My Moment of Truth

We live in a world much different from what it was 50 years ago. It’s even much different than what it was 15 years ago. So, even the pace of change seems to have accelerated. So, how did we get where we are today?

There’s something interesting that happens when a group determines its own standards. What happens is those standards keep changing. The standards that were yesterday’s standards are no longer today’s standards and today’s standards won’t be tomorrow’s standards. So, those benchmarks have all the strength and fortitude of a bowl of Jell-o. In reality, they can’t be called standards at all. In the realm of actual standards and measures we have metrics that don’t change. An inch is always an inch. A meter is always a meter. The reason this is helpful is because we always know how to measure something against it. But if the thing we’re measuring keeps changing, and the means by which we measure it keeps changing, then what kind of chaos does that present? In fact, measuring anything anymore really becomes pointless.

See, if this kind of scenario continues, where will we be in another 50 years, 100 years? Good questions to ask, don’t you think? I think it’s good at points in time to sit back and reflect on things instead of just chasing limits off into oblivion. What are the limits at which we are willing to go? And if we move one set of limits today, what are the consequences of that? Where does that take us tomorrow? Does anyone ask these questions? Or is it just a matter of wanting what you want? The thing is, you may want what you want, but you may not want the results of it.

What does reason dictate? Doesn’t reason dictate there should be outer bounds on things? Shouldn’t there be limits in everything? Can the standards of a group be determined by the group itself? Maybe for a time. But where does that end up? No one seems to even want to ask that question, much less answer it? And maybe that’s why we are where we are today. We have too many people willing to push the envelope and not enough people willing to ask the questions. That’s a dangerous thing.

In fact if this is what we’re doing—continually changing the standards. If we’re continually moving the goalposts, then why even have any standards at all? Just make everything OK. I know what you’re thinking: Well, we need some standards in order for there to be a civil society—we can’t just allow anything. I agree. But here’s what many people miss. You can’t have a civil society without a moral society. Even Alexis de Tocqueville said, “America is great because she is good. If America ceases to be good, America will cease to great.” Well, how do we determine what good is? I’m glad you asked.

…Let’s go deeper

AV James 1:17: “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.” God is not only good, but the giver of all good things. There is no darkness in Him. That’s the great thing. We can trust in His goodness. So, then we can trust His standards.

AV James 1:27: “Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, [and] to keep himself unspotted from the world.” When we experience the new birth we gain a new heart. A good heart. So, then we become doers of good. We begin to act on that good that has been placed in us. What God calls a pure religion is one that acts out on that good heart and also doesn’t allow the world, or the worlds thinking, to change them or how they think.
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AV 2 Timothy 3:16-17: “All scripture [is] given by inspiration of God, and [is] profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.” This tells us the purpose of scripture. It’s meant to be our training manual for life. It’s meant to correct us. It’s meant to give us a standard so that we know what is good. It’s not something that is continually shifting or changing. It stays the same no matter what. See, God doesn’t changes His mind on these things because He doesn’t change. In Malachi 3:6 He says, “I change not.” That’s actually refreshing I think. With all the things that change from one thing to the next, it’s good to know that He is good, and that He doesn’t change.

AV John 14:6: “Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” Once again the truth is found in Jesus. Jesus clearly stated that He is the only way to the Father. There is no other way to God. That’s as plain as He could have made it for us. He is not only the only way, but also our only source for truth and the ultimate measure of truth itself.

AV James 1:17: “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.”

AV John 14:6: “Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.”

This world is an amazing place. It’s filled with wonder and things that are hard to explain. But I wonder how many of us go throughout our day and we enjoy our lives, but we don’t stop to think about where all these things come from.

Mankind has always wanted to know the answers to the deep questions in life. It’s something that we just desire to know. We look at the world as something that is unique and special. We look at it as a creation. And we can mentally understand a creation. We create things in a sense. While we don’t actually create physical matter from nothing, we still form matter into different creations. So, from that we understand that a creation, by necessity, must also have a creator. That’s just a natural conclusion. Our own experience tells us this.

