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From Heaven With Love

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    Self-Deception of Egocentric Motivation

    Leaven works imperceptibly, changing the meal to its own nature. So if hypocrisy is allowed in the heart, it permeates the character and life. A striking example was the practice of Corban, by which a neglect of filial duty was concealed under a pretense of liberality to the temple. The scribes and Pharisees concealed the real tendency of their doctrines, instilling them artfully into the minds of their hearers. This deceptive teaching made it hard for the people to receive the words of Christ.HLv 274.4

    The same influences are working through those who try to explain the law of God to make it conform to their practices. This class do not attack the law openly, but put forward speculative theories that undermine its principles. They explain it so as to destroy its force.HLv 274.5

    The hypocrisy of the Pharisees was the product of self-seeking. This led them to pervert and misapply the Scriptures. This subtle evil even the disciples of Christ were in danger of cherishing. The followers of Jesus were influenced in a great degree by the reasoning of the Pharisees, often vacillating between faith and unbelief. Even the disciples had not in heart ceased to seek great things for themselves. This spirit prompted the strife as to who should be greatest. This made them so little in sympathy with Christ's mission of self-sacrifice. As leaven will cause corruption, so the self-seeking spirit, cherished, works the defilement and ruin of the soul.HLv 275.1

    Today, as of old, how widespread is this subtle, deceptive sin! How often our service to Christ is marred by the secret desire to exalt self! How ready the thought of self-gratulation and the longing for human approval! The love of self, the desire for an easier way than God has appointed, leads to the substitution of human theories and traditions for the divine precepts.HLv 275.2

    The religion of Christ is sincerity itself. Zeal for God's glory is the motive implanted by the Holy Spirit, and only the power of God can banish self-seeking and hypocrisy. This change is the sign of His working. When the faith we accept destroys selfishness and pretense, when it leads us to seek God's glory and not our own, we may know that it is of the right order. “Father, glorify Thy name” (John 12:28) was the keynote of Christ's life, and if we follow Him this will be the keynote of our life.HLv 275.3

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