WEDNESDAY
Yesterday we looked at some alternatives to finding purpose in life. Those alternatives are rather depressing and don’t fully capture the complexities of life. The biblical worldview however is truly irresistible.
As I said on Monday, the difficulty in this conversation around purpose is that it is layered. Our first, immediate answers to the questions of “why” are trivial and rather insignificant. The big answers to the question of “why” seem too lofty to be of any practical use in the day to day. This is why we need both. Today we will look at the big picture answers to the questions of “why.” This is where all the questions of “why” end.
The New City Catechism (a catechism specifically targeted for our culture today. It seeks to update the great catechisms of the past centuries in the church) asks the question, “How and why did God create us?” Answer: “God created us male and female in his own image to know him, love him, live with him, and to glorify him. And it is right that we who were created by God should live to his glory.” The older Westminster Catechism asks: What is the chief end of man? Answer: “To glorify God and enjoy him forever.”
We see this taught in many specific texts. Tomorrow we will see how this is revealed in the big story of Scripture:
John 14:1–3 1 “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. 2 My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.
John 15:8 8 This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.
John 15:11 11 I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.
In one of the last things he says in the hearing of his disciples before going to the cross, Jesus prays:
John 17:24 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.
Colossians 1:16–17 16 For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. 17 He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.
Romans 11:36 36 For from him and through him and for him are all things. To him be the glory forever! Amen.
1 Corinthians 10:31 31 So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.
Jude 24–25 24 To him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy—25 to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen.
John Piper combines both of these ideas so well in his famous phrase, “God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him.”
Additional Content
Reflection
Question: “How and why did God create us?”
Answer: “God created us male and female in his own image to know him, love him, live with him, and to glorify him. And it is right that we who were created by God should live to his glory.”