If I asked you if you would harm your self most likely you would say, no. “No I will not harm myself,” you would probably say. Well if you don’t obey and love God, then you are hurting your own self. To harden yourself to God’s love is the supreme act of rebellion.

The person that stubbornly refuses to acknowledge God’s love willfully cuts themselves off from God’s blessing. God alone is worthy to be loved and worshipped, so why don’t you do it. Why do you want to hurt yourself?

To not respond to God is to harm yourself. Some people don’t love and obey God because they have bought into the lie from Satan. They have bought into the lie that God causes bad things to happen to good people. They think that God delights in the hurt and pain of people.

Brothers and Sisters that is never the case, God does not delight in hurting people nor does it give Him pleasure to see people suffering. Yes, pain and suffering happens in our world, but God takes no pleasure in any of it.

Your response to situations in life says a lot about your response to God. Those that rebel against God’s love will have no pleasure in life(Isaiah 57:21). They have no joy. Those that embrace God’s love respond with joy and gratitude. They have a thankful attitude.

What is your response to His Son Jesus Christ? What is your response to the greatest act of love God can show? Do you respond with a cynical, critical angry attitude? Or do you respond with a grateful, delightful love for Him? Your response should be to love Him for what He has done?

Acts 16:28, “But Paul with a loud voice saying, Do yourself no harm for we are all here.” When a person don’t have Christ in their heart, they will always respond to God the wrong way. They will always respond in a messed up way, thinking the world’s way.

In this story in Acts 16 the keeper of the prison was afraid that Paul and Silas with the other prisoners had escaped. They thought it would be better to commit suicide then to face the leaders for allowing the prisoners to escape. It was a twisted way of thinking that hurting yourself or others is alright.

It is the same way today, from the N.Y. Trade Center bombings to the parents that kill their family and children. It is all a effort to rebel against God from the heart because they do not want to submit to Him. Sin is always against God.

When a person thinks it is ok to harm themselves or others, they are in darkness. Living in the light reveals all such evil thoughts and actions, therefore everyone must choose to live(walk) in the light of God. How? Answer, by trusting Christ’s finish work on the cross. Have you trusted Him for your Sin?

Living in the light reminds me of this point about an alarm clock that shines light. A man told his friend, “There’s a new type of alarm clock on the market. It makes no noise. It uses bright lights and gets brighter and brighter until you wake up.

The friend said, “I already have one of these, it is called a window.” If you have been born again, then you already have the light of Christ shining in your heart. You must recognize it and let the light of Christ shine brighter and brighter in your heart.

John 3:18,19 says, “And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone that does evil hates the light, neither comes to the light, lest their deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought(done) in God.”

So when anyone thinks it is better to disobey God, they are thinking in areas of darkness. In their twisted thinking, they prefer to blindly hurt themselves and others. Disobeying God is a direct way of saying I rather harm myself. Now if you thought about it clearly you would not want to harm yourself.

Harming themself is already a indication of being out of the will of God. When you don,t trust Christ work on the cross for your sin, then you are blindly led into believing al kinds of foolish actions. Not to believe in Gods Son means you want to harm yourself.

But that is the deception of living in darkness. How many people think it is all right to use drugs? How many are sexually involved with multiple partners with no regard for diseases? How many parents today have killed or hurt their own children and relatives?

How many angry people have shot someone simply because it seem OK at the time? How has hatred because of skin color cause wrong actions to be done against someone? How many abortions have been done for selfish reasons or financial reasons? How many live for today with no regard for eternity?

Are you one of these people? Do you realize the importance of obeying God? Are there things in your life that you refuse to obey God about? If you do then you unknowingly want to harm yourself. Why do you want to hurt yourself?