"There
is a way
which
seems
right to
a man,
but its
end is
the way
of
death."
Proverbs
16:25
When
Jesus
was
asked
which of
the
Commandments
was the
greatest
of all
He
replied,
-"The
first
Commandment,
to love
the Lord
with all
your
heart,
with all
your
soul and
with all
your
mind." Then
the Lord
said the
second
greatest
was to
love
your
neighbor
as
yourself.
This was
the
embodiment
of the
last six
Commandments.
What we
learn
from
this is
that our
first
responsibility
is to
love God
and
secondly
to love
our
neighbor
as
ourselves.
The
Bible
says
that God
created
all
things
for
Himself
and for
His
glory.
Man was
made for
God, God
was not
made for
man.
This is
an
important
distinction
because
humanism
has
crept
into the
Church.
Humanism
replaces
the
greatest
Commandment,
which
puts God
first,
with the
second
which
emphasizes
love and
care
toward
man.
This
philosophy
preaches
the use
of God
and His
ways for
the sole
benefit
of man.
But God
is not a
means to
an end,
-He is
the
beginning
and the
end. The
ultimate
goal of
humanism
is to be
happy as
you live
your
life.
The
ultimate
goal of
true
Christianity
is to
please
God and
be happy
when you
die.
This is
not to
say that
joy and
happiness
is not a
part of
a
Christian’s
life, it
is, but
as a
by-product.
God
wants
His
children
to have
happy,
fulfilled
lives
but the
historic
truth is
millions
have
suffered
and died
for
their
faith in
Christ.
Even
today
there
are an
estimated
200,000
Christians
martyred
every
year.
True
Christianity
for many
in the
world is
not
"your
best
life
now" but
eternal
life to
come.
During
the days
of
slavery
there
was a
man who
owned
and
worked
thousands
of
slaves
on an
island.
He
denied
any
Christian
missionaries
access
to the
island
so the
slaves
would
not hear
the
gospel
of
Christ.
Two
young
Christian
Moravians
heard
about
this and
sold
themselves
into
slavery
in order
to
secretly
preach
the
gospel
to
slaves.
Their
family
members
were
shocked
and
tried to
talk
them out
of it,
but they
could
not. As
they
watched
them
walking
toward
the
slave
ship the
two
young
men
turned
and
raised
clasped
hands
and
said, -"May
the Lamb
that was
slain
receive
the
reward
of His
suffering!"
Suddenly
it
became
clear
why they
were
making
such a
great
sacrifice.
It was
for
Jesus,
the Lamb
that was
slain.
What
motivated
them to
bring
salvation
to those
poor
African
slaves?
That
Jesus
would
receive
the
reward
of His
suffering.
They
weren’t
going
merely
because
they
loved
them,
but
because
God did
and had
demonstrated
it by
giving
His own
His to
save
them.
Let us
always
put God
first
and
beware
the
snare of
humanism.
