Preferring the World

1 John 2:15-17 BSB (Berean Standard Bible)

 

“15Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh, the desires of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not from the Father but from the world. 17The world is passing away, along with its desires; but whoever does the will of God remains forever.”

 

To Prefer

 

This word “love” is “agape,” and it means “to prefer.” Primarily it is used in the Scriptures in the context of a love which comes from God which prefers what God prefers which is all that is holy, godly, righteous, morally pure, upright, honest, faithful and obedient to our Lord and to His commands. But in this instance it is being used in the context of preferring the world and all that the world has to offer us in the way of sinful pleasures via the lustful desires of the flesh, the sinful lusts of the eyes, and the pride of life.

 

A Diluted Gospel

 

Sadly it appears that the majority of those professing faith in Jesus Christ here in my nation, the USA, are accepting a diluted and altered gospel message which does not insist on repentance (death to sin) and obedience to God’s commands in order to have salvation from sin and eternal life with God. Many are teaching that all God requires is a verbal profession of faith in Jesus Christ and then they are promised that all their sins are forgiven and that eternity with God in heaven is what awaits them when they die.

 

Even if some (or many) preachers who insist on the importance of repentance (leaving your lives of sin behind you) and following the Lord in obedience to His commands do not teach them as required by God for us to have salvation from sin and eternal life with God. They teach them as something we should do, but if we don’t do, we still have salvation from sin and eternal life with God guaranteed. Therefore, many professing Christians continue to live in deliberate and habitual sin and not in obedience to God.

 

Not of The World

 

So, this is a reminder to us that we are not, as followers of Christ, to prefer the sinful trappings that the world has to offer us. We are not to take pleasure in what is immoral, wicked, hateful, prideful, self-centered, lustful, utterly selfish, sexually immoral, adulterous, idolatrous, dishonest, and all that might consume our minds and our hearts and our time, which would then keep us from loving and obeying and serving our Lord with our lives. Our lives are to be given over to God to serve and obey Him, not the world.

 

We are to live in the world, but we are not to be of the world. We are to associate with the people of the world, but we are not join in with them in their sinful pleasures. God has sent us out into the world, to love the people, to do good to them, and to share the gospel with them. But we are not to blend in with them so they will like us, so they will want to be a part of our “church gatherings,” as many are teaching today. We don’t compromise with the world to “win the world.” We stand on the truth of the Scriptures and we live holy lives pleasing to God to set godly examples of the life of a Christian.

 

The Gospel Message

 

And the gospel message which we are to share with the people of the world is not this watered-down version intended to tickle itching ears and to not offend the ungodly. We are to speak the truth that Jesus and His New Testament apostles taught, but in the correct biblical context. For many people are teaching a false gospel message based off Scriptures taken out of context and made to say what they do not say if taught in the correct biblical context. We must teach that God requires death to sin (repentance) and obedience to His commands in life practice for us to have salvation from sin.

 

For so many people are being taught lies and are being given false promises of salvation and forgiveness of all sins and of eternal life with God based on a verbal profession of faith in Jesus Christ only. And so they are holding on to a false hope while they still love (prefer) the world and the lusts of the flesh and of the eyes and the pride of life, and while they still live for the pleasures of the flesh and not for God. Sadly, they will not have salvation from sin and eternal life with God unless they surrender their lives to God, leave their lives of sin, and follow our Lord in obedience to His commands.

 

[Matthew 7:13-14,21-23; Luke 9:23-26; John 10:27-30; Acts 26:18; Romans 1:18-32; Romans 2:5-10; Romans 3:23; Romans 6:1-23; Romans 8:1-14; Romans 12:1-2; 1 Corinthians 6:9-10,19-20; 1 Corinthians 10:1-22; 2 Corinthians 5:10,15,21; Galatians 5:16-24; Ephesians 2:8-10; Ephesians 4:17-32; Ephesians 5:3-6; Titus 2:11-14; Hebrews 3:1-19; Hebrews 4:1-13; Hebrews 10:19-39; Hebrews 12:1-2; 1 Peter 2:24; 1 John 1:1-10; 1 John 2:1-6; 1 John 3:4-10; Revelation 2:1-29; Revelation 3:1-22]

 

Preferring the World

An Original Work / October 6, 2026

Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

 

As the Deer

 

By Martin J. Nystrom

Based off Psalm 42:1

 

As the deer panteth for the water

So my soul longeth after You

You alone are my heart's desire

And I long to worship You

 

You alone are my strength, my shield

To You alone may my spirit yield

You alone are my heart's desire

And I long to worship You

 

[A Prayer of Devotion to God Alone]

Time Will Tell

Time will tell if you be true,

If words you speak are genuine.

Time will tell if thoughts you think

Are pure in heart and disciplined.

Time will tell if you profess

What is the truth, and sins confess,

Or if you lie and cover up

The lusts of flesh o’er you obsess.

Time will tell if plans you make

Are of the flesh or they of God.

Time will tell if you’re sincere

Or if indeed you are a fraud. 

Time will tell if you perform

So others think that you are good,

Or if you truly worship God

And on the truth you really stood.

Time will tell what is the truth,

If you be true or so uncouth.

Time will tell so many things

If you be real or be a sleuth.

So all in time things be revealed,

Things that are hidden and concealed.

They will be known, they will be shown

For what they are, no longer sealed.

An Original Work / November 27, 2022

Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

If We Say But We Don't

1 John 1:5-10 BSB (Berean Standard Bible)

 

“5And this is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you: God is light, and in Him there is no darkness at all. 6If we say we have fellowship with Him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. 7But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.

 

“8If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10If we say we have not sinned, we make Him out to be a liar, and His word is not in us.”

 

If We Say

 

Actions speak louder than words. Who we are and what we do and what we are made out of is not just in the words that we speak, but it is in the things that we do and in who we are in character and attitude and behaviors. So we can say, “I am a Christian,” and not be a Christian at all. We can say we love God, that we believe in Jesus Christ, that we are in fellowship with Christ and with His Body, His Church, i.e. the faithful in Christ Jesus, and be none of those. For if sin is still our practice, deliberately and habitually, and not obedience to our Lord’s commands, we lie if we say we are “In Christ.”

 

Light and Darkness

 

If truly we are in fellowship with Christ, and we know God intimately via biblical faith in Him, it should be evident by how we live, by what we practice with regard to our behaviors. And this is not to say that we will never sin again (see 1 John 2:1-2), or that we might not ever fall back into sin and be in need of restoration. It is also not saying that we will be absolutely perfect in everything that we do. But the Scriptures make it clear that those who make sin their habit (practice), and not obedience to God’s commands, they are not in Christ, even if they profess with their lips that they are.

 

In The Light

 

God is light and in Him there is no darkness at all. Jesus Christ is The Light. And light is the opposite of darkness. Light represents God, the gospel, truth, righteousness, holiness, honesty, faithfulness, moral purity, and obedience to God. Darkness represents sin, evil, and wickedness. And our walk has to do with how we live, our practices, our behaviors. If what we do and how we live in practice is sinful and disobedient to our Lord, we are still in the darkness. But if how we live in practice is honest, faithful, obedient to God, and morally pure, we are In Christ, and our sins are forgiven us.

 

If We Confess

 

If we confess our sins God is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. But confession is not in lip service only. For to confess our sins is to speak to the same conclusion as God about our sins. It is to agree with God, not just that we sinned, but that if sin is our practice, and not obedience to God, that we will not have salvation from sin and eternal life with God. It is to agree with God that we must repent of our sins, turn away from them, and now walk in obedience to our Lord in holy living in moral purity, honesty, and faithfulness, no longer as slaves to sin.

 

If We Claim No Sin

 

All of us who were born into this world were born with sin natures in the image of Adam, the first man to sin against God. And we are not acceptable to God and approved by God in our sinful state. So God sent His Son Jesus Christ to the earth to be born as a baby to a virgin woman, but conceived of the Holy Spirit, and not of man, so He was not born with a sin nature as we are, and He never sinned. And He came to die on a cross to put our sins to death with Him so that, by faith in Him, we will deny self, die to sin, and obey God in life practice in the power of God. He died to deliver us from sin.

