"The chief end of God is to glorify God and enjoy Himself forever"
He is God centered.
Does this rub you the wrong way?
If it does then I suggest you ponder the reason and ask yourself, if Gods chief end was not to glorify himself then how would I have a savior? I love me some John Piper, that is who said those words in his book Desiring God. I am currently in the mountains of Nepal and my teammate Graham just so happens to have the book. I have been wanting to read it for years, and the timing of it's decent in my lap now is no less than perfect.
Pondering the glory of God, I ask myself; why are we so quick to tell people that God loves them when we share the gospel? How often do we leave out God's glory in creating us; seperated from Him because we fall short of His glory, knowing it is in fact our duty to live for the glory of God, Therefore God is just in condeming us; but all the while sending His Son to glorify Him by dying and taking our rightful place on the cross, thereby appeasing the wrath of God. Why when we share the gospel it has to be this feel good, lets be sensitive to people? God forbid we tell them that God hates sinners, and they are headed to eternal damnation in hell; because that won't pierce at their hearts more than "He loves you" right?
Why do we think this life is about us? Why do we look at the bible like everything in it is about us? Why do we look at the cross and say "the cross was about me"! Was it really? Cause I thought it was about God vindicating the holiness of his great name, so that by saving sinners like ourselves we would therefore give up our lives and live for the one that purchased ours. The reason we exsist is to glorify God in all that we do and say, it is not a duty, but it is our joy!
Yesterday morning I hear Noah yelling from the rooftop, "Sheri, Currie, come look!"
I run up to the rooftop and there in front of my eyes on the horizon are the snow capped Himalaya mountains; everything inside of me just wanted to burst out. That joy of the LORD that you cannot consciously control if you tried. I went back downstairs and just screamed at Currie, "Man! God is so self-centered and He is so good at it!" He gets so much glory when my joy is full in Him, so to that I say
PRAISE GOD HE CENTERS AROUND HIMSELF!
PRAISE GOD HE CENTERS AROUND HIMSELF!
Needless to say we spent the rest of the day climbing through the mountains and soaking in the glorious paint job God has done in the world.
That night as I lay in bed finishing the chapter in Desiring God on Worship, he does it again with these beautiful words from John Piper
The irony of our human condition is that God has put us within sight of the Himalayas of His glory in Jesus Christ, but we have chosen to pull down the shades of our chalet and show slides of Buck Hill.
"ARE YOU KIDDING ME??!!!!??"
