Tuesday, January 1, 2013

Center of the Universe

Geocentrism . . . the theory that the earth is the center of the universe.  It seemed to make sense at the time.  The sun rises and sets on the earth each day.  This theory was gradually proven wrong in the 16th century as we began to realize that the earth actually revolves around the sun which is heliocentrism.  Some things made much more sense when they realized that the sun is the center of the universe instead of the earth.

 
Egocentric . . . everything is about me and originates with me.  We are all, by nature, egocentric, I am the center of the universe.  We look at everything from our perspective.  How does this event, comment, person, truth, etc. affect me? 

One of the reasons it is hard to communicate biblical reality to modern, secular people is that the biblical mindset and the secular mindset move from radically different starting points.
What I mean by the secular mindset is not necessarily a mindset that rules God out or denies in principle that the Bible is true. It's a mindset that begins with man as the basic given reality in the universe. All of its thinking starts with the assumption that man has basic rights and basic needs and basic expectations. Then the secular mind moves out from this center and interprets the world, with man and his rights and needs as the measure of all things. *(Piper, 2012)
 
We, believers and unbelievers alike, need to understand that it isn't about us at all. It is all about God & His glory.  It is often difficult for us to accept things that we read in Scripture or that we see God doing around us, because we can't understand why God would allow that to happen to us or to our country.  We need to realize that things don't work out from an egocentric perspective, only from a Theocentric perspective . . . God is the center and Originator of all things.  Everything is about Him. 
 
Allow God to be your point of reference this year . . . things will make alot more sense.

*Piper, J.  (2012) Did Christ Die for Us or for God.  desiringgod.org

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