I think we often overlook this fact because, as humans, we are easily distracted. We naturally look to what’s right in front of us and easily forget about where it came from. But that’s kind of like looking at the gift and forgetting about the giver, isn’t it? If we think about the gifts we’ve gotten that mean something to us, we look at that gift and often remember the person who gave it to us. And that’s why the gift is so special. It’s because it shows the heart of the person who gave it. That gift has meaning because of that fact. We think of a necklace and it’s special because of who gave it to us. The necklace itself isn’t the meaningful thing. It’s what that necklace shows about the person who gave it.

So, I wonder if we shouldn’t look at creation in the same way—as a gift. We wouldn’t generally consider receiving a gift from a person and forgetting about who it came from. If we received a gift from a family member or friend and never said thanks, we would consider that as rude. So I wonder why we don’t think of it as that way in the light of all creation that God has given to us.

Many people want to enjoy the creation without the creator. As I’m writing this right now the thought of that breaks my heart. I’m thinking of how I might feel if I gave someone a great gift and all they cared about was the gift and not about me. I’m thinking this is how God must feel when we, not only don’t appreciate the gift, but don’t appreciate the gift-giver. Going through life without a conscious understanding of the gift of all that is in front of us is a great oversight on our part, to say the least.

Now that I’ve actually written this out, it’s actually changed my perspective somewhat. It makes me want to be even more thankful and aware of, not just what was created, but who created it.

…Let’s go deeper

I believe when we have a proper understanding of God’s goodness we naturally become more thankful. And I think that sometimes begins by us looking at what He has created. God and His nature are represented by the things that we can see He has created.

AV Genesis 1:1: “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.” This is the beginning verse of the entire Bible. This is where what we understand today had its beginning. It’s remarkable to think of. I wonder what it would have been like to be there at the beginning of all creation. But we naturally know that the things we see started at some point in time.

AV Colossians 1:16: “For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether [they be] thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him:” This verse states that not just things we see were created by Him, but all things that we cannot see were also created by Him. There’s not only a physical realm, but also a spiritual realm. God created this as well. And it also says that these things were created for Him and His glory.
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AV Romans 1:20: “For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, [even] his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:” God created this world with such an order and complexity that it would obviously point to Him. It’s the order and complexity that points to a creator. It says that these not only point to His existence, but also tell us something of His nature and character as well.

AV 2 Corinthians 9:15: “Thanks [be] unto God for his unspeakable gift.” In this ninth chapter to the Corinthian Church Paul speaks of their liberality in giving and ends with this verse thanking God for His ‘unspeakable gift’. I think Paul wanted to end with mentioning the greatest gift of all—Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross. This is the culmination of all gifts God has given to us. We can not only be thankful for this gift, but also thankful for the gift giver. For the gift reveals to us the heart of the giver.

AV Ephesians 2:10: “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.” But of all of God’s creation, His greatest creation was us. And He expressed His love for us by the death of His son Jesus on the cross. And God not only created everything, but He created a way for us to walk in as well. But we have to choose this way. When we choose the way through the death of His son Jesus Christ we are expressing the highest form of thankfulness for His ‘unspeakable gift’.

AV Genesis 1:1: “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.”

AV Ephesians 2:10: “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.”

I believe that people often apply the term narrow-minded in the wrong way. People often think they have to be inclusive and consider all ideas. But some ideas don’t really pass muster. Others, however, are worth considering. And they shouldn’t be dismissed just for being exclusive.

Exclusivity is something people tend to run away from today. And because it’s exclusive people may often think of it as being narrow-minded. We need to step back and examine if that’s the case. Because some ideas are exclusive, but they are wrong. These should be labelled as narrow-minded. However, truth is always exclusive and it is always right. See, narrow-minded means not being open to new ideas. But in an effort to escape the label of narrow-minded, we shouldn’t be open to wrong ideas.

