power to overcome and your life is virtually anxiety free. Otherwise, your inconsistencies will discourage others from listening to you. Self-gratifiers will look intently for those inconsistencies in your life and use them in an attempt to avoid the truth. Many of those who have discovered the power to overcome have learned this lesson after much sorrow. Just because one has recognized his own self-gratifying nature, has sought and found the power to overcome it, and has decided to live for others, does not mean he is immediately at the point of consistently overcoming his natural tendencies. Even when he reaches the point of consistently overcoming one’s desires and feelings, all his difficulties are not over, but he will have a consistent method of overcoming whatever difficulties he faces as they arise.
After you have made the decision to live for others, regardless of the cost to self, and have found the power to do so, you must learn to walk consistently. The most important, yet most difficult place to do so is in your immediate family. Family members know you and how you have previously behaved. They have built their relationships with you based on your past actions. Their reactions and responses to you have been formed in part by you. Their expectations and actions will make it difficult to change. But with the power to overcome, they will see a remarkable difference. What is good for your family, rather than what you want to do, will become your priority. You will not be provoked by their interruptions, but will be understanding of their difficulties.
You must keep in mind that you built your frame of reference or philosophy while living as a self-gratifier. You must realize that it must be substantially dismantled and restructured. Much of your belief system may have to be discarded or rearranged in a consistent manner. At this point you should seek a verifiable set of standards to utilize in the dismantling and restructuring process. You must find a consistent primary source of truth upon which you can depend to assist in this process. The source must exist for the good of others, be consistent within itself, and be consistent with all truth. If your primary source of help cannot meet these qualifications then keep seeking. Your diligent search will be rewarded. This unlearning and relearning is again humbling, but will greatly increase your understanding of others. It is an ongoing venture and one of increasing value.
Living for the good of others would be impossible under normal everyday circumstances using only human resources. How could we know everything necessary to make every decision for the benefit of others? How can we know what will benefit everyone concerned with our decisions? How can we know everyone who would be affected by our decisions? With only human resources our decision-making process would be overwhelmed and paralyzed by the magnitude of what we would be attempting. But our Creator has made provision for us, contrary to most of our frames of reference, His primary motive has always been to live for and give Himself for others (love). Because He is omniscient he always knows what benefits all others all of the time. His frame of reference, however, being perfect reveals that He can only share himself with those having the same motivation or life goal. A grave problem has arisen because men have chosen from the beginning to live for themselves. In order for our Creator to maintain a totally consistent motive ~ which He always does ~ He has to have a method whereby we also can change our motivation and live for the good of others regardless of the cost to ourselves.
Because of His ultimate goal, which we can now realize is love, the cost of the method must be whatever was necessary to allow those, who are willing to love Him and others, to escape from their slavery to selfishness. God in His infinite wisdom determined that this cost of redemption would be the suffering and death of the Messiah. The Israelite Passover sacrifice was an early indication of this method of redeeming mankind. Those who were obedient were spared and those who were not perished.
All of us at some point in our lives decided to follow our own natural tendency and inclination to live for ourselves rather than for others. Because this usually occurs early in life and by small selfish decisions, we seldom can place the actual step across the line. But once the decision was made, we became trapped in our inclination to follow our desires and impulses, becoming frustrated when meeting interference. Because this motive leads to chaos and destruction, which is amply borne out by human history, its ultimate consequences cannot be tolerated by God, who recognizes the value of order. Because of God’s motive, He cannot allow man to reach the point of total corruption, although it was close during Noah’s lifetime. Again, because of His motive, it would be incumbent on God to eventually destroy anyone with a destructive motive or provide a way to escape the slavery of selfishness. Since our ultimate goal is a matter of choice, He leaves the decision up to us. Do we choose destruction or surrender to Him?
The method by which our Creator grants us the power to live for others can be viewed as a transaction of purchase. It should be obvious that a human being on his way to destruction while encouraging others to follow is not very valuable. Even when this value is multiplied by billions it does not become great. Anyone who had something of greater value should be able to purchase all he chose to purchase if it could be done in a manner consistent with justice. No mere human being, however, could make this purchase because we have devoted ourselves to destruction and have no means to bring about our own redemption (purchase out of slavery). Nor can earthly resources be used because they are also devoted to destruction as we use them for our own selfish purposes. Even if we had something with enough value, without a change of motive on our part such a purchase would violate justice, because the purchase would not change the motive. Therefore, only Someone who possesses something more valuable than anything in the earthly realm and who has the proper motive can redeem mankind.
