The first point in the Westminster Shorter Catechism reads: “What is the chief end of man? The chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.”
Now, I’ll be the first to admit that I am not much of a catechism guy. That’s because the word catechism in my life meant you had to get dressed up on a perfectly good Saturday morning, go into town, sit in a hot old building, and listen to the nuns teaching things you didn’t understand or care about. It turns out that the word catechism is a Greek word that basically describes a question and answer format for learning Biblical truths. A question is asked, an answer is given; another question that builds upon the lesson of the first question is asked, another answer given and so on. Huh. Not so bad after all – who knew.
Anyway, I love the first idea that is brought out in the Westminster Catechism. “The chief end of man, meaning the primary reason for which we were created, is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever. Let me ask you a question, what kind of picture comes into your heart when you think about glorifying God? Most of us will think of things like obedience, devotion, or maybe good behavior. While these are all good things, I think they miss the real heart of the matter. We need to get these two ideas inseparably united in our thinking–glorifying God, and enjoying Him forever. It doesn’t say just obeying Him although obeying Him is a wonderful and powerful thing. It doesn’t say just enjoying ourselves, or enjoying church, or enjoying worship, or the Bible. Again, all wonderful things, but it says enjoying HIM. That is pretty personal and relational. Glorifying God and enjoying God go hand in hand.
Here is another idea that I have been pondering lately. The primary driving force of the Christian life is not performing for God, but communing with God. I know a lot of Christians that think of “glorifying” God only in terms of performance. If I do all the right things, I glorify God, and God is happy with me. OK, well, one problem with that is that none of us can do all the right things. So given that definition of glorifying God, every time we fail we would “unglorify” Him wouldn’t we? If the chief creational purpose for man is to glorify God, there must be some way for us to do that consistently, don’t you think?
The key is that the word “glory” means the revealed essence of a thing. In other words, something, or someone’s essential core nature put on display is its glory. The Bible says that there are all kinds of glory. Created things have a certain glory while divine things have another. The mountains around Gunnison are glorious in their own way. They emanate a sense of power and stability that makes us stop and look on in wonder from time to time. There is something about that natural glory that points the human heart to the Creator. That’s because there is some degree of the glory of God in evidence there in those big piles of granite.
God’s glory is His essential nature–the core things that make God, God. His eternal life, His power, His wisdom, His Love, His kindness, His justice are all aspects of His essential nature. We believers glorify God when those attributes flow through us and become visible to people through our words and actions. But, if those attributes are coming through us only because we are duplicating them to the best of our ability, and in our own ability, it is not the glory of God that is seen but the glory of our religious works. On the other hand, if we are communing with God, and we come away with a part of Him shining through us, then it is God who is really being glorified. Let me try to give an example here.
Now, I am not any kind of artist, nor am I an art fan. In fact, there is a lot of “art” that I just don’t get at all. If you have to stand back and look at it, and 12 people can give 12 opinions about what it is supposed to be, count me out. I’m just way too literal for that. But on a couple of rare occasions, Karen has dragged, er, invited me to join her in an art gallery in Durango. We walked through and looked at all the pretty pictures and freaked at the price tags. But one thing I do find so fascinating is the way a painting, when properly lit, can look like the colors are glowing from inside it. I love that! Of course I don’t care so much about the piece, or about what goofy statement the artist might have been trying to make, but I am fascinated by the fact that someone can have that picture inside them, and then know how to put it out there on the canvas in such a way that it can look like that.
But if you take that piece out, and put it in your home without the proper lighting, it may look very drab in comparison to what you saw in the gallery. Besides that, you will probably be in debt for years because of what you paid for the thing, but that’s a different subject. My point is that it is only when we Christians spend time in the light of God’s presence that His glory can be seen shining out of us like the rich colors in those paintings. It is that time communing with Him that orients our lives toward Him, ignites the God-given dreams in our hearts, and stirs up His gifts in us. It is His presence that transforms our heart attitudes so that our actions put Him on display without our forcing it to happen. It is His light that is then reflected in genuine living color to the world.
Actually, when His life is impacting us, everything we see looks different too. We see possibilities and opportunities where others only see challenges. We see hope where others find only discouragement. That is because the light of His presence brings out the life-colors that He built into this natural life that we live day to day. So I encourage you to develop a consistent time of communing with the lord. Let Him breath His life into you, glorify Him, and enjoy Him Forever.
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