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Self Interest in Psalm 23

My Self-Interest (in purple)

God’s Self-Interest (in red)

The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.

What Is Moral Goodness?

Image Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

Left in the rain! A favorite book—ruined.

It was a growing-up experience for many book lovers, accidentally ruining a prized book. And how does it feel? The feeling is sadness, but also moral guilt.

I’ve been writing about the concept of “goodness,” and today I would like to look at a special aspect of goodness: morality.

Something Evil from the Mouth of God?

Do you ever wonder about God and evil? The problem of evil?
How do we really know that God is good, and what does the Bible even mean, “God is good?”

Upstairs in a cozy corner of the church, my youth pastor put down his guitar and asked a question:

“What are you reading in the Bible? What’s hard to wrap your mind around?”

I thought I had a show-stopper:

Worship in the Bible: A Lesson from Gideon

Wikimedia

We find worship in the Bible where we would hardly expect it. The story of Gideon is one such place.

Why Rational Self-Interest?

Christians often denounce “selfishness,” but the Bible shows rational self-interest as our main reason to follow God. Whether we look to the Old or New Testament, to believers, or to the God whom they serve, we see self-interest. We should check our understanding of the concept of “self-interest.” Those who denounce self-interest say we should follow Jesus because of who he is, but not because of what he can do for us. Is that what the Bible says?

God the Father is self-interested:

Psalm 115:3

He does all that he pleases.