 

But if we claim that we have never sinned, that is a lie. And if someone is currently sinning actively and habitually while hiding or denying the sin and acting as though they are righteous, that is a lie. All of us have sinned and have come up short of the glory of God, and all of us are in need to submit to Christ as Lord, to die with Him to sin, and to now obey Him in life practice. Not all of us are actively sinning against God, but we still have the propensity to sin (1 John 2:1-2). But by faith in Jesus we were delivered out of slavery to sin so we will now serve God with our lives from now forward.

 

[Matthew 7:13-14,21-23; Luke 9:23-26; John 10:27-30; Acts 26:18; Romans 1:18-32; Romans 2:5-10; Romans 3:23; Romans 6:1-23; Romans 8:1-14; Romans 12:1-2; 1 Corinthians 6:9-10,19-20; 1 Corinthians 10:1-22; 2 Corinthians 5:10,15,21; Galatians 5:16-24; Ephesians 2:8-10; Ephesians 4:17-32; Ephesians 5:3-6; Titus 2:11-14; Hebrews 3:1-19; Hebrews 4:1-13; Hebrews 10:19-39; Hebrews 12:1-2; 1 Peter 2:24; 1 John 1:1-10; 1 John 2:1-6; 1 John 3:4-10; Revelation 2:1-29; Revelation 3:1-22]

 

If We Say But We Don’t

An Original Work / October 6, 2026

Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

 

Talk Video on Same Subject

 

https://youtu.be/VGWVt39kznU

 

The Great Redeemer

 

Lyrics by Francis Foster, 1915

Music by Samuel W. Beazley, 1915

 

How I love the great Redeemer

Who is doing so much for me;

With what joy I tell the story

Of the love that makes men free.

Till my earthly life is ended,

I will send songs above,

Then beside the crystal sea

More and more my soul shall be

Praising Jesus and His love.

 

He has purchased my redemption,

Rolled my burden of sin away,

And is walking on beside me,

Growing dearer day by day.

That is why I sing His praises,

That is why joy is mine,

That is why forevermore

On the everlasting shore

I shall sing of love divine.

 

Glory be to Him forever!

Endless praises to Christ the Lamb!

He has filled my life with sunshine,

He has made me what I am.

Oh, that everyone would know Him,

Oh, that all would adore!

Oh, that all would trust the love

Of the mighty Friend above

And be His forevermore.

 

He is everything to me, to me,

He is everything to me,

And everything shall always be;

I will never cease to raise

A song of gladness in His praise;

Here, and in the world above,

My soul shall sing of saving love;

Life and light and joy is He,

The precious Friend who died for me.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MD-LJGRnUZY

 

Caution: This link may contain ads

Empty Voices Singing Empty Praise

“Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth!

    Serve the Lord with gladness!

    Come into his presence with singing!

Know that the Lord, he is God!

    It is he who made us, and we are his;

    we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.

Enter his gates with thanksgiving,

    and his courts with praise!

    Give thanks to him; bless his name!

For the Lord is good;

    his steadfast love endures forever,

    and his faithfulness to all generations.” (Psalms 100:1-5 ESV)

 

This psalm is an appeal to the people of all the earth to come to genuine God-gifted and God-persuaded faith in the Lord Jesus Christ (God the Son). For He is God, our creator God who made us. And God the Father sent Him to the earth to die for us on a cross so that we might die with Him to sin and live to Him and to His righteousness. By faith in Jesus Christ we therefore are crucified with Christ in death to sin, and we are raised with Christ to walk in newness of life in Him, not as slaves to sin but as slaves to righteousness.

 

But this is not just about singing and making a joyful noise, for we are to serve the Lord with gladness. And in order to serve the Lord we must first of all believe in Jesus Christ in truth and in righteousness. We must die with Him to sin so that we can be raised with Him to walk in newness of life in Him. We must deny self, die daily to sin, and walk in obedience to His commands if we are to be of the faith which saves us from our bondage to sin and which empowers us to live godly and holy lives pleasing to God.