Here’s a good example. I just had a call from a friend of mine asking me if the earth is a globe, or if it is flat? Seriously, I’m not kidding, this just happened. I was dumb-founded by his question thinking, “What am I missing?” So, I answered with the response that I knew to be correct and said, “It’s a globe.” In his response he began to explain how that if you look across the horizon the objects that are on the horizon should disappear the further you get away from them. He said they conducted an experiment showing that someone looking 60 miles away at the skyline of Chicago didn’t actually experience the disappearance of the skyline. And based upon the distance this should have happened.

Now, I haven’t had time to look into whether this is actually true. And I don’t know the reasons behind this phenomenon of which he was speaking. But even if what he said actually happened, I’m not going to start believing the earth is flat. I’m not going back several hundred years and joining the ‘earth is flat’ crowd. And I won’t be running around yelling, “The earth is flat!” Like I said, while I’m open to new ideas, I’m not open to wrong ideas. Regardless of the reasons for this happening, I still know the earth to be a sphere.

In our morally relativistic culture, the thought of dismissing ideas for being wrong has become repulsive to people. So, especially in this kind of environment we need people standing up and saying, “No that’s not right.” I say, once you get a handle on truth, don’t let go of it. So, like the title says, “A narrow path is not narrow-minded.” A narrow path has a purpose. It keeps us from error. It keeps us from wrong ways of thinking. It keeps us from getting off into the ditch. Just like the road you drive down every day has limits on either side of you. There’s a solid white line on the right side to keep you out of the ditch. And there’s a dotted yellow line on the left side to keep you out of oncoming traffic. Neither of which we want to happen. Yet, we never accuse our highways of being narrow-minded, do we?

…Let’s go deeper

AV Matthew 7:13-14: “Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide [is] the gate, and broad [is] the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: Because strait [is] the gate, and narrow [is] the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.” God has set out a path for us to keep us out of error. The reason the way that leads to destruction is broad is because it’s full of error and untruth. The reason the narrow path is narrow is because it is the truth. The truth is meant to guide our thinking and our thought processes. He has given us the truth of His word to guide us.

AV John 8:32: “And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” The thing that truth does is it makes us free. What does it make us free from? Well, for one thing, it makes us free from all the falsehoods out there. Because error has a way of putting us into bondage. We become bound because we start to think things are OK when they’re not. The thing about sin is that it has consequences. When you think wrong you act wrong. And when you act wrong you end up in a wrong situation.
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AV Psalms 119:105: “Thy word [is] a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.” How does God guide us onto the narrow path? Well, we primarily follow His word to know truth. His word lights the way of truth. It’s a lamp unto my feet as it lights the way right in front of me. It keeps me from anything that would trip me up as I take my next step. It’s a light unto my path because it shows me which way to go up ahead.

AV 1 Corinthians 2:14: “But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know [them], because they are spiritually discerned.” One thing that is often overlooked is that truth is shielded from the thinking of the world. Until God awakens a person’s spirit through His Holy Spirit their understanding is darkened. The truth of who He is and His nature is not apparent to them until He reveals it to their hearts and minds. Then the Holy Spirit can speak to and show them more and more of the truth of God.

AV Matthew 7:13-14: “Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide [is] the gate, and broad [is] the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: Because strait [is] the gate, and narrow [is] the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.”

AV 1 Corinthians 2:14: “But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know [them], because they are spiritually discerned.”

I think there’s one thing I’ve learned more the older I get. That’s not to take life for granted. The more you look at the opportunities in life and how fortunate you are, the more you realize how special it is. You look at people who don’t have the opportunities you do and you feel fortunate. Maybe this is a perspective that only comes with age.

I have to admit to being, traditionally, a bit of a pessimist. I don’t always see the positive side of things. But I feel like there’s something of a shift in my perspective taking place. I have many times looked at the many things we endure in life as bothersome. But the interesting thing is that after going through many difficult times I have a new appreciation for all that is good in life. It seems the hard times and difficulties gave me a new perspective on the good. For example, you never appreciate being healthy so much as you do after having endured a long illness. You never appreciate financial stability so much as you do after going through financial difficulty. It seems the things I used to take for granted, I now appreciate.

