SELF-CENTEREDNESS
Jesus is
right. It is not the Christian doctrine
of heaven that is a myth, but the humanistic dream of utopia.
Introducing Jesus, Kingsway, 1986, p.
103.
God's plan
was to bring into being a host of sons and daughters whom He would indwell;
through whom He would live and manifest Himself; and in and through whom Christ
would reign supreme. We are the
beneficiaries of that plan. God, in His
love and grace, has made us a part of His plan.
But we are not the center of it; Christ is.
Dan Stone
The Rest of the Gospel, One Press, 2000,
Preface.
Job had been
talking as if he knew exactly how God should run the world. His sense of integrity had been the basis of
his presumptuous claim that God should have treated him better. Outraged that he could not square his
innocence with his fate, Job had dared to challenge and judge his Creator…(therefore) Yahweh's answer came in the form of a rebuke-
an overwhelming reminder that the first religious obligation of the creature is
to acknowledge and glorify the Creator.
Bernard Anderson
Man's basic
problem is preoccupation with self. He is innately beset with narcissism, a
condition named after the Greek mythological character Narcissus, who spent his
life admiring his reflection in a pool of water. In the final analysis, every
sin results from preoccupation with self. We sin because we are totally
selfish, totally devoted to ourselves, rather than to God and to others.
John MacArthur
Matthew 1-7, Moody, 1985, p. 447.
The god – who
– serves – ME requires
flattery, not worship.
Tom Wells
A Vision for Missions, Permission by The Banner of Truth Trust, Carlisle, PA. p.
29.
Preoccupied
with ourselves, we have lost the grace of being thankful. It is sad to live in a world where there is
no one to thank because we have ourselves become the cause and source of all
good things.
John Hannah
To God be the Glory,
Crossway, 2000, p. 11.
Living God’s
way means putting away your self-centeredness and committing yourself to follow
God’s Word in spite of any feelings to the contrary.
Biblical Counseling Foundation
Self-Confrontation Manuel, Lesson 5, Page 5,
Used by Permission of the Biblical Counseling Foundation.
Self-belittlement,
self-exaltation, and self-pity all indicate a preoccupation with self. Inordinate attention to self is the exact
opposite of God’s commandments to love Him and others. A self-focus also prohibits the development
of a Christlike servant attitude in you.
If you try to save your life by focusing on self, you will reap certain
consequence; instead of saving your life, you will lose it.
Biblical Counseling Foundation
Self-Confrontation Manuel, Lesson 9, Page 4,
Used by Permission of the Biblical Counseling Foundation.
The average
person in the world today, without faith and without God and without hope, is
engaged in a desperate personal search throughout his lifetime. He does not
really know where he has been. He does
not really know what he is doing here and now. He does not know where he is
going. The sad commentary is that he is doing it all on borrowed time and
borrowed money and borrowed strength; and he already knows that in the end he
will surely die! Man, made more like God than any other creature, has become
less like God than any other creature. Created to reflect the glory of God, he
has retreated sullenly into his cave; reflecting only his own sinfulness.
Certainly it is a tragedy above all tragedies in this world that man, made with
a soul to worship and praise and sing to God's glory, now sulks silently in his
cave.
A.W. Tozer
"Self"
is at the center of our lusts - our supposed needs for significance, worth,
security, identity, or esteem. A psychologized, man-centered view of God and of man appeals
to our natural sense of loving ourselves and thus deceives us.
Martha Peace
Attitudes of a Transformed Heart, Focus
Publishing, 2002, p. 41.
In space,
astronauts experience the misery of having no reference point, no force that
draws them to the center. Where there is
no "moral gravity"- that is, no force that draws us to the center-
there is spiritual weightlessness. We float on feelings that will carry us
where we were never meant to go; we bubble with emotional experiences that we
often take for spiritual ones; and we are puffed up with pride. Instead of seriousness, there is
foolishness. Instead
of gravity, flippancy.
Sentimentality takes the place of theology. Our reference point will never serve to keep
our feet on solid rock. Our reference
point, until we answer God's call, is merely ourselves. We cannot possibly tell which end is up.
Elizabeth Elliot
Self-will - a
stubborn, unteachable spirit; an arguing, talkative
spirit; harsh, sarcastic expression; an unyielding, headstrong disposition; a
driving, commanding spirit; a disposition to criticize and pick flaws when set
aside and unnoticed; a peevish, fretful spirit; a disposition that loves to be
coaxed and humored?
