Living out life's purpose

You would have often heard it said that ‘Man is the crown of God’s creation. Generally it is used in the sense that having been created in God’s own image, we are the highest forms of life, more glorious than animals and even angels. However, it is also true in another sense. Just as a crown gives glory to the King who wears it, our purpose in life as crown on God’s head is to bring him the Glory that he is worthy of.

The Bible affirms that man's purpose in life as intended by God is to bring glory to HIM. Peter tells the church (I Pet 2:9), "you are a chosen people . . . that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkeness into his wonderful light". Paul writes to the Ephesians (Eph 1:11,12), "In him we were also chosen . . . in order that we . . . might be for the praise of his glory". Man finds ultimate fulfillment when he serves this purpose. Often we look at our accomplishments and material success hoping they will give us fulfillment, but at the end we find only weariness in life. Our heart finds true pleasure in being in fellowship with God. In the Bible, 'Glorifying God' has been expressed in different ways as "declaring his praise", "worshiping" and so on.

God's purpose for man is so unmistakeable in the Bible, that you can find it from Genesis (Gen 4:3,4) right till Revelation (Rev 22:9).

Meaningful Worship

NOW, if man was created to declare his praises, is he a VAIN God excessively concerned about how great he is that he can be deceived by flattery which is passed off as praise? Does God fall for sycophancy and dole out blessings, like our politicians do?

The Bible says that God discerns 'flattery' from 'genuine praise'. The Psalmist sings of such people "they would flatter him with their mouths, lying to him with their tongues; their hearts were not loyal to him, they were not faithful to his covenant" (Psa 78:35-37). God accepts only the praise that comes from a loving heart and his word says that if we love God, we will obey his commandments.

He is not deceived by the quality or sophistication of our 'praise' when our heart is not loyal to him. He says of the offerings by people who have not listened to his words and have rejected his law, "What do I care about incense from Sheba or sweet calamus from a distant land? Your burnt offerings are not acceptable; your sacrifices do not please me".(Jer 6:19,20)

We are not to approach "praise" as a success-formula or as a ‘Guaranteed to work’ methodology for obtaining God’s favour, as is often made out by some. Of such people, the Lord says "These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is made up only of rules taught by men".(Isa 29:13).

God is not interested in mindless worship that one indulges in as a matter of mere habit/routine. The Lord speaks to prophet Ezekiel, "My people come to you, as they usually do, and sit before you to listen to your words, but they do not put them into practice". He knows when worship is born out of a selfish greed that hopes to gain from praising God. He tells the prophet, "With their mouths they express devotion, but their hearts are greedy for unjust gain". He discerns when worship becomes mere entertainment. "Indeed, to them you are nothing more than one who sings love songs with a beautiful voice and plays an instrument well, for they hear your words but do not put them into practice" (Eze 33:31,32).

Beyond lip-service

True worship from a loving and obedient heart is not confined to just community and private prayer. Deriving fulfilment from serving life's purpose too, is not limited to just Sundays and quiet hours. In fact, God expects us to be a living sacrifice (Rom 12:1). We can do that by striving to glorify God in all that we do. When we do not seek our own good but the good of others, we cause many to praise their creator (I Cor 10:31-33, Mat 5:16). When we look at ourselves as stewards of all the blessings we receive and help God bless the whole world through us - his body - we glorify God as we turn multitude of hearts to be thankful towards their creator (Heb 13:16, II Cor 9:8). This is how we can praise God, round the clock, all days of the week, around the year and be a living sacrifice.

Let us find meaning in life, through worship that is acceptable and pleasing to God. Let our worship come from a heart that is overflowing with love for God and thankfulness for HIS love. Let it not come out of greed or as a matter of following a rule. Let us ask God to help us understand His love so that our hearts will overflow with love for Him and offer genuine praise. Let us extend this meaningful worship to all parts of our life, by seeking the good of others and realizing that we are His stewards.

Meaningful worship will not only bring true happiness in this world, but will also earn us our master’s accolade when we meet Him in glory. 'Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master's happiness!'