I look at life as more of a list of opportunities instead of a list of obstacle, as an amazing gift and not a tremendous burden. And that alone makes life more enjoyable, when you see it that way. One thing that can easily stand in the way of our success is the perspective we have. We often create our own obstacles. We never start something because we think of all the reasons why it won’t work. It’s the negative mindset that is often our greatest enemy. Because often the obstacles aren’t even real. We just make them up in our minds, through fear and negativity.

So, knowing what I know now, I have chosen to approach things a little differently. I believe that I won’t regret so much the risks I did take. I believe that I will regret the risks that I didn’t take. Maybe, mostly, because the risks that I did take weren’t really that risky. I just thought they were. How many times do we do, or not do, something because of the perceived dangers? I also think we highly underestimate the role of failure in our lives. Really, all of our list of failures are a list of lessons from which to learn. And that’s why failure is important in our lives.

Maybe me saying, “I’m afraid of failure” is kind of like me saying, “I’m afraid of learning”? We would easily state the former, but we would never state the latter. Another change in perspective, I guess. So, things look different from different angles. Maybe we don’t need to always change the thing we’re looking at. Maybe we just need to change the way we’re looking at that thing. Sometimes we miss the gift because it looks different than we expected.

…Let’s go deeper

, and that the Knowing the gift that life is, we also know that the gift is given to us by God. Like any gift given to someone, He wants us to enjoy it. We often forget, in the midst of everything, that we should be enjoying what God has given us.

AV Psalms 91:16: “With long life will I satisfy him, and shew him my salvation.” Psalm 91 starts out by us dwelling in the secret place of the most High and it ends up in Psalm 91:16. This person God will satisfy with length of life and show him His salvation. God is with those who look to Him. When our heart is truly reliant and dependent on Him we can know and be assured of His presence, protection and provision.

AV 1 Timothy 6:17: “Charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not highminded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy;” The riches we enjoy in this world are also to be separated from our dependence. While we enjoy these things, we don’t depend on them. Our true dependence and help comes from the Lord. It’s when we get our eyes off that reality that we run into problems. We sometimes overestimate our own importance. But, really, we can’t do anything without Him.

AV Psalms 16:11: “Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence [is] fulness of joy; at thy right hand [there are] pleasures for evermore.” The true joy is found in His presence. We sometimes lose our joy because we get out of His presence. It’s then we realize that we need to shift perspective back onto Him and the true riches He has waiting for us in Heaven.
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AV John 16:24: “Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name: ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full.” Jesus’ word to His disciples shows us His heart towards us as well. We can petition the Father in Jesus’ name the things we desire. But this also goes along with abiding in Him. In the previous chapter, John 15, Jesus also talks about ‘If we abide in Him, and His words abide in us, we shall ask what we will, and it shall be done unto us’. Why is this? Well, for one, if we are truly abiding we won’t be asking things outside of His will. Abiding means our desires our in line with His. So, the desires of our hearts will also be His desires.

AV John 10:10: “The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have [it] more abundantly.” The final thing to remember is that Jesus came to give us an abundant life. We can have this abundant life when it begins in Him. This is where it starts. The problem comes when we set out to enjoy these things without Him. As He said ‘He came that we might have life’. We can’t even have life without Him. Much less the abundant life. But the life starts in Him. And the abundant life grows as we learn to walk in Him.

AV Ecclesiastes 2:2: :”[There is] nothing better for a man, [than] that he should eat and drink, and [that] he should make his soul enjoy good in his labour. This also I saw, that it [was] from the hand of God.”

AV Psalms 91:16: “With long life will I satisfy him, and shew him my salvation.”

AV John 10:10: “The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have lifeey might have [it] more abundantly.”

There’s a certain attitude that is not only not attractive, but also lacks humility. It’s something where we care so much what people think of us that we put ourselves on display when we do something noteworthy. It’s the kind of thing that is abhorrent when we see it in someone else but we sometimes fail to see in ourselves.

