Seeking Life’s Purpose
Perhaps the greatest deception we face each day is that our personal happiness is the purpose of life. It’s a false assumption to think God’s foremost goal is our happiness in this life. We’re not God’s pampered little pets. Instead, knowledge of God is our goal; to glorify him is our chief end. The Westminister Catechism states, “Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him forever.” These commandments are for our benefit, not his. He doesn’t need our worship, our money, or our time. God wants us to be a blessing to others. Only these things can bring true and eternal fulfillment.
As C.S. Lewis once said, “God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains: it is his megaphone to rouse a deaf world.”
God wants us to wake up, to put down our trivial distractions, and realize that we get our sense of worth from him. In a world where no one experiences pain, there would be no one to help, no opportunity for humility, or giving, or to meaningfully show love to one another. Spoiled people don’t tend to appreciate things. “We appreciate things only by contrast,” explains philosopher Peter Kreeft. “If we never died, we wouldn’t appreciate life.”
-Brian
Comments