“...they loved not their lives unto the death.”

[VictoryinJesus]

Yesterday, I could not stop looking on Luke 16:15 “And he said unto them, Ye are they which justify yourselves before men; but God knoweth your hearts: for that which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God.”

I spent the afternoon considering all the things man esteems. Power. Youth. Success. Beauty. wealth. ...and Health. (I) highly esteem life. It is in me...the desire to live long and to all I can obtain before I pass on. So, I was stumped ...to esteem ‘life’...is it wrong? God is life. How could it be an “abomination” for me to cling to a long life? What spures me on everyday: I realized there might be still a small part of me that believes ‘I have to get all I can out of life’ incase this is all there is. How can God say to esteem life here and now above all else be an abomination? ...How could holding on tight to (my own)life, not be God’s Will?

We esteem beauty and something to be desired. Consider His description which was doubtfully as the images man paints Him to have been. Isaiah 53: 2-4
[2] For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: (out of the same dry ground as His own body)he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. (oh but we do desire Him!) He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not. [4] Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.

We esteemed Him as ‘stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted”...we esteemed Him as cursed.

Moses saw Him: Hebrews 11:26-27
[26] Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt: for he had respect unto the recompence of the reward. [27] By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king: for he endured, as seeing him who is invisible. (...as ‘seeing him who is invisible?” (John 14:21) He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.

Acts 23:11
[11] And the night following the Lord stood by him, and said, Be of good cheer, Paul: for as thou hast testified of me in Jerusalem, so must thou bear witness also at Rome.

 

[VictoryinJesus]

What is ‘to die’ ..does God mean physically or to cease living for self? Living to gain the whole world ...is this that which opposes God? Is this what is highly esteemed...Vanity keeps us loving and wanting more of this life.

Luke 14:33
[33] So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple.

Revelation 15:1-2
[1] And I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvellous, seven angels having the seven last plagues; for in them is filled up the wrath of God. [2] And I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire: and them that had gotten the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name, stand on the sea of glass, having the harps of God.

Revelation 12:11
[11] And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death. (isn’t this the death to self?” the putting off of vanity? Vanity=flesh. And the putting on of charity(Christ)= to love and esteem another more than we esteem ourself.

Revelation 14:13
[13] And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Write, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours; and their(HIS) works do follow them. —His work follows them because they ‘rest’ from their labours (in Christ)

Matthew 16:25-26
[25] For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it. [26] For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?

What shall a man give in exchange for his soul...everything.

Revelation 21:1-2
[1] And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. [2] And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. (How can you walk on, over, as a testimony of overcoming —what is ‘no more’?)

The ‘sign’ is ‘now’...not when the first heaven and first earth pass away...now: by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.

 

[Dave L]

Yesterday, I could not stop looking on Luke 16:15 “And he said unto them, Ye are they which justify yourselves before men; but God knoweth your hearts: for that which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God.”

I spent the afternoon considering all the things man esteems. Power. Youth. Success. Beauty. wealth. ...and Health. (I) highly esteem life. It is in me...the desire to live long and to all I can obtain before I pass on. So, I was stumped ...to esteem ‘life’...is it wrong? God is life. How could it be an “abomination” for me to cling to a long life? What spures me on everyday: I realized there might be still a small part of me that believes ‘I have to get all I can out of life’ incase this is all there is. How God can say to esteem life here and now above all else be an abomination? ...How could holding on tight to (my own)life, not be God Will?

We esteem beauty and something to be desired. Consider His description which was doubtfully as the images man paints Him to have been. Isaiah 53: 2-4
[2] For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: (out of the same dry ground as His own body)he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. (oh but we do desire Him!) He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not. [4] Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.

We esteemed Him as ‘stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted”...we esteemed Him as cursed.

Moses saw Him: Hebrews 11:26-27
[26] Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt: for he had respect unto the recompence of the reward. [27] By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king: for he endured, as seeing him who is invisible. (...as ‘seeing him who is invisible?” (John 14:21) He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.

Acts 23:11
[11] And the night following the Lord stood by him, and said, Be of good cheer, Paul: for as thou hast testified of me in Jerusalem, so must thou bear witness also at Rome.

“Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.” (1 John 2:15–16) (KJV 1900)

 

[VictoryinJesus]

“Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.” (1 John 2:15–16) (KJV 1900)

You know what just became clear? I think I highly esteem ‘life’ but have always had the wrong definition for ‘life’. What I esteem is ‘death’ and call it ‘life’? What He came to set us free from.

Here I agree with you so much where you repeat constantly how one must stay in the word of God. Outside of the word of God...The only definition I knew of life was deceiving and leads to death.

God is life.
And He wants to give it abundantly.