Thursday, August 5​

Men will be lovers of themselves.

—2 Tim. 3:2.
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The world has encouraged an inflated view of self. One reference work says that during the 1970’s “self-help books proliferated.” Some books “urged readers to know and accept themselves and to celebrate who they were.” Consider, for example, the statement made in one such book: “Be in love with the most beautiful, exciting, worthy person ever—you.”

The book advocates a “religion of the self in which an individual determines his own behavior based upon his own conscience and the laws of his culture that work for him.” Does that idea sound familiar to you? Satan encouraged Eve to do something similar. He said that she could “be like God, knowing good and bad.” (Gen. 3:5)

Today, many think so highly of themselves that in their opinion no one—not even God—can tell them what is right and what is wrong. For example, that attitude has become especially evident in the way people view marriage.

w19.05 23 ¶10-11​