Our Purpose and Our Mission

The Westminster Shorter Catechism of the 17th Century states:

"Man's chief end is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever."

This one of those unchanging truths that should still be esteemed today; the fact that the purpose of a man's life is to bring glory to God, and thereby enjoy Him for eternity. And this truth is one that hit me in the heart today and convicted me, causing me to question whether I am living this way myself. Sadly, I think the honest answer would be "no."

I realized today that I fail too frequently to live for God's glory, or to do things in a way that bring Him glory. Not that I am selfish or live for myself. I think I have a good habit sometimes of denying myself and my own benefit for the sake of others. I don't have a problem helping other people, or giving of myself to meet a need. But the question I must ask myself is this: Do I do these things for the purpose of bringing glory to God? Or simply to fulfill a burden, or sometimes an obligation?

Let me give a practical example to clear this up a bit: Today I testified in a court hearing (understand that I cannot give out details or information; it doesn't matter anyways.) In the process of my testimony I provided facts and knowledge that made a certain person look bad. In reality, that was the purpose of the hearing - to point out this person's flaws. I made it a point not to present my knowledge in a biased manner, but to be objective and fair. I think I did a good job of that. But afterwards, as I sat and listened to the rest of the proceedings, I began to feel the Spirit tugging on my heart. I wondered, "Is all this glorifying God? Will this person be able to come to Christ through this? Am I representing Christ well, and in a way that would lead this person to Him?" I had to answer no to all of those questions. While I did not sin, and I tried not to offend, I also failed to bring glory to God because I did not provide a way for this person to experience His glory, or His grace, or His love. And that is a shame.

The point is this: no matter what we do in this life, whether we are working, or on vacation, or hanging out with friends, or attending church, everything has to be done for the purpose of glorifying God. And I don't just mean doing it well so that God will be pleased. God is glorified when people acknowledge Him, praise Him, and come to Him for salvation. In all that we do, are we making any of those options available? When we spend time with people who arent't Christians, are we making it a point to direct the conversation towards Christ? When we are doing our jobs, are we performing our duties in a way that will promote the Gospel, or that will promote God's glory? Or are we just working hard to earn a raise or get a promotion or to finally be able to retire and take that long vacation?

The purpose of our existence is to point people towards God. My prayer is that we will all do that more often. I want the spreading of the Gospel and God's glory to be my first priority in this life. I want to do things for the purpose of providing a way for other people to experience His glory. When I do that, when any of us do that, we are fulfilling our "chief end" and we will, no doubt, enjoy God and His glory forever.