Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, DOES NOT SEEK ITS OWN, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails… (1 Corinthians 13:4-8, NKJV).
Seekers
There are only two kinds of people in this world. Those who divide people into two groups, and those who don't. No, seriously. In certain Biblical contexts, there ARE only two kinds of people in the world, and these two groups are described variously as Children of God versus Children of the Devil, Children of Light versus Sons of Disobedience, Lovers of God versus Lovers of Themselves, and God-seekers versus Self-seekers.
It is not that God-seekers hate themselves, but it is that unrepentant Self-seekers hate God and cannot love. There is a war going on, ancient and bloody, with the stakes being the highest in the Universe: eternal life versus eternal death and torment. This war takes on many guises, and the most prevalent these days reveals itself as a War of Worship. Humans who worship God versus Humans who worship themselves. In technical terms, Theists versus Humanists.
The propaganda surrounding this current battle is interesting and diabolical in its deceptiveness, It has been said that the first casualty of war is truth, but not so in this conflict. On the contrary, it is the conquest or defeat of truth that is the very essence of the battle. Know this: there cannot be any love without truth, simply because love based on lies is a betrayal from start to finish.
Humanists seek to worship themselves. They couch this blatant self-worship as regard for Mankind as a whole, but it is not. It is a childish ploy to hate God so that they can seek and worship Self. Remove God and Self is on the throne. All external restrictions melt away, and what remains is what is right or wrong in the Humanist's own eyes. The freedom to do, say or think whatever FEELS correct is the goal, and it is achieved through a determined, gritted-teeth, breath-holding, foot-stamping denial of objective reality in favor of subjective reality.
Humanists cannot practice agape love because they deny its source. They can only practice self-love, and clothe it as nobly and fashionably as possible so the selfishness that it really is is covered up in layers of presentability. True agape love is raw, and naked, and sacrificial and others-centered. It is portrayed popularly as foolishness, or tragedy, or delusion, or too good to be true. What it really is, God's love, can never, ever be acknowledged else the whole inelegant edifice of Humanism comes crashing down in the mud puddle of its origin.
The epitome of self-worship is self-seeking. It is the ultimate "what's in it for me" equation that fuels every frustrating and evil thing that occurs in human history from child sacrifice to unemployment. Self-seeking is the Darwinian survival-of-the-fittest that justifies anything in the name of expedience. Self-seeking is what is wrong in this world.
A practitioner of true agape love cannot seek his or her own because the real fire at the center of the Universe, Christ's love for the Father and for us, operates in a way destined to bring about the restoration of all things, not through self-seeking but through self-sacrifice.
Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others. (Philippians 2:3, 4, NKJV).
Seekers
There are only two kinds of people in this world. Those who divide people into two groups, and those who don't. No, seriously. In certain Biblical contexts, there ARE only two kinds of people in the world, and these two groups are described variously as Children of God versus Children of the Devil, Children of Light versus Sons of Disobedience, Lovers of God versus Lovers of Themselves, and God-seekers versus Self-seekers.
It is not that God-seekers hate themselves, but it is that unrepentant Self-seekers hate God and cannot love. There is a war going on, ancient and bloody, with the stakes being the highest in the Universe: eternal life versus eternal death and torment. This war takes on many guises, and the most prevalent these days reveals itself as a War of Worship. Humans who worship God versus Humans who worship themselves. In technical terms, Theists versus Humanists.
The propaganda surrounding this current battle is interesting and diabolical in its deceptiveness, It has been said that the first casualty of war is truth, but not so in this conflict. On the contrary, it is the conquest or defeat of truth that is the very essence of the battle. Know this: there cannot be any love without truth, simply because love based on lies is a betrayal from start to finish.
Humanists seek to worship themselves. They couch this blatant self-worship as regard for Mankind as a whole, but it is not. It is a childish ploy to hate God so that they can seek and worship Self. Remove God and Self is on the throne. All external restrictions melt away, and what remains is what is right or wrong in the Humanist's own eyes. The freedom to do, say or think whatever FEELS correct is the goal, and it is achieved through a determined, gritted-teeth, breath-holding, foot-stamping denial of objective reality in favor of subjective reality.
Humanists cannot practice agape love because they deny its source. They can only practice self-love, and clothe it as nobly and fashionably as possible so the selfishness that it really is is covered up in layers of presentability. True agape love is raw, and naked, and sacrificial and others-centered. It is portrayed popularly as foolishness, or tragedy, or delusion, or too good to be true. What it really is, God's love, can never, ever be acknowledged else the whole inelegant edifice of Humanism comes crashing down in the mud puddle of its origin.
The epitome of self-worship is self-seeking. It is the ultimate "what's in it for me" equation that fuels every frustrating and evil thing that occurs in human history from child sacrifice to unemployment. Self-seeking is the Darwinian survival-of-the-fittest that justifies anything in the name of expedience. Self-seeking is what is wrong in this world.
A practitioner of true agape love cannot seek his or her own because the real fire at the center of the Universe, Christ's love for the Father and for us, operates in a way destined to bring about the restoration of all things, not through self-seeking but through self-sacrifice.
Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others. (Philippians 2:3, 4, NKJV).
