Glorify and Enjoy God

Saint Augustine said, “Human beings have things they are to use, but they are to enjoy God and neighbor. Being human means knowing what to use and what to enjoy. If we confuse what’s to be used and what’s to be enjoyed is to lose what it means to be human.” The chief question of all people has to do with our existence and purpose. Enjoying God and other people might be a great place to start.

Jesus’ disciples came across a blind man one day. In doing so, they posed a question to Jesus, “Why was this man born blind? Was it because of his own sin or his parents’ sins?” Jesus responded, “It was not because of his sins or his parents’ sins. This happened so the power of God could be seen in him.” Jesus healed the man of his blindness. This was one demonstration from Jesus of how he cam to bring us a better life.  In fact, in John 10:10 Jesus said, “The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life.”

God did not create humans with the purpose of destroying them. Jesus came to restore to humanity God’s intended purpose for us, a rich and satisfying life in unity with God. Creation, after all, is an expression and over-flow of the love of God, the love within the Trinity. Twice in Apostle John’s first letter to the churches he wrote, “God is love.” Before there were people or animals or anything else, “God is love.” Love needs an object to be loved. God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit expressed love for each other before creation.

God does not need creatures to love and to be love by. God does not need us—he desires us! Pure love is not an expression of need, but of desire. Jesus prayed this to the Father from the Garden of Gethsemane, “I pray that they may be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they may be in us…that they may be one even as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and love them even as you love me.”

The purpose of our existence is to become truly human by reflecting the God in whose image we were created. We do so in our worship and in fulfilling our mission. Our mission is to connect other people back with God. We have found our own connection with God. We found our reason for being. The love of God has touched our lives. The outflow of the love of God found in the Trinity down to us is the same love that flows out of us to others.

We must present our minds and bodies to God to be transformed. There is a process for becoming a proficient musician or athlete. There is a process for becoming fluent in a second language. In a similar way we become fluent or proficient in this life of faith. We must consistently present ourselves for private and public reading of Scripture, prayer and ministry to others. Consistent and frequent practice causes this Christ-like lifestyle to become natural to us. World-class athletes and musicians must practice almost daily to maintain or improve their skills. This is our reason for consistent worship and ministry. We must maintain our new creation skills.

Our second language is the language of faith in Christ. Our natural born language is that of our flesh. So, we choose daily to put off the old man and to put on the new man. The purpose of my message is to remind you of your purpose in life. You we created to glorify God and to enjoy him forever. As you do, others will be draw to a life in Christ also. Let your light shine before all me, that they may glorify God and enjoy him forever also.