Is God self-centred?
Why does God require us to worship him? He tells us be humble and serve each other whilst all the time he wants us to worship him! Isn’t this God having an attitude of, ’do as I say, not as I do’? This talk explores some of the issues raised by this subject..
God requires us to worship him – does this make himself-centred? Why does he accept worship from us? Why does worship delight him?
This discussion is based on another objection to the Christian faith – God’s example is one of, ‘do as I say, not as I do’ – he demands something of humanity which he doesn’t do in return.
God demands we are selfless, treating others at least equal, and even better than, ourselves. Surely God, by demanding our worship, is doing the opposite?
Let’s look at this then –
Firstly, if God demands one thing of us, does that mean he should do it? Or, if God forbids one thing does that mean God shouldn’t do it?
The problem raises two important questions –
- How can one thing be good for one person and bad for another?
- How can self-centredness be good for God, but bad for us?
How can it be good for God to expect worship, when he doesn’t worship?
In answering the first question, we should note that one thing can quite easily be wrong for one person, but not for another. For example, if a parent tells their 13-year-old child they must not drive the car, the teenager might say – “well, if I can’t drive it, you can’t drive it either. If it’s wrong for me, then it’s wrong for everyone”. However the parent might say, “the reason you can’t drive it is that you’re not old enough, you’re not skilled enough and you’re not licensed enough to drive it whereas I am” – and quite rightly so. So we have established that one thing can be right for some, but not for others, and it’s right for a parent to put restrictions on their children, which don’t apply to themselves.
God has characteristics and attributes that humans can never possess, so it is quite right for him to recognise he has a higher right to any and all humanity. For example, only God is creator, redeemer, healer, sustainer and sovereign ruler. No human, not even the Queen of the British Commonwealth or the President of the United States can hope to possess such qualities.
However, sometimes it is right for us to applaud and honour humans. If someone plays a wonderful piece of music or scores a fantastic goal in a football match, it is appropriate for us to applaud their achievement and their talent.
In a similar way, because of his great attributes, it is appropriate for us to honour and worship God.
However, this then raises the second question:
How can self-centredness be good for God, but bad for us? After all, the Bible encourages us to be humble, not self-seeking and always honouring others above ourselves.
A proud and self-centred person demands that things be done their way and they get all the plaudits. Isn’t this then a description of God?
The problem here is that humans do not do everything perfectly and without fault, but God does. God is always right, even when it doesn’t seem right to us – God knows this and we need to fall in line.
God is immensely superior in all he is and does when compared with humans. This point becomes apparent in the following example: If I treated my children Sarah and Sam, when they were babies, the same way I treated goldfish, this would rightly raise eyebrows. If I fed them once every couple of days, washed them once a month and flushed them down the toilet if they died, then I might find myself coming in for some criticism! There is a huge difference between what is expected of me as a parent of children than there is of me as a keeper of goldfish. There is an infinite gap between the value of Sarah and Sam to the value of a goldfish to me.
To treat a human in the same manner as a goldfish, or for that matter, to treat a goldfish in the same manner as a human is wholly inappropriate.
Similarly, there is an infinite gap between humans and God. Just as humans deserve to be treated as humans, God deserves to be treated as God. How do we treat someone who is our creator, redeemer, healer, sustainer and sovereign ruler? Why, by worshipping them of course.
So, it is quite right for us to worship God. However, you might still ask the question, why does God demand it of us? Well, the answer now is a simple one – because that is the right thing to do. He doesn’t demand it because he is proud or self-centred. He demands it because it is the right thing for us to do.
It is not about him, it is about us – when we worship him we place him and ourselves in the right place and the right order is established. He delights in our worship because of this.
Finally, I want to challenge the whole premise that God is inconsistent because his example is, “do as I say, not as I do”. When we examine this a little more, we realise that God loves us so much he’d do anything for us. He has placed humanity as the pinnacle of his creation and is preparing the church as a bride for his Son. In this way, God is totally devoted to humanity and would do anything for us. Although it would be wrong to say he worships humanity, it would certainly be true to say we are the focus of his attention and he is whole-heartedly committed to us.
For him to worship us would be idolatry – to worship a created being. This would break God’s own law. For us to worship him is an appropriate response to his love and commitment to us.