The Great Controversy is an inner one and it takes place in every human heart. The question of our own identity must be clarified: Are we effect or cause? In Jesus Christ, God has revealed the truth about ourselves. The confrontation that Lucifer initiated had only one focus: the law that separates cause and effect. Lucifer wanted to remove this barrier and become God himself. But that is not possible. Since the battle took place within Lucifer's spirit, even God could not stop him until he had completely arrived in the darkness. How did it come about that people also deceived themselves? Adam and Eve also fooled themselves by thinking they could change their identity. And we, as their descendants, come into the world with the same self-deception.
We now have the chance to come into the light of truth about ourselves, which shows us that we are a creature and not a creator. The greatest difficulty for God is to make us aware of this inner state. Both identity and motivation are unconscious. We look at love and egoism. What is good for our body is the divine love that we give to our neighbor. Egoism is of human and satanic origin and can only be recognized by its effect. The difficulty in distinguishing between the two motivations is that behind every selfish act there is, on the surface, a good intention. But we fail to see that we want good for ourselves and not for the other person. And a fundamental proof of selfishness is compulsion. If we don't get what we need from others, we have to force them. In the great struggle, we have to be able to distinguish the motivation of love from selfishness. The second part of the series “The Great Controversy” deals with what this means in detail.
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