SELF-IMAGE

By Rick Mathes

Romans 7:21 I find then the principle that evil is present in me, the one who wishes to do good.

The contract between a sinner and a saint is very stark. There is no mistaking who is who after a short period of observation. My heart still goes out to those poor souls that still think they can gain God’s favor and their own salvation by what they do to attain it.

They walk up the aisle for an altar call, say a rosary and get baptized in “kool aid” or any other such nonsense to corner God into forgiving their sins. They will also annoy Mother Mary with endless “Hail Mary” prayers like squeaking a wheel to torture her into persuading her Son to have mercy on you. The Bible teaches that we are elect and predestined by His will to save us only for His pleasure and because He feels like it. It has nothing to do with you or what you do.

Man continues to insist that we can save ourselves if we do more good than bad. So we invent religion, prayers, doctrines and rituals to do what we can to mold God into our image and likeness. Absurd!

Promoting our good deeds is a form of self-worship because no matter how we mask it in humility, we are receiving all the glory and honor ourselves. We approach God in pride and say, Look at what I have done for you; ain’t I something!” This makes God gag.

When you live for yourself everything, yes everything begins with the word “self.” Anytime I want to really repent of my sins I get out my thesaurus and go to the page after page of words that start with “self.” Every one of them is a sin.

Living for you develops a self image which is the opposite of the image and likeness of God you were created to mirror. When you are self-centered and look into your own vanity mirror, look beyond your image and you will see giddy demons laughing and dancing in the flames of delight that you will be joining them shortly. Can you feel the heat?