 

Now God – Father, Son Jesus Christ, and Holy Spirit – is our creator God. So in that sense He owns us and He can do with us as He chooses. But only those who listen to (heed, regard, follow) our Lord Jesus, and who walk with Him in obedience to His commands, are His true sheep (followers). And they only are the ones who are promised eternal life with God, that they will never perish, and that no one can snatch them out of the hands of God. For if we do not obey God, but we continue in sin, we will not have life in Him.

 

Now if we are to enter the gates of the Lord, we can only do that via dying with Christ to sin and by His grace now walk in fellowship with Him in walks of obedience to His commands in holy living. Verbal professions of faith in Jesus Christ alone do not bring us into genuine relationship with our Lord. And they do not assure us of forgiveness of all sins and the hope of heaven when we die. For we can’t really know God if we do not obey Him, and we can’t be in fellowship with Him if we are still deliberately walking in sin.

 

So, if we truly want to enter into the gates of our Lord, it is not just with singing and verbally praising the Lord and verbally speaking or singing words of praise, adoration, and thanksgiving. For there are many who give lip service to the Lord whose hearts are far from Him. Their worship of God is in formality only, as taught by other humans, but there is no substance behind what is verbally coming from their lips. And so they will die in their sins. They will not enter into God’s heavenly gates at the end of it all.

 

For the Lord is good, and He is completely faithful to all that He said that He would do. And so we cannot just verbalize worship and praise of God with our lips only and think that assures us forgiveness of all sins and heaven as our eternal destiny. Many who profess the name of Jesus are still walking in sin, still doing what their evil hearts desire, hiding what they do in secret, thinking that no one knows. But God knows. And He said if we walk in sin and do not obey Him that we will not inherit eternal life with God.

 

And that is a very sad reality, and one that grieves me regularly. So many people giving lip service to the Lord, singing their praise and worship songs, convinced that all their sins are forgiven, and that heaven is their eternal destiny, but who are dying and going to hell because they would not surrender their lives to Jesus Christ. They would not deny self, die daily to sin, and walk in obedience to God’s commands. But they continued in their deliberate and habitual sin and would not submit to Christ as Lord.

 

So, don’t take God’s grace for granted. Don’t assume that just because you made a profession of faith in Jesus Christ, and/or that you got baptized, and/or that you attend weekly “church” gatherings where you lift your hands and verbally sing songs of worship and praise of God, that God is now pleased with you and that heaven is guaranteed you. For Jesus said that not everyone who says to Him, “Lord, Lord,” will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one DOING the will of God the Father who is in heaven.

 

[Is 29:13-16; Is 53:1-12; Matt 7:21-23; Matt 26:26-29; Lu 9:23-26; Lu 17:25; Jn 1:1-36; Jn 6:35-58; Jn 8:24,58; Jn 10:27-33; Jn 20:28-29; Rom 5:8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14; Rom 9:5; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 1 Co 11:23-32; 1 Co 15:1-8; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; Eph 4:17-24; Php 2:5-11; Col 2:9; Tit 2:11-14; Heb 1:8-9; Heb 2:14-15; Heb 4:15; 1 Pet 2:24; 2 Pet 1:1; 1 Jn 1:5-10; 1 Jn 2:3-6; 1 Jn 3:4-10] 

 

Empty Chairs at Empty Tables

 

Songwriters: L. David Lewis / Kim Williams / Edward Monroe Hill

 

There's a grief that can't be spoken

There's a pain goes on and on

Empty chairs at empty tables

Now my friends are dead and gone

 

Here they talked of revolution

Here it was they lit the flame

Here they sang about tomorrow

And tomorrow never came

 

From the table in the corner

They could see a world reborn

And they rose with voices ringing

And I can hear them now!

