I heard a message from John Piper a little over a year ago and parts of the message will never leave me. It was around the topic "Is God an egotistical manic?"
Doesn't it amaze you that the God of the universe is the only being able to call glory to Himself because for one, He's the only perfect being, but two, He's really the only being that can handle all that glory without getting proud, overwhelmed, or destroyed. The reason this works is like this.
God is the center. Anyone else goes in that center and this whole ship sinks. Imagine one of us being in the center of all that glory. We wouldn't even know what to do with all that glory. I'm sure some sort of pride would take over knowing that the entire universe cries out your name. I would have fun and start commanding the rocks and trees to begin speaking and crying out to me. Good to know that I should never be the center of the universe (or even the center of a tootsie pop for that matter). So, when God calls praise to Himself, He is the only being that can knowingly receive all that glory and not be sinful. He is perfect.
But it gets even better than that. When we are praising God and when He receives all the glory, that is when we are most satisfied. It's not just a one-way road where God receives all the glory from us and we're somehow left at oncoming traffic and have to jump the median. No, God knows that we as human beings yearn to be satisfied. Sometimes we search for it in places other than in God, but nonetheless we come back to the realization that only He can give us what we need. Knowing that He is all powerful and all knowing, I am left wondering why He calls our imperfect souls to walk with Him everyday. We blaspheme, we cheat, we steal, we lie, we conform, we fake... the list goes on.
And yet He still desires a relationship with us? You're kidding, right? I know this sounds ridiculous because why would the God of the universe who really needs nothing from us actually want to know who we are. He wants to know us. He wants to give us, these imperfect bodies of flesh, His everlasting love. All I can ask is why. Why God would You knowingly desire a relationship with these unreliable, prideful, sinful human beings? His nature astounds me everyday and I am thankful to say that I am continuing down a path to finding out why He really wants to know you and me for who we are. In Him our identity comes. In Him our satisfaction comes.
So my question to you is "Do you think God is an egotistical maniac?"
In Christ,
Jake
