"I am the Lord; that is my name, and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to graven images." Isaiah 42:8
It is perhaps safe to say that the vast majority of people (if they believe in a God at all) are quite ready and willing to accept Him as the Creator; they may even be open to accepting Him as a miracle-worker (there is nothing cooler than God going out of His way to fix your problems, right?). Very few, however, (even amongst the Church) are will to accept Him as Lord, the penetrating, overruling, passionate motive, focus, and ideal of our lives. We are more often offend at the idea: "God made me, and is involved in my life, but I will decide where and when and how I shall be used and shall serve." In Acts 17, I'm pretty sure that Paul's audience at Mar's Hill was right with him when he said that God "made the world and all things therein," but got he lost them when he said God was "Lord of heaven and earth." In the end, while some believed, others mocked (vs. 32, 34).
We must not be fooled into thinking that any ideal or focus other than God will be "bad." Some of the greatest wrong ideas in the world were really wonderful ideas. Many false gospels all ring of beauty and wonderfulness: feeding and educating the poor and hungry is noble; making more money is logical; being freed from oppressors is beautiful. They are all good things in and of themselves. However, they cannot become the thing; God alone is to be the thing in our lives. Anything that becomes our focus, no matter how noble, logical, or beautiful it is, no matter how good (from our perspective) it is, if it is not God (not merely of Him, but Him Himself), then it is a graven image, and will lead us to perdition. God will have absolutely no competition; even that which is good must fall before He who is the Good.
That, of course, is the key to responding to those who claim that God is selfish and egocentric for demanding some much attention. First of all, God cannot be "selfish" because He lacks nothing (including glory or self-esteem). Second of all, God's very nature (i.e., the Trinity) is not one of egocentrism, but of love, a continual giving over of the self to and for another. Finally, God is the Good in the universe, the one and only thing we need in order to be happy, healthy, and whole. God smacking us on the head so that we look unto Him is anything but selfish or egocentric; it is a great act of love, for instead of leaving us to flounder about in a million side eddys, He draws us unto Himself for the good of our souls (because He is the Good of our souls).
God is not lord and master in the way we commonly associate the word, i.e., a tyrannical, self-consuming egocentrist, who benefits by every person that subjects to him. God (being all-sufficient), cannot be "benefited" by anything; therefore, our (willful) subjection to Him is wholly beneficial to us. That is the difference between God and tyrants, between the lords of earth and the Lord of heaven and earth.
"Take my life and let it be,
Only, ever lost in Thee.
Let Thy Glory, and Thy Goodness,
And Thy Love lead me only to You..."
-Jon Vowell
It is perhaps safe to say that the vast majority of people (if they believe in a God at all) are quite ready and willing to accept Him as the Creator; they may even be open to accepting Him as a miracle-worker (there is nothing cooler than God going out of His way to fix your problems, right?). Very few, however, (even amongst the Church) are will to accept Him as Lord, the penetrating, overruling, passionate motive, focus, and ideal of our lives. We are more often offend at the idea: "God made me, and is involved in my life, but I will decide where and when and how I shall be used and shall serve." In Acts 17, I'm pretty sure that Paul's audience at Mar's Hill was right with him when he said that God "made the world and all things therein," but got he lost them when he said God was "Lord of heaven and earth." In the end, while some believed, others mocked (vs. 32, 34).
We must not be fooled into thinking that any ideal or focus other than God will be "bad." Some of the greatest wrong ideas in the world were really wonderful ideas. Many false gospels all ring of beauty and wonderfulness: feeding and educating the poor and hungry is noble; making more money is logical; being freed from oppressors is beautiful. They are all good things in and of themselves. However, they cannot become the thing; God alone is to be the thing in our lives. Anything that becomes our focus, no matter how noble, logical, or beautiful it is, no matter how good (from our perspective) it is, if it is not God (not merely of Him, but Him Himself), then it is a graven image, and will lead us to perdition. God will have absolutely no competition; even that which is good must fall before He who is the Good.
That, of course, is the key to responding to those who claim that God is selfish and egocentric for demanding some much attention. First of all, God cannot be "selfish" because He lacks nothing (including glory or self-esteem). Second of all, God's very nature (i.e., the Trinity) is not one of egocentrism, but of love, a continual giving over of the self to and for another. Finally, God is the Good in the universe, the one and only thing we need in order to be happy, healthy, and whole. God smacking us on the head so that we look unto Him is anything but selfish or egocentric; it is a great act of love, for instead of leaving us to flounder about in a million side eddys, He draws us unto Himself for the good of our souls (because He is the Good of our souls).
God is not lord and master in the way we commonly associate the word, i.e., a tyrannical, self-consuming egocentrist, who benefits by every person that subjects to him. God (being all-sufficient), cannot be "benefited" by anything; therefore, our (willful) subjection to Him is wholly beneficial to us. That is the difference between God and tyrants, between the lords of earth and the Lord of heaven and earth.
"Take my life and let it be,
Only, ever lost in Thee.
Let Thy Glory, and Thy Goodness,
And Thy Love lead me only to You..."
-Jon Vowell
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