value

God created everything with very little cost or effort on His part...

The value of His creation comes from the price He paid for its redemption...

Michael

Possibly one of the two covering Angels over the mercy seat?

One is Michael and the other is Lucifer (Satan) Ezekiel 28:13-15.

Michael is the only arch-angel that directly contends against Satan (Jude 1:9)

Daniel 10:13-21  Prince of the First Rank and Protector of Israel

Daniel 12:1 - At that time Michael, the great prince who protects your people, will arise

Revelation 12:7-9 describes a war in heaven in which Michael, being stronger, defeats Satan and casts him down to earth

love ourselves?

Some folks like to talk a lot about "self-esteem" and how we need to learn to love ourselves...

Apparently they never read the Bible...

Eph 5:29

For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourishes and cherishes it

Phil 2:21

For all seek their own, not the things which are of Christ Jesus.

According to the Bible, we do not have to be taught to love ourselves and we don't need to love ourselves any more..

Just spend some time observing kids in a pre-school or kindergarten and you will see they do not have to be taught to be selfish or self-centered.  We are all born slaves to the flesh and sin, knowing how to be selfish and thinking the universe revolves around us.

The problem is that we already know how to love ourselves too much.  

It may not be popular or tickle any ears, but the Bible puts our position in a different light...

Isaiah 64:6  

But we are all like an unclean thing, and all our works of righteousness are like filthy rags;

We all fade as a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.

Instead, we need to be taught that we are NOT the center of the universe and we need to be taught how to love others.

The greek word for unconditional love, agapao, means to totally give ourselves over to something.

Unconditional love is self-LESS-ness.  The opposite of love is self-ISH-ness.

Prideful, selfish, self-absorbed people are easy to spot.  They are consumed with themselves and their primary focus of attention is on themselves.

Romans 12:3

...to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.

Some may say, "what about people who have low self-esteem?"

The problem is no different.  A person down on themselves wallowing in self-pity is still being consumed with "self", and they have given over their focus of attention to themselves.  Also, a person can still be prideful about how "lowly" and "humble" they are...

Instead of spending our time thinking of ourselves, whether how great or pitiful we are, we need to think on these things...

Phil 4:8

Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.

The time we spend thinking of Him and preferring others in love, the less time we will have to spend thinking of ourselves...

Instead of esteeming ourselves, which we are born already knowing how to do, we need to highly esteem God and put Him before ourselves...

Mark 12:31

Jesus answered him, “The first of all the commandments is: ‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ This is the first commandment. And the second, like it, is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”

love and hate

Psalm 97:10
Ye that love the Lord, hate evil: he preserveth the souls of his saints; he delivereth them out of the hand of the wicked.

Why is it so many people say that hate is the opposite of love?

Apparently they have never read their Bible.

There are many verses that reflect both God's love and the truth that He also hates sin at the same time.  Matter of fact, God is Love.  How can hate be the opposite of love if God is capable of hate?

Deuteronomy 12:31; Deuteronomy 16:22
You must not worship the Lord your God in their way, because in worshiping their gods, they do all kinds of detestable things the Lord hates. 

Proverbs 6:16
There are six things the Lord hates, seven that are detestable to him:

Psalm 11:5
The Lord examines the righteous, but the wicked, those who love violence, he hates with a passion.


Malachi 2:16
“For the Lord God of Israel says that He hates divorce, for it covers one’s garment with violence,” Says the Lord of hosts. “Therefore take heed to your spirit, that you do not deal treacherously.”


The truth is that love is really about self-LESS-ness.  So the opposite of selflessness would actually be self-ISH-ness.  Hate then, is actually a component of love. 

If you love someone selflessly, then your going to hate things that hurt that person. 

We are also instructed to both love and hate at the same time.

Notice how scripture tells us to hate things such as sin, wickedness, evil, and money; as well as sinful behaviors such as idolatry, immorality, etc...

Matthew 6:24; Luke 16:13
“No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.

Amos 5:15
Hate evil, love good;

Hate what is evil, cling to what is good.
Romans 12:9


Hate can be a component of self-ISH-ness as well.   Selfishness can lead to hating people, something we are admonished NOT to do...

1 John 4:20
Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen.

Woe to them that are at ease

Woe to them that are at ease in Zion, and trust in the mountain of Samaria, which are named chief of the nations, to whom the house of Israel came!

Amos 6:1

"Woe" is a hearalding of judgement.  Those who are at ease and not watchful will be caught off guard when judgement comes.

Today's Laodecean church measures its relationship with God by the level of prosperity they experience.  They are in need of nothing and are at ease.  They will be woefully unprepared and caught off guard when judgement comes.

enabling

In all the Biblical examples of service to others that we are to follow, can anyone give me an example where service to others enabled someone's bad behavior or made them more comfortable in their sin?

positive

correction is positive, it makes us better...

blindness

if you have never seen the light, you do not know you have been blind until you see the light...