The natural man can be and many will be centered upon God if God is man-centered. This is simply another way for man to be centered upon Himself. We see this in the teachings of the Gospel very clearly. If we teach a God that is man-centered, a man never has to repent of his man-centeredness in order to believe in that God. As long as man can work up a belief in a God who is centered upon him and loves him as he is, then man can remain self-centered and simply love those who love himself. This does not require a change of heart or a change of love. It is just another way for man who loves himself to expand his self-love. This is the so-called gospel that has so permeated and wrecked the professing Church in America in our day. This is the so-called gospel that has been permeated by man’s depraved desire to love himself and make himself the center of all things. This is the so-called gospel that has been so influenced by the self-esteem movement and a secular psychology that is based on evolutionary teachings and the idea that depraved desires of the heart of man are something natural rather than sinful.
What we must understand is that man’s self-love and pride knows no discernible bounds. This horrible part of man’s nature is a rebellion against God as expressed by the Greatest Commandment (which tells man to love God with all of his being) and yet man loves himself with all of his being. Instead of man exalting God and seeking His honor and glory, in pride man seeks to exalt himself and seek his own honor and glory. Man is so great in his own eyes and loves himself so much that he believes God will save man from hell and do all to serve man in man’s drive for glory and honor out of self-love and self-interest. Man is so blinded by self-love and pride that he thinks that he can do things for God and God will be pleased that man is doing something for Him, though in fact man is in simply using what he thinks of as God for his own purposes.
A man-centered approach to God being man-centered is really one way man tries to use God to serve himself. God created man to be His image and the purpose of man is to be a way for God to manifest His glory. But instead man wants God to be his servant and to do his pleasure. This is easily seen in the way that man prays. Man prays for himself and his own benefit. He prays for God to do things for him that he cannot do. He prays for God to fulfill his plans and do his desires. So we come up with a god that we like that is more powerful than us, yet He is love in such a way that He does not really threaten us and we can control Him by being good and praying. Prayer then becomes an effort to manipulate God to do what we want and we do that by using the name of Jesus.
Man’s pride is such that he tries to do missions, evangelism, and start churches for his own honor and glory. He will invoke the name of God and he will have pious externals, but as the Pharisee who crossed land and sea to make one convert much is done in the name of the honor of self and in man’s pride in thinking that he can do something for God though in fact his own interests are there. A lot of work can be done in and around “churches” simply out of the desire for honor and of self-love and pride. Man in his great pride tried to erect the tower of Babel in order to reach God, and now man is trying to reach God by erecting towers of works and honor for self. He does this because he thinks that God loves him as he loves himself and is focused on him as he is focused on himself. He thinks, as Scripture sets out, that God is like himself.
Until man begins to see that God is God and as God He is focused in Himself within His triune being, man will not see himself for who he is. Until we see that God is focused on Himself and all must be done for His glory in truth, man will continue to think that he can do something for God. Until we see that God’s love is focused on God, we will think that we are the center of the universe and live for ourselves and think that God is focused on our world for our purposes too. Until we can see Christ as the eternal Son of God who is the Beloved of God, we will think that God is focused on us. Until we see that God has an eternal purpose which He is carrying out in Christ, we will carry out our own purposes thinking we are doing something for God.
In the past the KKK thought God was on their side as they espoused racism. There are many now in the African American community that think God is on their side. Both are very wrong. God is fully centered upon Himself and His own glory. Man was created in the image of God and now man wants a god like himself. The fall occurred when our first parents wanted to be as God. That is the essence of sin and of our rebellion. We want to love ourselves and be focused on ourselves rather than God. We want God to be focused on us as we are focused on ourselves. As long as we can think that God loves us and serves us, we will love Him and serve Him. It is not until we see God as utterly glorious in His focus on His glory that we will see our sin, true repentance, and the Gospel.
God Loves... Himself 
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