It’s hard to see Jesus sacrificed on our behalf and not conclude that His Father places a higher value on us than He does His own Son or even Himself. Oh, we’d never say such a thing out loud, but our behavior declares our belief in it nonetheless. The fact that so many Christians struggle over the existence of Hell is evidence of our secret belief that humans rank higher with God than they actually do. Hell is only horrible from a human’s perspective—God is perfectly comfortable with its existence and all that happens in it. We don’t like the idea of Him enjoying Hell because our prides hate the thought that our comfort isn’t His utmost priority. Yet clearly, it is not. God’s own comfort and satisfaction are His top priorities and the fact that He is patient with us for a brief moment on earth must not be misinterpreted as a sign that He is questioning His decision to punish those who rebel against Him. Yes, God wants us to join Him in Heaven, but only on the condition that we submit to His Authority. If we refuse to do so, He is quite happy to hurl us into Hell and He finds torturing us for an eternity far more rewarding than simply uncreating us. This is the same God who describes Himself as love. Yes, He is love, but He is many other things as well. Let’s not promote that one phrase as being a comprehensive description of God’s nature for it is not an accurate description of His core. God’s central motivation in all things is to please Himself. He created us for His own benefit, and everything He does with us and allows us to do has self-serving ends in mind. Even our rebellion serves Him in the end, for He is quite clear in Scripture that it glorifies Him in the eyes of others when He doles out just discipline upon those who defy Him. We were created for the purpose of glorifying God and He gives us two options in how to do that. We can either honor Him with our obedience or we can rebel against Him and set the stage for Him to avenge Himself at our expense. In the end, God’s standards are never compromised nor is He ever left feeling cheated by the final outcome with any one of us. Should we choose to clash our wills against His, we will suffer intensely but He will end up quite content with our receiving just punishment in Hell.