In the last few BLOGS the issue of what determines the true core of Christianity has been set out under the basic issue of pride and prayer. It is not a person’s creed that is the final determination of the core of their true faith or not, it is whether the person is man-centered (egocentricity) or God-centered (theocentric). This is the true mark or the true standard of what is true Christianity or not. A person can have a perfect creed in terms of intellectual theology and still be ultimately governed by pride and self in the heart. But, one says, “I have a very high view of God.” That may be true, but what is the core belief of the heart in that? Does one have a high view of God in terms of Him doing for self or even being manipulated by self and for self? Is God nothing more than a philosophy to the person with the high view? Some people have a very high view of the universe and its glory, but they are still in bondage to their pride. A high view of God does not guarantee that a person has been delivered from pride because that is the work of God alone in the soul and not what a doctrinal belief can do.
“There is no single aspect of religion which may not bear the marks of egocentricity or theocentricity, according as the one or the other of these constitutes the fundamental character of the religious relationship…A belief in providence may mean that I regard God as existing simply to safeguard my interests and furnish me with a secure bases for the pursuit of my own purposes; or it may mean that I am persuaded of the goodness and wisdom of the Divine purpose, even when this runs counter to my own.” (Let God Be God! An Interpretation of the Theology of Martin Luther)
As can be seen from the quote above (which appears to be self-evident), a person can have a high view of God in terms of His providence and yet the controlling belief of that be determined by what is good for self. Interestingly enough, the Pharisees had a very high view of providence and sovereignty as well. When they saw that the man was born blind (John 9), they simply assumed that it was from the hand of God and that it was the man’s sin or his parent’s sin that was the cause of the man’s blindness. They did not think in terms of genetics, but saw things in terms of sin and of the hand of God in each and every matter. When they obtained some apparent good, they thought of it as the blessing of God. They had a high view of providence, but they thought that providence was fixed on their own wants, desires, and morality. This is to turn the very providence and sovereignty of God from that which He intends to manifest His glory to something that is focused on the whim and desire of human beings.
Pride in the heart means that the heart will determine what is right or wrong and good or bad by how it will effect and affect self. Pride exalts and puffs up the self with the things of self. Providence itself will be judged as good or bad by self. A soul that is blind to spiritual things will judge things that are uncomfortable and painful as bad things and the things that bring ease and comfort as good. However, in the Bible the Psalmist wrestled with why God allowed the wicked to prosper (Psa 73). It seems as if the godly are always in the midst of a trial or hard times. Those with even a modicum of spiritual insight and love for God see things far differently than the unbeliever. God gives those He hates many things in this world at times (sermon by Jonathan Edwards) while those He loves He brings hard things on them. Those He hates He will let them go on in their sin and never disturb them as they grow harder and harder in their sin. Those He loves He will bring hard things upon them to break them from their true enemy which is self in order to give them what is truly good which is Himself. Pride and self, then, will never interpret the providence of God properly.
Romans 1:18-32 is quite clear that the unbeliever knows some of the basic things about God and hates those things. The unbeliever gives him or herself to trying to stamp out that knowledge of God and live for self. The unbeliever is set against the truth of God and is engaged in an effort to understand things properly. That is surely a terrible act of pride, even the consistent and constant activity of pride. Those who want to blot out the knowledge of God will in their pride of self and hatred for God refuse to interpret the acts of His providence correctly. They will also not see the glory of God in truth as it shines out in nature, human beings, and especially in Christ. The proud person that is a professing believer will not see and interpret the providence of God because that is a person that is puffed up with self and is therefore opposed to the truth of God. This person may say wonderful things about what God does for him or her, but that does not mean that God is loved for Himself and who He really is. When the providence of God is interpreted by self and for self rather than the truth of God, it is a self-evident sign of an inescapable and undeniable man-centeredness which is opposed to God-centeredness.
God Loves... Himself 
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