When we open ourselves to others, it is partially and hypocritically, with prevarication and great tenderness to ourselves, and with design to be admired and flattered by them, rather than counseled and convinced. Alas! We do so to God more than we are aware of. (Thomas Adam, Private Thoughts on Religion)
“The heart is more deceitful than all else And is desperately sick; Who can understand it?” (Jeremiah 17:9).
Any person that has truly dealt long with his own heart knows that what Thomas Adam wrote above is true. Anyone that thinks that the statement is not true has simply not discovered the nature of his or her own heart. The natural human heart is proud and self-centered and desires to be admired and flattered by others. It will open itself up to others just to a degree, though not really. It does so to a small degree only in order that others will think more highly of him or her. In the modern day it is thought to be a good thing if a person is transparent. But the proud heart will not truly open up to confess the true depths of its sin. Indeed the proud heart will confess that it is terribly wicked and will say several things about how awful it is, but it will not truly open up to the sinful motives and sinful inclinations and desires of the heart. It opens up only in a general way and that is to gain the admiration of others.
The deceitfulness of the human heart and its desire to be admired and flattered by others is far stronger and more deceptive that we are willing to consider at almost any point in our lives. Children in school are driven by tenderness toward their own image before others and themselves. Young adults constantly want to be seen in a certain way. When people arrive at middle age they still want to be seen in a certain way and they still want others to admire them and then admire themselves. In the modern world self-esteem teaching continues to rage and the greatest crime of all it appears is to offend another. We don’t want to hear the truth about ourselves and are afraid to speak the truth. It is hard to get others to admire us if we speak evil of ourselves, though of course a partial opening might impress certain people. It is hard to get others to admire us and flatter us if we speak the truth to them about their sin.
Even more, according to Adam, we desire God to admire us and flatter us. In some ways this is what happens in the more open Arminian teaching which constantly tells people that God loves them regardless of what they do. It is flattering to people and makes them think that God makes much of them and is focused on them. This also teaches us that in confession of sin, even to God, we don’t speak the truth about ourselves and are hypocritical to God about our sin. Even in our confessions to God we are tender to ourselves and don’t want Him to really convict us of sin and teach us in our inner selves about our natures and of our sin. This tenderness toward ourselves and the refusal to seek God to truly show us our sin is a road to a hardened heart and then to hell. It is part of being on the broad road rather than the narrow one.
God Loves... Himself 
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