Skip to main content

Catechism #4



Question: What is the chief end of man?
Answer: The chief end of man is to glorify God, and to enjoy Him forever. 

The Declaration of Independence states that we have been endowed by our Creator with certain unalienable rights, which include life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. This has led many Americans to, without realizing it, believe their chief end is to pursue happiness.

This is true, but only in the sense that we realize true happiness comes from understanding who we are in Christ. As Asaph wrote in Psalm 73:25, “Whom have I in heaven but You? And there is none upon earth that I desire besides You.”

The Westminster Shorter Catechism begins by saying the chief end of man is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever. That might sound confusing, but if we understand that concept then we will understand how to truly live.

The chief end of man—or the reason we exist—is to glorify God. Revelation 4:11 says all things were created for God’s pleasure, and that includes the human race. God chose to make mankind to please Himself; therefore, we exist to please and glorify God.

1 Corinthians 10:31 encourages believers to do all that they do in order to glorify God: “Whether therefore you eat, or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.”

A recent poll showed that being a lumberjack is the worst job in America, but whether you are a lumberjack or a lawyer, do your work for the glory of God. It is not the type of work we do, but the way we do it that pleases God. Whatever we find ourselves doing, we please God when we give it our best.

How much truer is this concept when it applies to our spiritual lives? When we pray, read our Bibles, and seek God with our whole hearts, He is pleased.


God enjoys us when we live our lives for Him, and we can enjoy Him forever when we reflect on what He has done for us. With God as our adopted Father we can enjoy His presence both on earth and in heaven.  
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

To Save a Life

(Like my blog about the peace symbol, this blog was written as a default response to all the parents, students, and other people who are asking my opinion of To Save a Life.) By now you have probably heard of the movie To Save a Life, which opened nation-wide in theaters on January 22nd. The movie deals with so many issues that teens face today, like suicide, cutting, drinking, drugs, premarital sex, teen pregnancy, and abortion. At first glance this movie looks like an awesome resource that we should recommend for our teens, parents, youth pastors, and youth workers. But a closer look at the movie reveals a few disturbing things. For starters, according to pluggedin.com, there are 2 uses of the “A” word, 5 uses of hell (used as a curse word), and once the “D” word is used. There are other crude terms used to describe a girl, and crude terms for referring to sexual activity. There is also a bedroom scene that shows a girl removing a boy’s shirt, then afterwards the girl putting he...
38 comments
Read more

Evangelism

“Preach the gospel at all times, and when necessary, use words.” St. Francis of Assisi is given credit for this famous quote (although that exact phrasing does not appear in any of his writings), and a lot of people would think that this is a great philosophy. His actual quote was that everyone should “preach by their deeds.” Preaching with our deeds is not just a strategy, it is a necessity. We are commanded all through the Scriptures to let our light shine and be a peculiar people. People should be able to look at our lives and see that we are Christians. They should see the love of Christ readily on display, and thus feel compelled to live their lives in the same way. The sermon that we should preach with our lives is a sermon of love, joy, peace, patience, self-control, forgiveness, conviction, etc. But this idea that has emerged that says we should ONLY preach with our deeds is a heresy straight from the devil himself. Think about it: who is the one that does not want you t...
18 comments
Read more

All Things To All Men

One of our favorite verses to use in our evangelism methods is where Paul said that he “becomes all things to all men” so that he might “by all means save some (I Corinthians 9:22).” This is certainly a good idea if we keep it in its proper context and application. For example, I remember a time in high school where I knew a kid that loved skateboarding. Being the chicken that I am, I was never a skateboarder. All he would talk about was skating, and I knew none of his lingo. But to help develop a relationship with him (he was new to our church and didn’t know many people), I brushed up on my skating lingo so I could ask if he had done any sick ollies lately (impressed?). This would be like Paul saying “to the skateboarder, I became a skateboarder.” This is effective and necessary. But then there are the people that use this verse to justify doing sinful things in the name of evangelism. The first one that comes to mind is about drinking. Some people will go into the bars to evan...
23 comments
Read more