Did you know two well-known ministers igxe
coupondiffer on who God loves the most?
You’d probably know their names if I told you.
So what do you think? Who does God love the
most: you or Himself?
You may be thinking, “God loves everybody. igxe coupon codeWho cares?” Yes, but the question of who God loves the most is of
enormous importance. Huge! It says a lot about God. If we don’t get this right,
then we could have a skewed view of all of life. For instance, our perspective
on world missions will be changed. The more that we become like Christ, then
the more that His motivation will become our motivation. In other words, what’s
supremely important to Him will become supremely important to us. So again,
it’s pivotal that we have a right view of God.
Just because someone claims to hear from
God, does that make whatever they say true? We need to be careful of how
quickly we accept what someone claims—especially when they claim to speak for
God. As scripture says, “examine everything carefully; hold fast to that which
is good.” (1 Thes. 5:21) Jesus warned us of this and said that we should
“beware of false prophets” (Matt. 7:15).
Paul is clear when he writes, “Do not
despise prophetic utterances”. However, scripture also says, “Pay close
attention to yourself and to your teaching; persevere in these things….” and
again “like newborn babies, long for the pure milk of the word“ (2 Pet. 2:2)
So, God cannot contradict Himself or His Word; He is “the same yesterday,
today, and forever” (Heb. 13:8).
Moreover, it’s written that if anyone does
teach contrary to the Word, “the one who blasphemes the name of the LORD shall
surely be put to death” (Lev. 24:16) and “that prophet or that dreamer of
dreams shall be put to death, because he has counseled rebellion against the
LORD your God” (Deut. 13:5).
Though nowhere in the New Testament does it
advocate the death penalty for teaching heresy, it’s clear that God takes this
very seriously!
A belief is only as good as it is true.
Keep in mind, Truth is a valuable treasure; this is what Paul wrote to Titus
when he exhorted: “in all things show yourself to be an example of good deeds,
with purity in doctrine, dignified…” (Titus 2:7). It is essential that we have
a pure doctrine because, inevitably, our understanding of God will affect all
of our life.
So, what do you think? Which idea is
scriptural? Let’s look at what they have to say.
View #1: God esteems YOU higher than He
does Himself
One of the greatest revelations the Lord
ever gave me came shortly after I received salvation. I was fellowshipping with
Him while driving my car and seemingly out of nowhere He began speaking
something that revolutionized my thinking. I heard Him whisper to my heart,
“John, do you know I esteem you more important than Myself?” [i]
Now let’s look at the other view.
View #2: God esteems HIMSELF higher than He
does you
God is into God. He is highest in His own
thoughts, foremost in His own affections. While it is true that God loves
you--really, really treasures and prizes you--God’s first and central love is
Himself. God doesn’t love anybody more than Himself, will exalt nothing above
His own name, and does everything He does to the end of displaying His
supremacy and unrivaled glory.[ii]
*See Appendix for full contexts.
Contradiction?
Notice the clash? One writer says that God
spoke to him and said, “I esteem you more important than Myself,” in other
words, God sees life to be all about you, while the other writer says, “He
[God] is highest in His own thoughts, foremost in His own affections”, meaning,
God sees life to be all about Himself. Both writers say they’re supported by
scripture. Both writers are very popular in the Church today.
But which is true? Who is God?
Could BOTH be true?
You might be thinking, “Well, why
‘either-or’? Can’t both be true?” Someone who says, “Yes, both can be true,”
might say,
“It’s like this: in some dilemmas there can be two statements that
seem to contradict each other yet are both true. For example:
“Suppose on Tuesday I said, ‘It’s raining,’ but on that same day I
said, ‘it’s not raining’. These two statements seem to contradict one another
but they aren’t necessarily contradictory—only different. It could be that
today it was raining in New York while it was a sunny day at the same time in
Dallas. Now if I make seemingly contradictory statements like ‘It’s raining’
and ‘It’s not raining’ at the same time, well then we’d have to learn more of
what I really mean’. In other words, they must be qualified.”
Exactly.
Yet sometimes two seemingly contradictory
statements can be qualified; other times, they can’t. Saying “God thinks more
highly of you than Himself” can’t be qualified with the statement that “God
thinks most highly of God—no one else.” To say so just doesn’t
measure-up. Here’s why:
Suppose we said that both statements were,
in fact, true. In that case, it would be true that God thinks more highly of
Himself than of anyone else. However, God also thinks more highly of you than
He does of anyone else—including Himself. This can’t be. Both can’t coexist. It
would be like saying, “Pike’s Peak is taller than Mt. Everest” while also
saying “Mt. Everest is the tallest mountain in the world—there is no mountain
that is taller than it”.
View #1 Can’t Fit With View #2
Why? Well, because as soon as it’s said
that God thinks of someone else more importantly than Himself, that statement
leaves no room for God to think of Himself as most important, because He has
thought of something that is higher than Himself; namely, you.
Not only do these two statements seem to
contradict one another; they do contradict one another. They could both be
wrong, but they cannot both be right. So, what do we make of this mess?
Identify the Lie
These contradictory statements were made by
two professing Christian men. The first one, View #1, was written by the
well-known teacher, speaker, and author John Bevere in his book Drawing Near.
The other statement, View #2, was written by Passion movement’s founder
Louie Giglio in his book i am not but i know I AM.
So, which one of these two men teaches
falsely on the thoughts of God? The way we can test any contrasting views—or
alleged prophecy: go back to God’s Word—the Holy Bible. Scripture says that,
“All scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking,
correcting, and training in righteousness” (2 Tim. 3:16, emphasis mine).
It is important to note that nowhere in the
Bible is does it ever explicitly say, “God views humanity as higher than
Himself” or “God views Himself highest”. But, is it really hard to tell???
The Bible is clear on this: God is the
highest being in the universe.
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