God is all about God. (Ego Trip or Divine Supremacy?)

I remember, many years ago in our early days of home schooling, teaching my little boy Science. Something in one lesson came as a big surprise to him. In his young perspective he thought the sun went around the earth. In his thinking, the sun's rising and setting was a result of it going around the earth. He was surprised to learn that the sun was not circling the earth as he thought but it is instead the sun that is at the center and the earth is actually the one going around the sun. I could understand his confusion. The Earth seemed so big and the sun so small and far away. The Earth seemed so important and the sun seemed only like one of its accoutrements. But as his perspective was broadened he began to see reality. And his view of the sun grew.

We can be like this; diminutive in our thinking. We can have a narrow view of life and believe it is all about ourselves. Ultimately thinking things are about us and our comfort, our happiness, our goals, our dreams, our success. But this is up-side-down thinking in reality and our view needs to be broadened. This life is not about us but about the one who made us. Does this bother you? It is probably because you are basing things on a false perspective.

So why is this so important? Because if we get this wrong then our view of God is not just too small but our view of ourselves is too big. And when this happens then we will begin to questions why things aren't turning out the way we want. When things become about us then we will be angry when we experience difficulties and things that don't go as planned. We will question if God is good because our expectations are not being met. We will get weighed down in wondering why God is not promoting our aspirations. Yet here is the reality:

"God ultimately is about God.  Yes He loves you, yes He provides for you and yes He cares for you, but the motivation behind that provision, care and love is the glory of His name and the worship of His perfection. So ultimately, you are not the center of the universe; God is. And although that offends our modern sensibilities, our greatest hope in the world is wrapped up in God being about God and about the praise of His glorious grace." (From God Saves, Matt Chandler sermon)

If this is true then is it just some kind of divine ego trip? Not at all, because if God were to be anything less then the center, anything less then the ultimate, if he were to share his glory with anyone or anything then he would cease to be God. The fact that he is supreme and that all things are centered around him is what affirms to us that he is God. Just as my son's view had to be broadened to understand the Earth's dependence on the sun so our view must be broadened to understand our dependence on an all sovereign God. Ego trip or Divine Supremacy? The answer depends on your perspective. Make sure you have your facts straight.