In the last BLOG the focus was on how pride is seen in moralism and legalism. The soul in its pride and self-centeredness of pride will attempt to be good in order to have fellowship with God or to get God to do something. This is not what people will verbalize, but it is the language of pride when moralism is stripped of its fig leaves. Take off the fig leaves of moralism and what it is hiding is nothing but the foul image of the devil which is pride and self. The problem, however, is that pride hides itself from us. Pride is so wicked that it will try to hide itself from those that have it. Since pride hides under the fig leaves of moralism, it is also trying to hide moralism from the soul as well. Jeremiah 17:9 warns us that “The heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick; Who can understand it?” Only God can show us our hearts in its true despicable nature and take away the blindness of the proud eyes and the fig leaves of moralism to show us our true nakedness.
But the same egocentric motive [“I give to you, that I may get something back from you”] can be exhibited equally, if less obviously, at much more refined levels… Eudemonism means that my desires and needs, whether temporal or spiritual, are the fundamental inspiration of my quest for acceptance with God. I seek God in pursuit of my own interests. Impelled, for instance, the fear of hell and hope of heaven, or by a yearning for present peace of heart and mind, I seek God no less for my own satisfaction than if I sought material advantages at His hands. In egocentric religion, fellowship with God depends ultimately on man’s achievement and is sought ultimately for man’s own ends. God is characteristically conceived in terms of the answer to human problems and needs. (Let God Be God! An Interpretation of the Theology of Martin Luther)
Eudemonism (sometimes eudaimonism) was a philosophy of the ancient Greeks and is also a philosophy of every proud heart that is controlled by pride and self. The idea came from Aristotle and the idea of human flourishing. The idea of flourishing can become nothing but the seeking of pleasure. Some stressed sensual pleasures while others stressed the absence of material things. Those within Christianity eventually stressed the idea that true happiness is found by focusing and meditating on God. The distinction between objective character (morality or virtue) as sufficient for happiness was disputed by those who thought that the subjective (happiness) state was a satisfactory life. Clearly, then, the battle for happiness is something that all strive for and many argue about.
Eudemonism has taken root within the churches today while clothed in biblical language. It is clothed under the term of “happiness” as well as the terms of “peace” and “joy” as well as others. It is clothed under biblical verses that speak of God giving us the desires of our hearts. It is clothed under theology that says if we have joy in the name of God then that joy glorifies God. But if we seek joy for the goal of self even if we say it is for the glory of God, then we are seeking self and this is nothing but pride and self-seeking. If we determine what to do from a sense of peace, then it can be that we are determining what is right and wrong from our own desires and our own subjective feelings. The state of peace in the heart may only be showing me that the battle between the Word of God and my pride over this issue has been decided. My relief may be from nothing more than my mind finding an excuse to disobey God. Whenever I seek God for the purpose of something else I am guilty of the wicked expression of my pride in the idolatry of self.
Virtually all that hold any semblance to believing the Bible as the Word of God will agree that seeking God for material things is sinful and prideful. That is to treat Him as nothing more than a divine genie and to think that we can bribe and manipulate Him to do what we want. How wicked it is to have a conception of the Almighty such as that! Yet we don’t see it as the same thing when we seek Him for peace or contentment. We praise Him to others because He gives me peace as if that is all He is good for. Indeed the Scripture speaks of “all my springs of joy are in You” (Psa 87:7). Yet that does not give us the excuse to seek God for the purpose of joy in and of itself. Do we seek God as a means of the achievement of self? Do we seek God primarily for our own ends even if our mouths say other things? Do we think of God’s purpose as the answer to our needs and problems? Isn’t that hideous pride wrapped in religious language? Isn’t that nothing but the vile nature of self being expressed under religious clothing? Do I truly seek joy from God so that His joy in Himself may be manifested or is it that I just want to be happy? Our very desire for peace and joy can be used by pride to deceive ourselves as to our salvation and our sanctification. Some seek God for wealth, yet some seek God to make them happy. Both are idolatrous notions.
God Loves... Himself 
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