I’ve long been bothered by the notion that everyone is innately selfish.
It’s not a positive concept. But ever since I slipped, doing something I never thought I could possibly do — despite open-eyed awareness, and conscious willpower to try and avoid it — I’ve acknowledged that there is something negative controlling us. Like a tiny Dr. Evil waiting for opportunities to fuel our greedy ambitions, a Selfish Monster sits inside of each person, not dragging us around like a slave every minute of our lives, but occasionally striking our knees, causing us to stumble and give in to temptation.
Thought I haven’t given it much thought in a long time, I know that it’s a belief I’ve carried ever since. On it I blame my sporadic cynicism, as well as fits of hopelessness, helplessness, and “emotional breakdowns”. And upon hearing Francis Chan’s message, I also can’t help but point to the Selfish Monster for causing this world to evolve into the selfie generation.
For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God,
2 Timothy 3:2-4 (NASB)
Francis Chan warned us — as Paul wrote to Timothy — of a certain kind of future when “difficult times will come”, and how today’s generation (myself included) already shows much of the symptoms of this difficult time “to come”. Because don’t we just see ourselves in those horrible descriptions at this present time? If you don’t, well, in all honesty, I know I do! At this day and age, I am or have been guilty of these behaviours at one point in my life, and I don’t need to wait 10 or 50 or a hundred years more to get a glimpse of what Paul is warning us about.
Seeing a Selfish Monster in myself, I can’t help but also recognize how there are so many things to dislike in this world. If we don’t crumble from the external pressures and persecution, there are lies and deceit that can manipulate us from the inside. The Oscar Wilde quote from a Company of Thieves song rings loud in my ear:
We are each our own devil, and we make this world our hell.
Speaking of demons from within, it excites me to find some progress in my faith walk, when God allowed me today to come to terms with one of my not-so-thought-about and unexpressed but deeply-rooted questions: “Why does God insist on being glorified?”
As I read through some texts about the topic, I found that this October 1984 sermon by John Piper to be most helpful. And the way I understand it is this: God does not insist to be “glorified” as if he was a self-centered egomaniac, demanding his subjects to kiss his feet 24/7.
First of all, it’s important to be aligned on why we glorify something in the first place, and the way C.S. Lewis explains this is that we would normally glorify (or praise or give honor to) anything that gives us enjoyment (“all enjoyment spontaneously overflows into praise”).Think about anything you admire or draw enjoyment from; wouldn’t you desire to express your appreciation to whoever is responsible for that thing/event/source of happiness?
Secondly, if one acknowledges that God is indeed the all-powerful, sovereign creator of all things and author of all of our lives, then surely He deserves all the honor and glory and praise above everything/everyone else!
Thirdly, he asks us to glorify Him not for the sake of his ego (which he doesn’t have) nor for him to “feel good about himself” (which is usually why we humans seek affirmation or words of comfort). John Piper in this sermon also states it well:
God cannot be made more glorious or more beautiful than he is. He cannot be improved, “nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything” (Acts 17:25). Glorify does not mean add more glory to God.
If anything matters more to us than God, then we are giving higher glory to something else… and if that thing is taken away from us, as it may easily be, we are shattered…God wants us to grow, to increase, to “become,” to the point that we actually perceive His weight accurately, and accurately perceiving it, we glorify Him as the greatest value in life.
God instructs us (even the heavens and the skies above, see Psalm 19:1) to glorify Him because he wants us to stay focused on Him, for our own good. Because only by focusing on Him, on His goodness, mercy and grace, can we break free from our addiction to ourselves. And from my point of view, I’d say it’s the only way I know how to break free from my bondage from my Selfish Monster.