It’s something how we can sometimes have a blind spot to things like doing things for show. We may go and buy a new car because our neighbors bought a new car. There’s a pressure we feel, a competitions of sorts, where we think we have to keep up with them. And it may not even be that we think we need to better them. We may just be trying to be keep up with them. We can be trying to “keep up with the Joneses” without even realizing it. We end up going into debt to impress other people that we don’t even know. Some people may look at their neighbors down the street, with the three stall garage, swimming pool, and a boat to go to the lake on the weekends and think, “Wow, they must be really doing well.” We never really know the reality of the situation, though. They might be in debt up to their ears. The truth of the matter is that the neighbors with the humble abode, and a couple ‘paid for’ vehicles might be in the more enviable situation. Maybe they just took the ‘Financial Peace University’ course. Something they never teach us in school, by the way. And this is not to denigrate people who have the means and want to enjoy the fruits of their labor. Done with the right attitude, it can be a good thing. But what I’m getting at is the heart of why we do some things.

And it’s not just the “keeping up with the joneses” attitude. We can be doing some otherwise good things, but not think about why we’re doing them. Giving to a charity is a great thing. But then when we go broadcast it to the world, it’s just not quite as great. I mean the charity still appreciates it. And people still benefit from the dollars we give. It’s just in getting to the heart of the matter, I believe it matters why we do what we do. I believe motives matter.

I guess it should be enough for us to know that we have done the right thing, whether it be buying a new car or giving away some money. Sometimes we get such a limited view of things. The temptation to impress people can be pretty strong. We live and move around people all day long. Some may think, “Well, if I don’t impress people, then who can I impress?” Well, there is someone else for us to think about impressing. And this is way more important because other acquaintances generally don’t have much investment in our daily lives.

…Let’s go deeper

God is someone who is watching us and who is very concerned with our daily lives. He is more invested than other people will ever be. That makes it a good idea for us to be conscious of how God views our actions. And not just that, but wanting to be pleasing to Him. I believe when we are conscious, and aware, of God’s daily presence we will develop a heart of trying to impress God instead of people.

AV James 1:27: “Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, [and] to keep himself unspotted from the world.” The Bible is clear that charitable acts are a part of the Christian life. We are to display kindness to others while, at the same time, not being corrupted by the world. But the Bible also makes clear these things we should be done without a certain pride, but in humility.

AV Matthew 6:3: “But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth:” What does it mean to ‘let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth’? Well, it means that we should do our charitable acts in private. We shouldn’t do these things with a consciousness of how we look to others. But we can even do some things in private and not to be seen of others. But we can still be doing them with a certain pride of self. We can be doing something good and, at the same time, be patting ourselves on the back.

AV John 4:24: “God [is] a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship [him] in spirit and in truth.” These things are a kind of worship. These things we do for others. When we do for others, we should be thinking of them as an act of worship to our God. This is also a part of ‘worshipping Him in spirit and in truth’. When we act with our hearts being right we are fulfilling the meaning of this verse.

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AV Colossian 3:23: “And whatsoever ye do, do [it] heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men;” The main idea is centered on this: we should do all that we do as an act unto the Lord. This encompasses so many things. It means we do things out of love, and that we give our best effort in these things, and that we don’t do things to be seen of others, and also that we don’t do these things out of pride. This is how we know we are doing thing with the right attitude and the right motives.

AV James 1:27: “Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, [and] to keep himself unspotted from the world.”

AV Colossian 3:23: “And whatsoever ye do, do [it] heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men;”

We tend to think what we want is so important. The desires we have are what seem to rule our lives. Now, on a certain level (and especially in society today) that seems like that should be OK. Many people might ask the question, “Well, what’s wrong with that”? But when you think a little deeper about the meaning of life, it forces the question, “Is that all there is to life—the pursuit of personal preferences and desires?” See, while providing a certain satisfaction on the natural level, it leaves the spiritual realm entirely vacant. Put another way, personal pursuits may provide momentary satisfaction, but they don’t provide us answers for the deepest longings of our souls.

