Everybody has goals in life, or at least they should, so what is the chief goal in the life of every believer?
Created for a Purpose
Everybody has goals in life, or at least they should, so what is the chief goal in the life of every believer? Before we even begin to think about why God created us, let’s remember that we were created by Him and we were created for Him, just as all things were (John 1:3; Col 1:16). Since we are part of the “all things,” we must be created for a purpose and that purpose is clearly for God. God didn’t think you up at the last moment and create you for no reason.
The Apostle Paul tells us that “he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will” (Eph 1:5). That was His will for us, among other things like staying sexually pure (1 Thess 4:3), so God had several reasons for creating you I think we should realize the main purpose for which He created you is that you (and I) would glorify Him. God was intentional in creating us and has intentional purposes for us to live out in life that He long ago planned for us to do (Eph 2:10). The only question remains, “Will we seek out that purpose, find it, and live it out, and thereby glorify Him?”
Finding God’s Purpose
Isaiah the Prophet writes that “everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made” (Isaiah 43:7). Whoever you are…whoever anybody is, they were created to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever in eternity. Even if the person doesn’t look or act like it, they were intended to glorify God, providing an image of God to a lost world in the hopes of they too would seek God and find His “good and acceptable and perfect” (Rom 12:2c) will.
Some of that image remains, although sin has marred most of that express image of God. Jesus alone “is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high” (Heb 1:3). One purpose for which we were created and can glorify God is what Solomon wisely wrote about, saying our purpose and duty is to fear God and obey Him (Eccl 12:13). When we do that, we bring glory to God.
Glorify His Name
Jesus prayer was to seek to glorify God (John 12:28). I wonder if that’s the first thing we think about when we pray. Jesus taught the disciples to pray, with the beginning emphasis being to glorify Him and seek out His will here on earth, as it is already being done in heaven. Jesus says to all, “Pray then like this: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name” (Matt 6:9). The very first thing Jesus emphasizes is to pray to the Father and hallow or honor or revere His name. That’s true fear of God, which is step one to finding the wisdom of God (Prov 9:10).
Created for Glory
Since all things were created by God and for God, the creation also glorifies God. Psalm 19:1 shows us that “The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.” Maybe this is why more astronomers believe in God than any of the other scientific disciplines. The knowledge of such precision in the universe is like a speech proving the existence of God (Psalm 19:2) as there is intelligent design everywhere. All of Psalm 19 shows that He is not only Creator, but the creation itself give Him glory. What beauty the earth holds in some places…beauty that depicts the Beautiful Creator Himself.
God doesn’t hide the fact that He made all, “For thus says the LORD, who created the heavens (he is God!), who formed the earth and made it (he established it; he did not create it empty, he formed it to be inhabited!): “I am the LORD, and there is no other” (Isaiah 45:18). There is none other than God and Him alone and only He is worthy to be glorified, honored, praised and thanked.
Troubles Glorify God
We can give glory to God by ways we might not even think about, like when our backs are to the wall and we get into real trouble (financial, relationship, job, health, etc.). God knows your troubles for He sees all, and what does He say about these trials were in? He encourages us by telling us that when you “call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me” (Psalm 50:15). How does God bailing us out glorify Him? It’s because we can’t wait to share what God’s done for us, doing only what He could do. When we share just how faithful and good God is, they too will give glory to God.
This is why the Psalmist rejoiced so much after God helped him out…again and so he wrote that “I give thanks to you, O Lord my God, with my whole heart, and I will glorify your name forever” (Psalm 86:12). By the public acclimation of God’s answering our prayers and blessing us with eternal life, we can give glory to Him by telling everyone. We too should say, “I will glorify your name forever” and “give thanks to you, O Lord my God.”
He loves to hear our praise and thanksgiving
Conclusion
When someone compliments me or says something good about what I do, my first response is that I can do nothing without God (John 15:5), and all I have was given to me in the first place (1 Cor 4:7), so I say what the Psalmist wrote: “Not to us, O LORD, not to us, but to your name give glory” (Psalm 115:1a). The moon is so beautiful when it’s full, but if you take away the Sun, it’s a lifeless, dark, decaying and dangerous hunk of rock! No good for anything! But when the sun shines on it, it is beautiful. It has no beauty in itself…the moon’s beauty comes from without…from the sun. So glorify the Son of God for the Glory of God. If you seek and find His will and do it (found in Scriptures), then you will know what goals to set for your life. And the chief goal of every child of God is this!
We are to glorify God and enjoy Him forever. And make sure you tell someone about it like the Psalmist who wrote, “I will give thanks to the LORD with my whole heart; I will recount all of your wonderful deeds” (Psalm 9:1).
Article by Jack Wellman
Jack Wellman is a father and grandfather and a Christian author and pastor of Heritage Evangelical Free Church in Udall, KS & also a Prison Minister. He did his graduate work at Moody Theological Seminary. His books are include: “Teaching Children The Gospel/How to Raise Godly Children,“ “Do Babies Go To Heaven?/Why Does God Allow Suffering?,“ "The Great Omission; Reaching the Lost for Christ," and “Blind Chance or Intelligent Design?, Empirical Methodologies & the Bible."
Here is some related reading for you: What is God’s Purpose for Creating Us?
Job 1: 20, 21 (K.J.V.), that this man of God, upon hearing the bitter news that his children were tragically killed and that his flocks and herds were destroyed, Job “rent his mantle, and shaved his head, and fell down upon the ground, and – worshipped,” or as the Hebrew translation tells us, Job paid reverence to God by saying, “Naked came I out of my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return thither: the Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.” Then there is this very notable phrase, “In all this Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly.”
A Song of the Road
"I lift my cap to Beauty,
I lift my cap to Love;
I bow before my Duty,
And know that God's above!
My heart through shining arches
of leaf and blossom goes;
My soul, triumphant, marches
Through life to life's repose.
And I, through all this glory,
Not know, nor fear my fate -
The great things are so simple,
The simple are so great!"
---Fred G. Bowles
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