Egomaniacs are obsessively selfish and ego driven. This means that they have extreme difficulty empathizing and seeing life from another person's perspective. God is not an egomaniac; He is not compulsive, prideful, or selfish. As God, He is perfect. As the sovereign Creator of the universe, He does have expectations and demands; however, He is not pathological or egotistical for having them.
There are certain passages in the Bible that could cause people to think God is an egomaniac. For instance, God demands that we have no other gods besides Him—He is a jealous God and expects our full loyalty (Exodus 20:3–5). He expects us to worship Him (Luke 4:8; John 4:23). In Matthew 10:37–39, Jesus made this bold proclamation: "Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it."
If God were not perfect, these expectations and statements could seem shockingly egomaniacal, and indeed they would be if they were spoken by someone who was a mere mortal. But we have to remember the key distinction: God is God. He is the Creator of the universe and all within it, which means He owns all of it. He is without sin, all powerful, all knowing, and completely loving: "This God—his way is perfect; the word of the LORD proves true; he is a shield for all those who take refuge in him" (Psalm 18:30). Though created in the image of God and intended for relationship with Him, humans defied God and His ways. We were separated from Him and without hope of saving ourselves from His rightful wrath or the deadly consequences of living in ways contrary to His design for us. But God made a way of reconciliation. He provided salvation for us with the sacrificial blood of His one and only Son, Jesus Christ (John 3:16–18). All who put their faith in Jesus are forgiven of sin and brought into a personal and life-giving relationship with God.
Matthew 22:37–38 says, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment." When we recognize the perfection of God, His lordship, and His generous care toward us, the real question is how we could not want to worship Him alone and give Him our loyalty (Exodus 15:2; Hebrews 12:28–29; Revelation 4:11). God is not an egomaniac. Rather, for those who have put their faith in Jesus, we have the honor that He chose us to be His own: "But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light" (1 Peter 2:9).
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