New Morning Mercies #193

God is at the center of his universe, and when you put yourself there, it only ends in relational brokenness and personal disappointment.

There is someone at the center of all things. There is someone who rules over heaven and earth. There is someone who defines what pure love, power, wisdom, faithfulness, righteousness, and grace look like. There is someone who controls the forces of physical nature and administrates the events of human history. There is someone who authors the plot details of the story of every human being who has lived. There is someone who is worthy of honor, dominion, and power. There is someone who is deserving of the complete allegiance and unending worship of everyone. There is someone at the center, and it is not us.

It will never be about us because we have been born into a world that is, by its fundamental nature, a celebration of One greater than us. The Bible is very clear when it proclaims who is at the center:

• “In the beginning, God . . .” (Gen. 1:1).
• “You are my Son; today I have begotten you. Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession” (Ps. 2:7–8).
• “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace” (Isa. 9:6).
• “He does according to his will among the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth; and none can stay his hand or say to him, “What have you done?” (Dan. 4:35).
• “For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen” (Rom. 11:36).
• “For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all thing hold together” (Col. 1:16–17).
• “Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created” (Rev. 4:11).

Yet the message of the garden of Eden is that sin makes us quest for God’s position. We want life to work according to our will and conform to our plan. This desire to be at the center never goes anywhere good, personally or relationally. Self-centeredness is at the core of sin’s dysfunction, another powerful evidence of our need for rescuing grace.

For further study and encouragement: Daniel 4:28–37