Listen to Nancy on Kelli and Steve show, Moody Radio
The god of Self is self-centeredness and narcissism on steroids. It comes from our desire to do their own thing like Adam and Eve did in the Garden of Eden when they sinned by disobeying God’s command to not eat from the tree of good and evil. Satan, like today, was there to entice them into doubting God and His authority and put in them the desire to become a “god” to rule and live as they chose. The god of Self shows itself through stubbornness and willful disobedience to what is God calls us to do.
Dismissing of the God of the Scriptures over someones opinion or desire is typical behavior for one who sees themselves as knowing better than God. “If I were God, I would have done this or that.” Or, “if God is a good God, he never would have allowed that to happen.” The god of Self will not consider the idea that God allows suffering and hard times to draw us to Himself and sometimes He uses it to test our faith.
“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction” (Proverbs 1:7)
“But just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, so we speak, not to please man, but to please God who tests our hearts” (1 Thessalonians 2:4).
Self is the major theme of the prosperity gospel. Prosperity theology sees the Holy Spirit as a power to be put to use for whatever the person desires to will into existence. It is a form of mocking God’s word to satisfy the flesh. Wrapping the god of Self in Bible verses does nothing to dilute its deceptive power. Satan himself knows Scripture better than we do. He is the deceiver and . He will give people just enough Jesus to feel better about themselves but not enough to pick up a cross and follow Him.
“And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me” (Luke 9:23)
We know we are worshiping the god of Self when we approach God’s Word with reservations. It is a smorgasbord kind of faith. The Bible may say one thing, but the Self wants something else. God will never force Himself on anyone, but rather, He gives us freedom to choose whom we will serve: Self or Jesus.
“Little children, let no one deceive you. Whoever practices righteousness is righteous, as he is righteous. Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil. No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God’s seed abides in him; and he cannot keep on sinning, because he has been born of God!” (Matthew 6:24).
Don Stewart comments that prior to salvation, we could only serve our selves. This is the only capacity the non-Christians have. Once a person trusts Christ, they now have a new nature. However, the old nature does not go away. It will not leave the believer until the Christian goes to heaven. Until then, we are told not to encourage the old nature in any way.
The god of Self, directed by Satan, can slip in unnoticed and counterfeit God in ways that are almost impossible to detect from God Himself.
“For such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, masquerading as apostles of Christ. And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. It is not surprising, then, if his servants masquerade as servants of righteousness. Their end will correspond to their actions.” (2 Corinthians 11:13,15).
“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!'” (Matthew 7:21–23)
The god of Self is content to dwell in our hearts and get its own way. Paul described the cure for ridding ourselves of this imposter: “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” (Galatians 2:20).Â
God will not share His throne, and we are fooling ourselves if we think He does not notice our service to the god of Self.