 

The very words that they had sung

Became their last communion

On this lonely barricade

At dawn

 

Phantom faces at the window

Phantom shadows on the floor

Empty chairs at empty tables

Where my friends will meet no more

 

Oh my friends, my friends

Don't ask me what your sacrifice was for

Empty chairs at empty tables

Where my friends will sing no more

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uethb1O3a0E

 

Caution: This link may contain ads

 

Empty Voices Singing Empty Praise

An Original Work / November 24, 2024

Reposted October 5, 2026

Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

What I Am Thankful For

I’m thankful for the cross of Christ

Where Jesus died for me

So I could die with Him to sin

And live eternally

I’m thankful that He cared for me

And called me to be His

So I could serve Him with my life

And do all that He says

I’m thankful that He’s chosen me

To serve Him in this way

So I can share His gospel truth

And other hearts to sway

I’m thankful for the Christian church

His body, who believe

In Jesus Christ their risen Lord

By faith they do receive

I’m thankful for the fellowship

I share with Christ today

And with His body, saints of God

Who follow in His ways

I’m thankful for my family,

My husband and my kids

And grandchildren, oh what a joy

God graciously He gives

So thankful I am to have life

With purpose, not a waste

To live my life my God to please

And not His will forsake

An Original Work / November 21, 2022

Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

False Teachers Among Us

2 Peter 2:1-3,14-15,18-19 BSB (Berean Standard Bible)

 

“Now there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them—bringing swift destruction on themselves. 2Many will follow in their depravity, and because of them the way of truth will be defamed. 3In their greed, these false teachers will exploit you with deceptive words. The longstanding verdict against them remains in force, and their destruction does not sleep.”

 

“14Their eyes are full of adultery; their desire for sin is never satisfied; they seduce the unstable. They are accursed children with hearts trained in greed. 15They have left the straight way and wandered off to follow the way of Balaam son of Beor, who loved the wages of wickedness.” “18 With lofty but empty words, they appeal to the sensual passions of the flesh and entice those who are just escaping from others who live in error. 19They promise them freedom, while they themselves are slaves to depravity. For a man is a slave to whatever has mastered him.”

 

A False Gospel

 

The false teachers among us may be pastors, elders, preachers, teachers, evangelists, missionaries, or just ordinary people who are sharing what they believe to be “the gospel” of Jesus Christ and of our salvation from sin. And it might not be in their own words that they are sharing this, but they are just copying what others are saying and then posting it on the internet in various locations, or they are speaking it within the gatherings of the church. But no matter the source, what they are spreading are the lies of Satan.

 

Now it says here that they will secretly introduce destructive heresies. Absolutely this is what is taking place. They will hide the lies within the truth of the gospel one small lie at a time in clever and hidden ways which are generally not noticeable and therefore not caught by the unsuspecting and by the immature and unlearned. And they will slowly adulterate the gospel message in ways most people don’t catch and so the lies become adopted as truth and shared as truth and then they are believed as truth by the many.

 

Living The Lie

 

And not only do they then adopt the false gospel as the truth, but they end up living the false gospel as though it is the truth. And rather than live godly and holy lives, pleasing to God, putting sin to death in their lives, and walking in obedience to our Lord’s commands, in life practice, so many of them are wanderers who are still living immoral and sinful lives. So many of them end up making sin their practice and not obedience to God, because they are believing the lie which tells them that they don’t have to obey God.

 

But they are not all doing this ignorantly. Many of them are well versed in the Scriptures and in what they teach us on the subject of salvation from sin and eternal life with God and on what it means to believe in Jesus. But they have adopted the lies because the lies give them permission to keep living in sin without guilt and without repentance and without obedience to God and to His commands while they claim Jesus as their Lord and Savior and salvation from sin and eternal life with God as assured them for eternity.

 

The Hypocrites

 

Many of these who claim to be Christians and followers of Christ and/or those who are preachers and teachers of “the gospel,” whether or not they are the false teachers or those adopting the lies for themselves to live by, they will put on a performance that they are following Jesus with their lives while secretly their eyes and their lifestyles are full of adulteries and immorality. They are living in addiction to sin, often to sexual sin, for their desire for sin is never satisfied, and so they keep going back for more.