Author Unknown
Not I, but Christ.
The danger is
that worship becomes simply a performance, an exhibition that focuses on us
instead of God. It may give people the false
impression that the chief purpose of God is to glorify humans rather than vice
versa.
David Garland
The great
hymns of the church are on the way out. They are not gone entirely, but they
are going and in their place have come trite jingles that have more in common with
contemporary advertising ditties than the psalms. The problem here is not so
much the style of the music, though trite words fit best with trite tunes and
harmonies. Rather it is with the content of the songs. The old hymns expressed
the theology of the Bible in profound and perceptive ways and with winsome
memorable language. Today’s songs are focused on ourselves. They reflect our
shallow or nonexistent theology and do almost nothing to elevate our thoughts
about God. Worst of all are songs that
merely repeat a trite idea, word, or phrase over and over again. Songs like
this are not worship, though they may give the church-goer
a religious feeling. They are mantras, which belong more in a gathering of New
Agers than among the worshiping people of God.
James Montgomery Boice
Today, the
pressure to fill auditoriums and services has driven many pastors to place the
felt needs, or tastes, of the people above their duty to Christ. On every hand we hear of the Gospel being
molded into a non-confrontative message intended to
meet felt needs and impress the sinful heart.
And, by most standards, this new philosophy of church life is working,
as more and more auditoriums are filled with people hungry for a message that
will affirm that they are actually on fairly good terms with the Almighty. But the biblical message is the message of
the cross. It cuts right across the
grain of the modern age's preoccupation with pride, tearing down the façade and
exposing the wretchedness of the human heart…Unfortunately, while the modern
'un-gospel' may fill seats, it is the true gospel of sin and grace that is 'the
power of God unto salvation' (Rom. 1:16).
David W. Hegg
Appointed to Preach, Christian Focus
Publications, 1999, p. 46.
Their god is
something which they created themselves, a being who
is always prepared to oblige and excuse them. They do not worship him with awe
and respect, indeed they do not worship him at all.
They reveal that their so-called god is no god at all in their talk. For they are forever saying that "they simply cannot believe
that God will punish the unrepentant sinner to all eternity, and this and
that." They cannot believe that God will do so, therefore, they
draw the conclusion that God does not and will not. In other words, God does
what they believe he ought to do or not do. What a false and blasphemous
conception of God! How utterly untrue and unworthy! Such is the new paganism of
today.
Martyn Lloyd-Jones
Today, one of
the greatest threats to evangelical preaching comes from the invasion of the
church by Adler-Maslow, etc., self-image, self-worth dogmas. Passage after passage in the Bible has been
distorted in order to conform to these teachings, with the result that you end
up preaching man and his supposed worth rather than Christ. Sometimes that "worth" has been
seen as intrinsic, sometimes it has been considered to be the result of
salvation.
Jay E. Adams
Preaching With Purpose, Zondervan,
1982, p. 188.
The
man-centeredness of many churches today makes a mockery of sound doctrine.
While centering their message on how to feel better about yourself
by self-improvement or how to have a better life now, these churches forgo the
centrality of Christ and make mention of the Bible in only the most superficial
ways. The grace of God is exchanged for the efforts and abilities of man for
salvation and the Christian life. The attitude of “if it’s to be, then it’s up
to me” has replaced the view of a sovereign God who is working out His purpose
and plan in His creation.
Bill Haynes
Standing Firm, Tabletalk, July 2008, p. 65. Used by Permission.
If we only
spent more of our time in looking at Him we should soon forget ourselves.
Martyn Lloyd-Jones
Spiritual
Depression – Its Causes and its Cures, 1965, p. 88,
Used by Permission from Elizabeth Catherwood (daughter).
Nothing in the world so tends to
defile the imagination, to pervert the affections, and to corrupt the morals,
as self-consciousness.
You know it is connected with every disease and morbid action of the
body. …All self-consciousness is of the very essence and nature of sin.
A.A. Hodge
Assurance.
Children are rude
because they are so naturally egocentric.
It’s their needs, their comforts, their feelings
that they demand be met- usually at the expense of weary parents. Of course, self-centeredness is natural,
expected behavior in infancy and tolerable in toddlers, but it becomes
downright unbearable in school-age children.
Proper manners can be a most effective tool in teaching children that
they are not the center of the universe.
And as the realization grows, they will be well on their way to becoming
civilized rather than savage.
Kent and Barbara Hughes
Disciplines of a Godly Family, Crossway
Books, 2004, p. 124.