I was talking with a student one day, that the most important thing in all of creation is that it reflects and gives God glory. In the dialogue I stated that is the most important thing is to give God glory, than God also does good by bringing Glory to Himself. The student replied “is God narcissistic?” That is an honest question from a student’s vantage point. My gut reaction was “no, God is not a human and is not flawed, so it’s glory He should get because He deserves all of it. That question however, took me to a larger train of thought. How do we usually look at God? Do we try to put God inside human confines?
The first thing that occurred to me is time. We try to put God in time, and then try to imagine Him always existing. We put God in where we are, and the natural outcome is Open Theism, assuming that God and His knowledge is confined by time. In reality, He created time, He isn’t limited or bound by it.
Then we get into this whole “free will” argument. We begin to limit God because if I can’t make someone do something, how can God make someone do something? We assume if we can’t understand it, we can’t see it and we can’t do it, then God must not be able to do it either.
I tried to explain to my student/friend that God getting glory is the best thing for all of creation, because when God is glorified the rest of creation is blessed and in right relationship, achieving it’s purpose. (I also asked him what would God do that would NOT bring Him glory. He didn’t have an answer). God receiving glory is the highest purpose there is, so we have to stop trying to turn God into just a man. God already did that, and Jesus humbled Himself, died and rose and when He ascended, He was Glorified. God is not a man, He Is, and He won’t fit into our little boxes.