The Chief End of Man

I recently asked this question to some friends: What is the purpose of your life? What is the reason God created you? After a discussion, my answer came out: What is the chief end of man? Man’s chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever.

Over the past few days I have been reading/studying the topic: to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever. What does it practically mean to glorify God? As I live my life, day in and day out, being a husband, father, student, and working in full time ministry – what does it look like??

First I had to define the term. Glory is defined as the honor that everything in the universe ascribes to God. To glorify God in our lives would mean our actions and motives are set on honoring God with every area of our lives. That is the meaning of the famous verse in 1 Corinthians 10:31, “whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.” As Christians we are slaves to Jesus. Everything we do, say, or think is done in a way to honor our King Jesus. Or to say it another way, we are PR agents for God.

However, our hearts produce idols, idols of every kind.  We can easily give glory to things, ideas, people, or causes. What we honor gets our time, energy, and money. What we honor, we sacrifice for. As Believers, we are slaves to Jesus and Him only. BUT.. idols pop up and we have to recognize them and repent. Examples of what can easily take our honor:

·         Sports teams – (money) People give $1,000’s of dollars for season tickets and $1000’s to enhance the stadium, (time) spend hours upon hours watching it, (emotions) emotions fly – up/down.

·         People – We can easily idolize certain people. This can be a politician, pastor, friend, boyfriend, girlfriend, child, mother, father, or even your own self. What they say becomes the Bible. We copy them – what they dress like, we eat what they eat, and our self esteem is all wrapped up in what they think about us. Worse of all is living our lives through our children.

·         Causes – This should be VERY CLEAR to you with all the facebook post on politics since the recent government shutdown. Sometimes we care more about being right than honoring Jesus.

·         Holding to a certain theological position – I have seen people get so wrapped on a theological position they everybody that does not agree with them is of the devil and everybody that agrees with them is Jesus. A way to evaluate yourself is: Do you take it personally when others don’t agree with you? Are you easily aggravated at others who do not agree with you? Trust me; you don’t want to become the next cult leader.

·         Yourself – When I was in Romania I asked several pastors what they thought the number one idol was in America. Their answer --- yourself!!

·         There are many, many more…. For example – appearances (we live in the airbrush generation and thus eating disorders is a common sin among many young ladies), your status, money, and your reputation just to name a few.

My prayer is that of Paul’s in Romans 11:36, “For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be GLORY forever. Amen." 

Praying for the 10/40 window

Last week I stumbled across the website Joshua Project. I stayed on the site for five hours. I was convicted, prayed, and motivated as I read the need for the Gospel in so many countries. As a result, I have claimed October, "Pray for the 10/40 window month". Each week someone from our small group will present a country we are to pray for that week. This week's country....... Turkey. .

Within Turkey lies the roots of the Christian faith. Acts is filled with cities reached with the Gospel that are in.....Turkey. They were some of the first believers to experience the New Covenant promise of the Holy Spirit bringing gentiles into the Kingdom. 

The church of Colossae and Ephesus were two cities in Turkey. We have Paul's letters written to them. Revelation mentions 7 churches that can be found in ...... Turkey. You can even take a tour of all the seven churches if you ever visit Turkey.

What was once a place where the Apostle Paul walked, shared the Gospel, planted churches, and discipled men and women is now home to a county where less than 1% of the population is Christian. Join me and my small group as we pray for Turkey.

Who are you? A Biblical understanding of your identity in Christ

Who are you?

I was recently asked this question, “Who are the two most important people who ever lived?” As a believer, the most important person to ever live is Jesus. But who would be second? Your answer to that question reveals your world view and a little about your identity.

Your identity reveals what you value. When the perception of who we are is threatened we freak out, which leads to anger, anxiety, stress, and depression. For example – fill in the blank:

I am ________________ (fill in the blank) a jock, pretty, fat, skinny, single, hard worker, lazy, committed husband, wife, a strict parent, ethnic race, or rich and poor. Your identity is placed on your appearance. And when you appearance is changed (you gain weight, you lose weight, you are fired, you win the lottery, your kids are out of control) you “lose” your identity.

However the Bible tells us that, as Christians, our identity is wrapped up in Jesus. On the cross rest our identity. Our circumstances will change. Our identity will be threatened. People will let us down.  God’s love stands firm and will never change.

A beautiful picture of our identity and the church is found in 1 Peter 2:9-10.

9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. 10 Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

What is your identity as a believer? According to Peter you are

Chosen

A Royal Priesthood

A Holy Nation

A People for His own Possession

Called out of Darkness into His Marvelous Light

Have received Mercy

How sweet is that! This is true of every Christian ---- Forever!!! That is grace, sweet grace that God gives us. Putting our identity in worldly things or going through an identity crisis will often lead to anger, frustration, stress, anxiety, and depression. Why? Because this is not our home! We are aliens just passing through. Live as Jesus really sees you – redeemed, loved, chosen, forgiven, and free! This is a Biblical view of your identity in Christ!