What God May Really Be Like – Misbeliefs About God

God is love but we portray God’s actions as being self-centered. Did God really put us here to remind Him and others how great He is or we can go to Hell? God desired a mutually edifying relationship with those created in His image. Do we have children only for our own pleasure or to bring them joy as well? Are we really less selfish than our Creator? God’s love really is other-directed not self-consumed

One writer said: “God did not need to create you, but he chose to create you for his own enjoyment. You exist for his benefit, his glory, his purpose, and his delight.” Can you imagine respecting a human parent with the same attitude? God’s glorification must be understood in a relational context and not be separated from human benefit, glory, purpose, and delight. Worship, if not mindless slavery, only happens in the context of a relationship.

I Corinthians 10:31 says: “So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.”  God’s glory is not self-infatuation. God desires we glorify Him so that all can share in the many blessings resulting from such actions. To love God is to love others to the fullest. Parents, who are unselfish, advise their children to honor them because they have their best interest in mind.

Imagine a world that glorified God in all they did! There would be no evil or suffering caused by others in the world. There would be no physical or sexual abuse in the world. There would be no parents living out their dreams through their children. There would be no bigotry based on the color of your skin or the gender you were born.  There would be no fear of letting children walk to the store, no locking of cars and houses for safety and theft reasons. There would be no selfishness but pursuit of a higher priority, which is honoring or glorifying God in all we do. 

God wanted to share His wonderful creation with others. God will not force His love on others, but He wants as many as possible to experience His love in such a chaotic world. God is not possessive of His glory. “He called you to this through our gospel, that you might share in the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (2 Tim. 2:14)  What Parent wants to be along in the glory? God is not self-centered, self-absorbed, self-seeking, or egotistical!