This is exactly what the Jesus Christ as revealed in Scripture did. The value of the incarnate life of the Creator is unquestionably sufficient to purchase all of mankind. It would also be valuable to all the universe to witness the innocent sufferings of Christ as a demonstration of His love. Jesus Christ agreed to purchase every human being who is willing to change his life’s goal, who recognizes his own destructiveness and inability to live such a goal on his own, and who will submit entirely and without reservation to His Lordship. Without meeting these three conditions, there can be no redemption, for God cannot be inconsistent with Himself. To keep anyone willing to meet these conditions from slipping back ~ that is, unless he decides to forego the way ~ Christ through His Spirit grants each person the power (grace) to continue in this decision, to live out the decision, to (gradually in most instances) understand the necessity of maintaining the decision and to help others make the decision. Each person, however, forever remains the Lord’s purchased property. Although He adopts us as children, the Scripture speaks frequently of bond servants and similar terms in describing His disciples.
Scripture also speaks of dying to self and of being born again. This is symbolized in water baptism. When one decides to give up his ever destructive self-interest and begins to live for others, he has spiritually died and been resurrected (born again). The forsaken self-destructive motive was the death Adam died when he chose to follow his desires rather than obey his perfectly wise Creator. He wanted something that was actually not good for him and made the decision to die. It was not as though he was not clearly warned. Of course, he “only” had God’s Word saying that his chosen course was wrong. Adam and Eve have been the only two human beings, other than Christ Himself, who did not have the inclination to be selfish (to sin). They did not have any inward pressure to be selfish until after they made their decisions. Once the decisions were made, the inclination toward selfishness became an inbred human trait (which we try to excuse at every opportunity). After approximately six thousand years of human existence, the trait has become stronger and more pronounced. As discussed earlier, it warps our thinking, our frames of reference, and our decision making. Thankfully, there is an escape.
The escape does not lie in “turning to Christ” of “inviting Christ into your heart” so you can escape punishment. That is purely a selfish decision that only encourages others to attempt to use Christ and his sufferings for their own purposes. Remember, Scripture says many will say, Lord, Lord . . .” but He will say “I have never known you.” No, the way of escape is by receiving God’s power to repent of your selfishness, to decide to live for others regardless of the cost (the sum of the two greatest Commandments upon which all the law and the prophets are based. Matt 22:37-40 NASB). And by surrendering to the Lordship of the Jesus Christ revealed in Scripture (as opposed to someone’s imaginary jesus christ).
This brings us to the much used and little understood term “saved.” So many church people speak of being “saved,” but when pressured for a definition come up short. One prevalent answer is “saved from hell.” However, being saved from hell is only a by-product (a nice one granted) of being saved from our motive of self-gratification. All selfishness must die or ultimately be destroyed by a righteous God. This is the reason a loving God would create hell. When we decide to submit to Christ’s purchase for the correct motive, we are saved from our selfishness. If we attempt to gain heaven for our own benefit by some “magic prayer” we remain in our selfish state continuing toward destruction. Tragically, much evangelism is based on “gaining heaven for self,” not repenting of selfishness and surrendering to a living Christ.
Turning from our life goal of selfishness (repentance) and surrendering to Christ does not mean we have eliminated our old frames of reference, our corrupted philosophies. Overcoming our old belief system may be a slow and painful process. Much depends upon how old we are when we start and how warped our frames of reference are. The Lord’s power (termed “grace” throughout Scripture) is sufficient to overcome any frame of reference and substitute His perfect frame of reference in its place. This is one of the primary purposes of the Bible. Our Creator, out of a heart of perfect love, has granted to us His frame of reference in written form, so that we will not panic when we realize the bankruptcy of our own.
Be careful here. Remember you have beliefs in your “old” frame of reference concerning the Bible. Men with selfish motives have been arguing for centuries about perceived inconsistencies in the Bible. This is quite natural, though quite wrong. What else could they see with their warped frames of reference? It also demonstrates the zenith of man’s folly: Man’s continuous attempts to destroy the only Book which shows that way to escape eternal destruction, which attempts, if successful, would assure that none of us would escape. It is only the amazing mercy of our Creator that has kept this inverted plan from succeeding. Man, because of his own motive, is consistently scrambling to bring about his own destruction.
