Do Thyself No Harm

What if someone cried, or bellowed, in a loud voice, Do thyself no harm. Would this startle you, and have you stop in your tracks to consider, Am I harming myself, and; If so, how? The apostle Paul saved a man from self-murder by shouting out these words in the dark hour of midnight. I consider this command to be a warning, and an encouragement too, to do myself no harm. 

Here is what Matthew Henry has to say on the matter, page 171, Acts To Revelation, Volume 6: 

Paul stopped him from his proceeding against himself (v. 28): He cried with a loud voice not only to make him hear, but to make him heed, saying, Do not practice any evil to thyself; Do thyself no harm. 

Matthew Henry points out that injury to self, taking one's own life, is doing harm. He proceeds to link all self-harm, including self-murder, to sin:

All the cautions of the word of God against sin, and all appearances of it and approaches to it, have this tendency, "Do thyself no harm. Man, woman, do not wrong thyself, nor ruin thyself; hurt not thyself, and then none else can hurt thee; do not sin, for nothing else can hurt thee. 

The expression, You are only hurting yourself, comes to mind, when I think of sin and how it insinuates itself into our thinking, affecting our heart rate, and having us barrel our way right into self-stimulated trouble. Isn't self and other murder symptomatic of a sinful society? Isn't it a curiosity, that killing self, or an elderly person, or someone that is emotionally in turmoil, or a babe in the womb, is now the encouraged norm, when clearly, life is our greatest God given gift?

I think of Job and God's response to him, when Job attempted to curse the day he was born. God silenced him by letting him know, that he, God, is not to be challenged or imputed, given he is Sovereign, and chooses to give life to each living, breathing creature. How dare we, as the created, decide to harm what is not ours, including ourselves, or any other human, when every soul belongs, to him. 

Ezekiel 18:4

Behold, all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine: the soul that sinneth, it shall die. 

Do thyself no harm is a matter of accountability. Might I suggest that when you do yourself injury, you pass along similar tendencies to the next generation. Is it not so, that alcoholism seems an inherited trait? Am I off-roading to imply, that physical, emotional, and psychological abuse, are learned behaviours that repeat themselves, from father to son to grandson; from mother to daughter to granddaughter? Any combination of relations can be used in this example of learned behaviours. Sin is deprivation, a dire and drastic form of deviation from God's commands, and we are promised the death of our own soul, when we indulge our inclinations, by giving in to temptation. 

I know you harm yourself dear reader. I don't need to know you personally to make this statement. We live in a carnal world soaked in sin; we are tempted to over eat, over drink, under exercise. We are encouraged to have sex for pleasures sake, and to kill would-be offspring, or put off having them, if the timing for raising a child just isn't quite right. The elderly are considered people to be suffered, temporarily, and put away from society to play bridge or paint by numbers, while housed in expensive apartments with no one visiting them, because it is their children's turn to live wild and free. We are, ultimately, encouraged to indulge our pleasures, at the expense of our health, relationships, and the ultimate price of sinking our souls into the pit ... but not by God, O no, he does not want this for any of his creatures. 

You, dear reader, indulge your own brand of self-harm. This is a matter to be investigated and discussed, either with God solo, or with a trusted Christian friend that will hear you, and love you to the cross of Christ, and right into his throne room. 

Do thyself no harm. If you belong to Jesus, you are a living stone, and the temple of the Holy Ghost:

1 Peter 2:5

Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ

1 Corinthians 3:6

Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? 

1 Corinthians 6:19

What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?

Do not practice any evil to thyself; Do thyself no harm. Man, woman, do not wrong thyself, nor ruin thyself; hurt not thyself, and then none else can hurt thee; do not sin, for nothing else can hurt thee. 

I have living stones that are a curiosity to me. The picture included in this piece of writing is of blooming, living stones. I had no idea this plant produces flowers; flowers are God's gift to us, dear one, crafted to delight in their unique and intricate beauty. 

Are you a blooming, living stone of the temple of God? 

How can such gorgeousness be treated crassly, ignobly, and roughly? 

You must be gentle with yourself; kind and gracious, as though you are precious and sweet, hand crafted in the image of God. No abusive self-talk or maltreatment. Allow your conscience to speak truth to your mind; course correct, recalibrating to Christ, when you have veered away; and know that sin does not have to be the boss of you, because you are a thinking, feeling, capable human being, that does not have to suffer the consequences of bad choices, when you realize, you no longer have to continue making them! 

Sin no more is not just a possibility, it is a probability, when God is your focus and The Bible is your life manual. As living stones of the temple of God, we are richly blessed and when we bloom, it is a delightful display for our God to look down upon from heavenly heights. 

Do myself ... do thyself, no harm, dear one. Sin not, do not wrong or ruin thyself, or practice evil. Do not hurt yourself, and all will be well with your soul.