This might sound crazy, but have you ever thought that the joy of the Lord could make you self-centered? That’s not the way God intends for us to live, but we can slip into that type of mindset without even realizing it.
The Lord called out the Israelites’ selfishness through the prophet Isaiah:
Yet they seek me daily and delight to know my ways, as if they were a nation that did righteousness and did not forsake the judgment of their God; they ask of me righteous judgments; they delight to draw near to God. ‘Why have we fasted, and you see it not? Why have we humbled ourselves, and you take no knowledge of it?’ Behold, in the day of your fast you seek your own pleasure, and oppress all your workers.
Isaiah 58:2-3 (ESV)
Someone wrote into John Piper’s podcast to ask:
So, how do we reconcile this apparent contradiction? How can these people delight in God and yet still be forsaken for selfishness? It seems like the issue here is that their seeking God was self-serving, but I’m curious about how we as Christians can delight in God without falling into this trap.
Piper began his reply by saying, “It seems to me that most apparent contradictions in the Bible are intended by God to protect us from careless uses of some precious truth.” He explains the contradictions:
What we should make of it is that they are hypocrites. They’re not delighting in God’s ways, because God’s ways are not to oppress his workers. So, what are they doing? They are enjoying worship services. The worship songs and the atmosphere and the fellowship are fun, pleasurable, just like TV is fun. When the worship songs say, “I delight in God,” they sing, “I delight in God.” But Isaiah 58:3 makes it plain they don’t, because it says, “You seek your own pleasure, and oppress all your workers” — which means you are not finding pleasure in mercy and justice, which are God’s ways. Your so-called delight in God is not overflowing in treating your employees with love and justice. You are seeking your private pleasures at the expense of your workers. You are seeking your private pleasures on Sunday morning in worship services. You are seeking your private pleasures in the way you treat your employees.
The Lord has the answer to this through Isaiah at the end of the same chapter:
If you turn back your foot from the Sabbath, from doing your pleasure on my holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight and the holy day of the Lord honorable; if you honor it, not going your own ways, or seeking your own pleasure, or talking idly; then you shall take delight in the Lord, and I will make you ride on the heights of the earth; I will feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.
Isaiah 58:13-14 (ESV)
Piper calls Isaiah 58 “an indictment of personal self-indulgence that does not truly delight in God for who he is, nor does it delight in doing good to others.” But what’s the remedy?
Putting others first will give us joy. God’s Word has much to say about it:
We who are strong have an obligation to bear with the failings of the weak, and not to please ourselves. Let each of us please his neighbor for his good, to build him up.
Romans 15:1-2 (ESV)
Let no one seek his own good, but the good of his neighbor.
1 Corinthians 10:24 (ESV)
Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
1 Corinthians 13:4-7 (ESV)
In all things I have shown you that by working hard in this way we must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’”
Acts 20:35 (ESV)
“What makes the pursuit of my pleasure an act of love is that I’m willing to suffer in order to include as many people in it as I can,” Piper said. “I want them to taste and experience the very joy that I am pursuing in suffering for them to bring them with me.”
“Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him forever,” the Westminster Shorter Catechism tells us. Enjoying God means loving the others He created. That’s how we prevent ourselves from becoming self-centered and self-indulgent.
If you’re reading this column, chances are you care about living out your faith authentically — not just going through the motions. That’s exactly why we do what we do at PJ Media: calling out hypocrisy, encouraging truth, and helping believers think biblically about the world around us.
But here’s the thing: we can’t keep up the fight for faith, family, and freedom without your support. That’s where PJ Media VIP comes in. Members get access to exclusive columns, podcasts, and deep-dive reporting you won’t find anywhere else — all from a perspective that takes faith seriously.
Right now, you can join VIP for 60% off with the promo code FIGHT. That’s our way of saying thank you for standing shoulder-to-shoulder with us in a culture that too often rejects truth.
Because at the end of the day, it’s not just about consuming news — it’s about sharpening our worldview, encouraging one another, and living boldly for the Lord in a world that desperately needs light.
Click here to become a VIP today — and use the code FIGHT to save 60%!
Join the conversation as a VIP Member