In submitting to Christ’s Lordship as revealed in the Scriptures (Bible), we must submit to His Word. This means reading, meditating on and obeying It daily (Psalm 1). “If you abide in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine, and you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free.” John 8:31-32 NASB. For us to pick and choose what we read or what we obey would mean we are conforming God’s Word to our frames of reference. For us to judge God’s Word by our standards is a foolish form of arrogance, or perhaps, insanity. Who do we think we are to make such judgments? This is not to say that we must unreasonably and blindly accept the Bible as God’s Word. There is much evidence which authenticates the Bible as God’s Word, if we will be intellectually honest in our appraisal of it (this will be the subject of another treatise). The actual problem is that God’s Word is perfectly reasonable and we are not. Man looks for any excuse not to give up his perceived mastery over his own life. Again, such a perception is foolish and arrogant, leading as usual to destruction.
Read God’s Word daily. Make this your number one priority. “But seek first His [God’s] kingdom and His righteousness.” Matt 6:33 NASB. Where do you seek? In His Word. Do not be concerned with the segments, as large as they may be, that you do not understand. There will be plenty that is clear and that you will understand if you are willing to obey Christ. Ask Him to work those areas into your life, and when He does ~ and He will ~ you can be assured that there will be more clarity and understanding. This in turn needs to be worked into your life as your old way of life is being eliminated. Ask God for His patience as you go through the process. There is no hurry, you now have forever for Christ to build His frame of reference in you. We cannot possibly understand an all-wise God unless He chooses to reveal His ways to us.
Once we understand our own bankrupt condition, we can only truly hope in the Lord. He is the only true source of hope anyway, hope being the expectation of good. From what source can man legitimately expect good? From mankind in its current state of destruction? From government when controlled by unregenerate men? From financial institutions? From “experts” whose advise is governed by their imperfect frames of reference? No, the only legitimate place from which to expect good is from the heart of a purely benevolent, perfectly wise, all powerful Person. We have taken His mercy and kindness so lightly, and yet He is still willing to forgive us if we will confess our true motives (rebellion), turn from them (repentance) and fully surrender to Him. But His mercy will not extend forever to those who refuse it. Ask for the grace to only hope in Him and He will grant your request for the good of all.
Where does faith fit into the picture? Faith is confidence in someone or something. Man has greatly misplaced his faith. Confidence is the willingness to act in conformity to what that someone or something dictates. The Bible says, “Cursed is the man who trusts [has faith] in mankind . . .” Jer. 17:5. This seems to make sense after we realize that mankind is on its way to destruction. The Bible also says, “Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord . . .” Jer. 17:7. Again, this is reasonable recognizing that the Lord, through His love and mercy, grants us a means of escaping from our own destruction. Should we have faith in man who is not perfectly wise, or in God who is? In man, who does not know what tomorrow holds, or in God, who holds tomorrow? In man who does not even have power over his own desires, or in God who has all power for good? Jesus Christ is the author and perfecter of faith in Him. Whatever faith you have in Christ right now, you owe to Him. Thank Him for it and cry out for more. He will gladly give it to you.
Scripture says, “Now abide [dwell, rest and continue in] faith [confidence in God], hope [expectation of good from God], love [the decision to love God above all others and your neighbor as you naturally, in your former motive, loved yourself].” That is a commandment by your Creator that He will give you the power to accomplish. He will never leave you nor forsake you, and He will give you the power (grace) to continue to choose Him and His ways. Do not foolishly turn back to the way of destruction. Because of whom He is, He is worthy of your submission and obedience, not because you deserve Him, but because He deserves to have what He bought.
He is a great Master and He will discipline you so that you will learn His ways. Thank Him for the discipline, even though you do not “feel like it.” Remember, His motive is perfectly good. He loves us and we need discipline. His discipline process is the only method of throwing off the shackles of our frames of reference. And shackles they are. He is worthy of your allowing him to prepare you, no matter how painful the process, that you may love others with the love He provides and help them escape from their selfishness and love their Creator.
If you have decided to forsake your self-gratification and surrender to Christ, then God’s blessings upon you and your household as you begin or continue the journey. If you have not, that is your decision and no one else’s.
And to God be the glory.
Follow Us On