The deepest questions about life and its meaning simply can’t be answered by a carnal pursuit of personal satisfaction. This is clearly evident by the multitude of successful people who, in the process of pursuing every earthly desire, and attaining everything they could have imagined, and reaching the pinnacle of their profession and are left asking themselves, “Is this all there is?” They’ve reached the top of the mountain, and once they got there, it wasn’t what they thought it would be. See, it’s easy to think these things can satisfy while you have not yet attained them. You know you’re not truly fulfilled. But you tell yourself, “Well, it’s just because I still haven’t reached my goal yet. Once I get there, though, that’s when the fulfillment and satisfaction will come. Then I’ll really be happy.” But it’s entirely different once you’ve achieved every goal imaginable, and it leaves you feeling nothing but empty and unfulfilled inside.

But few people think ahead to how this is going to play out. Even if you achieve all the fame, and wealth, and sensory pleasure in the world, will that really be enough? The thing about earthly pleasures is that a person has this gnawing hunger for them. But he wants more and more and more—and even while achieving more and more, that hunger is never satisfied. It wants more and more, but it never says, “That’s enough.”

The reason we can’t be satisfied, merely, on a physical level is because we are not, merely, physical beings. We are also spiritual beings. So, knowing that, it stands to reason that a spiritual need can’t be filled physically. A spiritual need has to be filled spiritually. Some atheists may argue that we aren’t spiritual beings. That we’re just merely physical substance and matter. But does that sound reasonable? Mankind has from the beginning of time asked questions with answers that lie beyond himself. He has asked the questions, “Where did we come from? What’s this all about? What is the meaning of life?” The reality is that our deepest questions and longings can’t be answered and fulfilled by some physical thing. This reality alone points to the existence of a spirit that dwells in the heart of man.

…Let’s go deeper

While we may want to go our own way, and do what we want, God has a different way for us. There’s a way for us to be fulfilled. There’s a way to fill the deepest needs in our hearts.

AV Matthew 16:24: “Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any [man] will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.” The condition set out at the beginning of this verse is denial of self. We can’t begin to take up our cross for Christ until we have denied self. Does that mean we purposely deny ourselves the things we want. Well, on a certain level, “Yes.” But what it really means is that our desires and wants are to be subject to the desires and wants of God. We may want certain things, but those things are brought under subjection to God. He not only has the preeminence in our lives, but His wants and desire have the preeminence in our lives. That’s what having Him on the throne of our lives means.

AV Luke 22:42: “Saying, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done.” Jesus, before He went to the cross shows us a good example of denying self and submitting to the will of God. Jesus knew what the Father was asking Him to do. He didn’t want to experience the separation from the Father. He submitted His will to that of the Father. He was ‘obedient to death, even the death of the cross’. (Phi. 2:8)

AV Matthew 6:33: “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.” The thing God requires of us is to put Him first, which also means seeking Him first. But God isn’t unconcerned with our wants and needs. He knows full well the desires of our hearts. But He is saying, “Put me first, and I will take care of all these other things.”

AV Philippians 2:4: “Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others.” Inherent in the denial of self is also that we need to be looking on the needs of others and not just our own needs. God shed His love abroad in our hearts. So, that love should come out in an expression of compassion for others. This is especially true in our love for other believers. It says in John 13:35: “By this shall all [men] know know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.”
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AV John 12:24: “Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.” Jesus’ example here of a ‘corn of wheat’ signifies how a grain of wheat has to die before it can bring up and grow into a plant that will bear fruit. The death precedes the fruit-bearing. Also, as the scripture says in Matthew 21:44: “And whosoever shall fall on this stone shall be broken, but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder.” We have to be broken. That brokenness involves us dying to self and a true repentance from sin. This is a process we have to submit to. God wants us to fall on this stone. This is the cornerstone—Jesus Christ.

AV Matthew 16:24: “Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any [man] will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.”