“To be supremely loving, God must give us what will be best for us and delight us most; he must give us himself.” (John Piper)
This certainly everyone would agree with…
“God is the one Being in the entire universe for whom self-centeredness, or the pursuit of his own glory, is the ultimately loving act. For him, self-exaltation is the highest virtue.” (John Piper)
But no, self-centeredness is the very opposite of love, love is concerned with others, it is about relationships. And Jesus did not seek to exalt himself, does this not tell us about God?
John 8:50 I am not seeking glory for myself; but there is one who seeks it, and he is the judge.
“When he does all things ‘for the praise of his glory,’ he preserves for us and offers to us, the only thing in the entire world, which can satisfy our longings.” (John Piper)
Yes, and God’s glory is not incompatible with unselfish love, with giving, God’s glory is in his giving, primarily, and not in his receiving:
2 Chronicles 7:3 When all the people of Israel saw the fire come down and the glory of the Lord on the temple, they bowed down with their faces to the ground on the pavement and worshiped and gave thanks to the Lord, saying, “For he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever.”
Colossians 1:24 Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church…
But “there is one who seeks it” might still refer to God seeking his own glory. Certainly this means God the Father, seeking glory for Jesus. And does this mean God is self-centered? Certainly not in the usual sense, because the Father is seeking glory for Jesus, not for himself, here, and Jesus is not seeking glory for himself.
So each person of the Trinity would not then be self-centered, not seeking their own glory, in fact, their delight seems to be to give it, not only within the Trinity, but to others:
John 17:24 Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world.
God does indeed want to reveal his glory, but not because he is preoccupied with himself! “The glory you have given me because you loved me…” God’s glory is wrapped up in his love, and love is about relationships, it’s about giving, not receiving, for “it is more blessed to give than to receive,” and this seems to apply even in the area of glory.
Even his glory is an outpouring, not taking in:
John 17:4 I have brought you glory on earth by completing the work you gave me to do.
Jesus seeks the Father’s glory, and he brings glory to the Father, by his ministry, by doing good for others, by giving.
John 17:1 Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you.
Even when Jesus was saying “glorify your Son,” the reason he asks this is so that he himself may give, “that your Son may glorify you,” and we even read “I have given them the glory that you gave me.”
And he was speaking about the cross, the greatest act of giving we have ever known.
Galatians 6:14 But may it never be that I should boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ…