InSlaveryToChrist
Puritan Board Junior
What exactly do we, as the redeemed people of God, most appreciate about God’s love in the Atonement of Christ? What I so often hear from the Evangelical world is the “personality” of our salvation, that is, that Christ died for ME as an individual. By implication, the person who thinks this way is saying that his greatest appreciation of God’s love in the Atonement of Christ comes from the fact that the sacrifice was made on his behalf.
We, as God-centered Reformed folks, should know better. Our confessions imply that the greatest thing God can do for both Himself and the whole creation is to glorify Himself by revealing Himself for all that He is. Consequently, our greatest appreciation of God’s love in the Atonement of Christ should derive from the fact that the sacrifice was made on God’s own behalf, to glorify His name among all nations.
Sadly, I’ve seen many Reformed people stumbling with God-centered thinking (I'm not making this up). When they’ve heard that God’s self-centeredness leads to the greatest happiness of the creature, they’ve, in their man-centered mind, become motivated by their own happiness, instead of God’s glory. And so, they’ve totally missed what makes God’s self-centeredness primarily and ultimately desirable – it is His own glory! This is what it means to be God-centered – to have one’s mind and heart conformed by the Holy Spirit to the likeness of God’s – NOT to use God’s glory to the purposes of man!
Be very cautious of Christians who teach God-centeredness in a man-centered fashion! They always like to bring up our own happiness as the primary reason and motivation to glorify God, which will never make anyone happy, and it is definitely not God-glorifying. Deny yourself, and set your eyes on God’s majesty! If you do, I’ll promise you (here’s my reason and motivation for you): GOD WILL BE GLORIFIED!
We, as God-centered Reformed folks, should know better. Our confessions imply that the greatest thing God can do for both Himself and the whole creation is to glorify Himself by revealing Himself for all that He is. Consequently, our greatest appreciation of God’s love in the Atonement of Christ should derive from the fact that the sacrifice was made on God’s own behalf, to glorify His name among all nations.
Sadly, I’ve seen many Reformed people stumbling with God-centered thinking (I'm not making this up). When they’ve heard that God’s self-centeredness leads to the greatest happiness of the creature, they’ve, in their man-centered mind, become motivated by their own happiness, instead of God’s glory. And so, they’ve totally missed what makes God’s self-centeredness primarily and ultimately desirable – it is His own glory! This is what it means to be God-centered – to have one’s mind and heart conformed by the Holy Spirit to the likeness of God’s – NOT to use God’s glory to the purposes of man!
Be very cautious of Christians who teach God-centeredness in a man-centered fashion! They always like to bring up our own happiness as the primary reason and motivation to glorify God, which will never make anyone happy, and it is definitely not God-glorifying. Deny yourself, and set your eyes on God’s majesty! If you do, I’ll promise you (here’s my reason and motivation for you): GOD WILL BE GLORIFIED!