Act in Your Own Self Interest!

We have already spoken on the evil moral system of pragmatism, and how our Lord Jesus repudiated it in His life and ministry.

Often pragmatism is invoked as a moral fig leaf to justify our own depraved acts. But the tragedy that shrouds pragmatism is this: we are not even able to act in our own best interests, because of our ignorance, blindness, rebellion, and unbelief.

In the Garden of Eden, Eve thought she was acting in her own best interests with her pragmatic calculation. In reality, she acted against her best interests, and brought death to the entire human race.

The fact is that, objectively, it is always in our best interests to obey God's commandments, because therein is life. But we cannot, and we will not, keep His commandments. We find that our sin prevents us from acting in our own best interests.

All our talk about optimizing our lives and acting pragmatically is in vain, because we defy our Creator and His promises and His commandments.

The Bible is full of exhortations to obey God, and prosper and live, both personally and politically.

All the way back to the founding of Israel, Moses instructed the people of God's promise of blessings and curses for obedience and rebellion. In fact, Moses stressed that it's not complicated at all: the commandment is nigh unto us, close by, and the promises plain.

In Ezekiel, God pleads with His people: turn ye, turn ye, for why will ye die!

The problem is, we need a new heart and a changed will to obey God, and we cannot change them ourselves.

But then came our Lord Jesus, Who kept all the commandments for us, died to save us, and thereby created a new, clean heart in us to obey His voice!