My world revolves around me. There is not one person I think about and love more than myself. When Jesus tells us to love our neighbor as ourselves (Mk. 12:31), He is making the assumption that we really really love ourselves. If we all loved other people anywhere close to as much as we loved ourselves, this world would be a heck of a lot better place. But alas, the natural tendency of the heart is to look inward, and I’m afraid it will be that way until the day Christ returns. Sadly, American culture continues to reinforce this self-centered attitude in ways we might not even see. In fact, even Christian teaching can creep towards selfishness in hidden ways.
I recently read the beginning of John Calvin’s Institutes of the Christian Religion, and noticed a theme that is very different from many of the Christian books we might find today. Calvin points out that wisdom comes from two primary places: knowledge of God and knowledge of ourselves.
These two things are inseparably linked, as we cannot understand ourselves without first understanding who God is. Calvin then moves in an interesting direction. Rather than speak about God as Savior and Redeemer, he places his initial focus on God as Creator. Why? Chronologically, it makes sense to start with God as Creator. After all, God had to first create before we could rebel, and we had to first rebel before God could have anyone to redeem. But I think there is another reason Calvin starts with God as Creator.
We are in the midst of a massive “self-esteem” movement. Everything has become about self-esteem.
“Don’t say that or they might be offended.”
“Give every kid a trophy or they’ll feel like a loser.”
“You are special and can do anything if you put your mind to it.”
Everyday the world preaches to us that a higher self-esteem is the fix to all of our problems. If we just love ourselves more, everything will be just fine and dandy. The problem is we already love ourselves too much. If this is the problem, then telling people to love themselves more is the opposite of a solution! Some Christian books have fallen into this same trap. Rather than focus on Christ and who He is, they will focus on how we feel. Granted, there is a time and a place to work through our feelings, but too often we fail to realize that the true path to “feeling better about ourselves” is not in loving ourselves more. Rather, it is in treasuring the majestic character of God.
This brings us back to Calvin. It’s jarring to see the beauty with which Calvin addresses the character of God. He doesn’t start his Institutes with a psychological look into the human soul. Rather, he begins with an in-depth look at the character of God. This is significant as we consider Calvin’s choice to delve into who God is as Creator, before we look at Him as Redeemer. Think about it. As beautiful and glorious as it is, even God’s redeeming of us is in some small sense about us. God’s creation of us is only about us in the sense that it humbles us and elevates God as our Creator and Master. God’s redemption of us similarly elevates God and humbles us, but it also, in a sense, elevates us to a new place. We are not being elevated because of any of our own merits. In fact, we don’t deserve to be elevated in any way at all. But through Christ’s sacrifice and by the mighty hand of God, He has lifted us up from the position of slaves into a place at His table as adopted sons. What a glorious truth this is! God’s plan of redemption for His people through the blood of Christ may be the most glorious truth throughout all of Scripture, but we must watch ourselves. We cannot love God merely because of what He has done for us. We are called to love God simply for who He is! Calvin’s decision is a subtle shift in focus that makes a huge difference. We must learn that God is to be loved and honored for who He is as our holy and righteous King even if He didn’t choose to save us.
“The natural reason to praise God is for what He has done for me. This is okay, but it doesn’t go far enough. From the Bible’s perspective, God deserves praise simply because He is God.” – Edward T. Welch
Books that deal with us and our unique psychological issues have their place. Even Paul’s letters have instruction and encouragement specific for the people to whom he is writing. We all have relational issues and deep struggles with love and acceptance that must be dealt with. However, I think modern Christianity might have lost the deep thirst for truly knowing God in all His majesty, glory, power, and holiness. The fix to our problems never starts with us, it always start with God. I think this is why certain books like R.C. Sproul’s Holiness of God or J.I. Packer’s Knowing God have such a huge impact on so many Christians. They simply dwell on the character of our great God.
I was listening to John Piper speak about the fight against pornography and he had an interesting approach. He highly recommended that anyone who struggles with lust and pornography should read Wayne Grudem’s Systematic Theology. What? That book has nothing to do with porn. Why not suggest something like Every Man’s Battle or Finally Free? Because the study of God’s character will draw us deeper into the love of our Father. His beauty is irresistible. The more we truly know God, the more we will love Him, and the more we will hate sin.
Perhaps we should all spend a little less time trying to feel better about ourselves, and a little more time drinking from the all-satisfying cup of God’s holy character.