In most of his books, specifically Desiring God, John Piper states several times that many of the sin struggles that Christians face in our lives is rooted in God not being uppermost in our affections. Many people tend to believe that this means that we love ourselves more than God. This is not the case.
In The Weight of Glory, C.S. Lewis helps us see why this cannot be true.
Indeed, if we consider the unblushing promises of reward and the staggering nature of the rewards promised in the Gospels, it would seem that Our Lord finds our desires, not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.
I believe this gives us a clearer picture of what’s going on here. When we do not hold God uppermost in our affections, we are not loving ourselves more than God. We are simply loving ourselves less than we should. It has been said that you can’t love someone unless you love yourself first. In relationship with people, this makes sense. However, I would submit that we cannot truly love ourselves unless we find our meaning in the God in whom love is derived. We cannot truly love ourselves if we do not first hold high the God who demonstrated such awe-inspiring love as to sacrifice Himself for us.
Only when we have hold God highest in our affections can we truly love ourselves. There are many reasons for this, the first being that only then can we truly see ourselves for our true worth. There are those who would think that would give us more of an arrogant attitude. As if realizing that God died for us somehow raises our status in life. Those who would say that still have their focus on themselves. When a king dies for his people it does say much about the people, but it says more about the king. When we see our worth according to God, and feel His love, coupled with the recognition of our sin, it doesn’t elevate us, it humbles us.
Thoughts?
