#146 The most subtle sin
From Meditations on the Epistles of John, by Samuel Froehlich
Thus we must, as children of God, also have the mind of the Father, love what He loves (namely the souls of men unto the salvation of the same) and hate what He hates (namely sin in man). True love of God is zealous and wages war against sin, but men are so senselessly in love with sin that they will not let themselves be punished by, or separated from, it and hate Christ and His witnesses of the truth, persecuting them even unto death. Therefore no one who has become a believer can love his soul and save it unto eternal life unless he hates his life in this world, for if we love our own life, we apostatize in temptation, deny Christ, and lose our salvation. This false love of one’s self is the most subtle sin, the hidden snare by which the devil catches the believers who will not be an offscouring, an expiatory sacrifice, and a spectacle in the world for Christ’s sake but would still like to be something here.
Indeed, in no other way than by loving his own life in this world can a believer be overcome again, for in doing so he loves sin to his own ruination. But he who hates his life, namely that it is all the same to him what the world does with him, attains the goal of salvation (Luke 12).
Romans 14:7 For none of us liveth to himself, and no man dieth to himself.
Herein lies the hidden reason why not all believers endure until the end so as to be saved (Matthew 13), namely, in the love of their own life, and Paul therefore says to them:
II Corinthians 11:2-3 For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.
Oh, it is unbelievable how the serpent twines himself around in man and yet knows how to slink away so as not to make sin apparent! Besides, the devil does not hate the children of God without a reason. He knows very well why he oppresses them and certainly that on account of which we are reviled and persecuted, is exactly what we should preserve and in which our strength and salvation lies. It is that very treasure which God has given us, and Christ is so exceedingly great that we are not worthy even to suffer for Him, much less that we should be ashamed or afraid.