 

Even though many of them are people of influence over other people and they know the truth of what the Scriptures teach, they will teach the lies as though they are truth, not only to pacify themselves in their own sins but to get others to join them in their depravity, in their obscenities, and in what is immoral, deceptive, self-indulgent, cruel, and hurtful to others. But then they lie to them and convince them that God will not judge them and that heaven is still their destiny since they said they believed in Jesus. Not true!

 

The Gospel

 

But Jesus Christ taught that to come to Him we must deny self, take up our cross daily (die daily to sin), and follow (obey) Him. For if we hold on to living in sin and for self, we will lose our lives for eternity. But if we deny self, die daily to sin, by the Spirit, and we walk in obedience to our Lord and to His commands, in His power, then we have eternal life with God. For not everyone who calls Him “Lord” will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one DOING (obeying) the will of God (see Luke 9:23-26; Matthew 7:21-23).

 

For by God-gifted faith in Jesus Christ, which is not of our own doing, we are crucified with Christ in death to sin and raised with Christ to walk in newness of life in Him, no longer to live as slaves to sin but as slaves to righteousness in walks of obedience to God’s commands. We are no longer to permit sin to reign in our mortal bodies to make us obey its desires. For if sin is what we obey, it results in death. But if obedience to God is what we obey, it results in sanctification, and its end is eternal life with God (see Romans 6:1-23).

 

[Matthew 7:13-14,21-23; Luke 9:23-26; John 10:27-30; Acts 26:18; Romans 1:18-32; Romans 2:5-10; Romans 3:23; Romans 6:1-23; Romans 8:1-14; Romans 12:1-2; 1 Corinthians 6:9-10,19-20; 1 Corinthians 10:1-22; 2 Corinthians 5:10,15,21; Galatians 5:16-24; Ephesians 2:8-10; Ephesians 4:17-32; Ephesians 5:3-6; Titus 2:11-14; Hebrews 3:1-19; Hebrews 4:1-13; Hebrews 10:19-39; Hebrews 12:1-2; 1 Peter 2:24; 1 John 1:1-10; 1 John 2:1-6; 1 John 3:4-10; Revelation 2:1-29; Revelation 3:1-22]

 

So believe and live the truth and not the lies, for the lies will send you to hell, but if the truth is what you obey you have eternal life with God.

 

False Teachers Among Us

An Original Work / October 5, 2026

Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

 

The Battle for Truth

 

Based off Malachi 1-4

An Original Work / May 18, 2013

Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

 

Truth is marching, truth is marching.

 

I love you. Honor me. Tell the truth. You’ll be free.

Sing My praise all your days. I will give all you need.

 

Truth is marching, truth is marching.

 

Turn from sin; cleansed within. Stand in awe of My Name.

Teach what’s true. Walk in peace. Follow Christ, in His ways.

 

Truth is marching, truth is marching.

 

Show to God faithfulness. Do not be adult’rous.

Do not shed shallow tears. Do not be insincere.

 

Truth is marching, truth is marching.

 

I have sent messengers who have giv’n My address.

They call for repentance, and they warn of judgment.

 

Truth is marching, truth is marching.

 

I, the Lord, do not change, so return – blessings gain:

Healing comes; joyfulness; freedom from your distress.

 

https://vimeo.com/117023801

Like a Roaring Lion Seeking to Devour You

1 Peter 5:5-11 BSB (Berean Standard Bible)

 

“5..And all of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because, ‘God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.’ 6Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, so that in due time He may exalt you. 7Cast all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you.

 

“8Be sober-minded and alert. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. 9Resist him, standing firm in your faith and in the knowledge that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kinds of suffering.

 

“10And after you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself restore you, secure you, strengthen you, and establish you. 11To Him be the power forever and ever. Amen.”

 

Humility

 

If we clothe ourselves with humility toward one another, what should that look like in all practicality? It has to do with humbleness of mind, modesty, meekness, a lowering of human pride, having a humble opinion of oneself, not selfish, not self-exalting, and not prideful, while living in complete dependence on the Lord, and not on self-reliance. It is the opposite of arrogance, conceit, haughtiness and self-importance which centers in self and in selfishness and in one’s own accomplishments and not in God.

