Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered outside the gate. Therefore, let us go forth to him outside the camp, bearing his reproach. For we have no continuing city here, but we seek one to come.
Select a thought to read by choosing a collection, the month, and then the day:
I have been serving Christ since 1974, and before that, as the child of Preacher Clark, I was in hundreds, probably thousands, of home prayer meetings, Bible readings, etc. So, it isn't often that I hear something that strikes me as a completely new thought. But Brother Earl began his testimony in the meeting at my house, January 1st, by saying "If you don't love yourself, you'll never be happy." He went on to testify about many other good things, but I couldn't get away from those opening words. And as I pondered over them, the Lord made me to understand why that is true.
The person who obeys God has a clean heart; his conscience is pure. And the one whose conscience is clear loves his life. There is nothing worrisome about it. The life of obedience to God is a happy life. God makes certain of that. I have never met one person in all my years of serving Jesus who regretted doing good. There are no regrets in the love of God; he who walks in love looks forward to the future because he is not distracted by the howling dogs of shame. The man who loves God loves himself and does himself much good.
The person who disobeys God has a condemned heart and a tormented conscience. Such a person cannot love his life. It is tormented by fear, either fear of discovery or reprisal by one whom he has wronged. The ancient prophet said, "There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked." Every person who does evil will live to regret the evil done. God will make certain of that. Oh, the nights of tears and deep, bitter shame I have seen because of sins committed in my foolish youth! The man who does not love God and His commandments hates both himself and life.
Young person, if you want to love life, obey God. If you want to have a good opinion of yourself, love God and keep His commandments. If you obey God now, you are going to love the life that God will give to you. You will be happy and have no regrets.
If you disobey God's commandments, especially those that speak of moral purity, you will hate yourself and life will be unpleasant. If you disobey God now, in the days of your youth, the time will come in which you would surrender your right arm if only you could re-live these precious days. You will be unhappy, and even your dreams will be troubled.
It is true, as Brother Earl said: if you do not love yourself, you will never be happy. Happiness and love of one's life comes only by obeying the commandments of God in Christ Jesus. Even saints whom I have seen live below the standard that God required of them never fully felt the joy and peace that God had for them. To love ourselves as we should, and to be as happy with life as Jesus can make us, we must live up to the highest standard that he has shown us. That done, our hearts are pure, our conscience is clear, and life becomes nothing but an opportunity to reap the good seed that we have sown.
How would you like to wake up each morning excited about what new and good thing God has in store for you that day? That is a happy life. That is the life of every person who loves God with all his heart, mind, soul, and strength, and who keeps His commandments.
I sincerely hope that you will experience the overwhelming joy that God has caused the saints who meet in my house to feel. When we gather before the Lord, the feelings of love, and joy, and peace, and gratitude for His mercy and goodness sometimes grow to the point that I, and others here, can say and do nothing. I am left helpless, for I do not know how to respond to what I am feeling. It is beyond shouting, beyond praising God aloud, beyond speaking in tongues, beyond rolling across the floor, beyond any response to God that I have ever seen or heard of in meetings of the saints. I am astonished at His greatness and His goodness. It is beyond me. Recently, my prayer has been simply that God will enable me to respond to His greatness. In the meantime, I stand helpless before Him, completely overwhelmed by the love and purity of His presence.
As I rode in the car this afternoon with some of the saints here in Louisville, I wondered aloud, "How can life possibly be any better?" These are the feelings that come with obedience to God's commandments. If you want to be happy, keep them. The kind of life that God commands us to live is the kind of life that leads to loving life. The kind of life that God commands us to live leads to our respecting ourselves for the choices we have made. It leads to being grateful for the opportunity to live on earth and to have fellowship with God. Living the kind of life that God commands us to live leads us into a spiritual condition in which we can safely love ourselves. And when you love your own life, you are happy.
Jesus commanded us to love our neighbor as ourselves. We can only love our neighbors as we should when we have kept God's commandments and love ourselves as we ought. If we disobey God and then come to hate life, as will surely happen to all who live in sin, our neighbors would be wise to avoid us, for "the tender mercies of the wicked are cruel." Even when an evil man tries to do good, it eventually causes harm. There is no goodness apart from God, no love worth having, no favor that is safe to accept. To love your neighbor as you love yourself is a good thing only if you have loved yourself; that is to say, only if you have kept God's commandments and have come to love life. In that case, you can love others with the kind of love that will truly help them. Apart from the love of God, every "good deed" is trouble in disguise. With the love of God, even the accidents of the upright will prove to be a blessing for those around them.