 

Pride

 

And what does it look like if someone is full of pride? Pride is centered in self and in selfishness and not in selflessness. It takes a “me only” approach to life, putting oneself and one’s own desires above all else and above all others. But oddly, this can involve doing kind things for others if the benefit gained from it results in themselves being honored and valued and regarded as someone nice or kind, i.e. it has to do with self-image. But they can also refuse to be kind and to treat others with hate for their own sinful desires.

 

Humility vs Pride

 

Sometimes a person may appear humble outwardly, but it is for show only to impress others. So ultimately it is self-serving, for it is out of a heart of pride that they put on this show so that others will think well of them. They are good actors, in other words. And then there are those who are truly humble before God, but God may lead them to give a testimony of the goodness of God in their lives, and others may mistake that for pride because they misinterpret the words being shared, even if God is being given all the glory.

 

The Devil

 

The devil is often the one behind confusing good with evil and evil with good, trying to make the righteous look selfish, while applauding the truly evil to make them look good. And we live in a day when evil is being called good, and where good is being called evil. So the evildoers get applauded and raised up, and they are accepted as “good” while the godly and the moral who are on the right path get criticized and discredited. The same thing is happening to the gospel of our salvation, too, while lies are widely accepted.

 

So we need to be aware of the devil’s schemes being used against us in these modern days where so much is being turned Topsy-Turvy (upside down). For he wants to do all within his power to discredit the truly righteous who are living holy lives, pleasing to God, while he raises up the truly evil who multitudes then end up following. So know his tricks so that you can defeat them and so that you do not get fooled by them. For if you are teaching the truth of God’s Word, you will be opposed. Keep going!

 

Restoration and Healing

 

Full restoration following much suffering may not happen in this life, i.e. some sufferings will continue until the day the Lord takes us home to be with Him for eternity. He may give us some breaks, here and there, on this earth, where things will seem to be going well for a while, and then POW! We may get hit soon again. So don’t be surprised if you seem to be getting hit (not physically) with one trial after another after another, and if presently your trials and tribulations are mounting to the point of bringing you to tears.

 

Now for many people these trials may be of a physical nature, and not something just in the area of verbal attacks and false accusations and rejections and the like. There are so many different ways in which we could literally be under attack by Satan and by his evil forces. But we have to fight back, not with guns and knives, but with spiritual weapons of warfare, i.e. with the truth of God’s Word and with the truth of what is really going on in opposition to lies being spoken. And one day this will all be over! Amen!

 

[Matthew 5:10-12; Matthew 10:16-25,34-39; Matthew 24:9-14; Luke 6:22-23; Luke 12:49-53; Luke 21:12-17; John 15:18-21; John 16:33; Acts 14:22; Romans 5:3-5; 2 Corinthians 1:3-11; Ephesians 6:10-20; Philippians 3:7-11; 1 Thessalonians 3:1-5; Hebrews 12:3-12; James 1:2-4; 1 Peter 1:6-7; 1 Peter 4:12-17; Revelation 6:9-11; Revelation 7:9-17; Revelation 11:1-3; Revelation 12:17; Revelation 13:1-18; Revelation 14:1-13] 

 

Like a Roaring Lion Seeking to Devour You

An Original Work / October 5, 2026

Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

 

Bow the Knee 

 

By Chris Machen and Mike Harland

 

There are moments on our journey following the Lord

Where God illumines ev’ry step we take.

There are times when circumstances make perfect sense to us,

As we try to understand each move He makes.

When the path grows dim and our questions have no answers, turn to Him.

 

Bow the knee; Trust the heart of your Father when the answer goes beyond what you can see.

Bow the knee; Lift your eyes toward heaven and believe the One who holds eternity.

And when you don’t understand the purpose of His plan,

In the presence of the King, bow the knee.

 

There are days when clouds surround us, and the rain begins to fall,

The cold and lonely winds won’t cease to blow.

And there seems to be no reason for the suffering we feel;

We are tempted to believe God does not know.

When the storms arise, don’t forget we live by faith and not by sight.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EuZltbXH9KQ

 

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