GLORY: THE GOAL OF LIFE

“For you were bought at a price; therefore GLORIFY GOD in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s” – 1 Corinthians 6:20

GLORY is the ultimate GOAL of LIFE! Nothing is more important to life than God’s Glory! There is no greater purpose in life than to give Him glory and fully release the glory He has deposited in you. His Glory must be your life commitment, knowing that your entire life now belongs to Him because you have been “bought with a price” (1Cor.6:20).

Purpose is the reason for being – of any person or thing. When purpose is absent or not clearly defined, abuse is inevitable. Many human beings have unfortunately not properly defined their purpose in life. Some others are pursuing wrong goals in life. For example, multitudes are wrongly engaged in the futile pursuit of happiness, believing that to be the goal of life. They live in a relentless pursuit of an evasive shadow. Theirs is an endless quest, a chasing after rainbows – where satisfaction constantly beckons just beyond their reach. There’s always some more money to make, a better car to drive, a nicer place to live, a bigger prize to win, a better ‘toy’ to own, and a more enticing romance to enjoy. For most people, happiness remains an elusive destination.

Even those who possess the means to meet all their material desires and personal goals find the happiness of those worldly attainments fleeting and hollow. That’s the nature of temporal happiness: it’s rooted in selfishness, insatiable lusts and sinful pride. No matter what sinful man achieves and accumulates, his wretched heart only longs for more. For the unrepentant soul, there is no true satisfaction or enduring happiness. Few people could speak more authoritatively on that subject than King Solomon, a man who indulged the pursuit of happiness in a way most people can only fantasize about: “Whatever my eyes desired I did not keep from them. I did not withhold my heart from any pleasure, for my heart rejoiced in all my labor; and this was my reward from all my labor. Then I looked on all the works that my hands had done and on the labor in which I had toiled; and indeed all was vanity and grasping for the wind. There was no profit under the sun” (Eccl.2:10-11).

Solomon dripped with worldly affluence yet it left him decidedly despairing. But beneath his philosophical disappointment are great lessons for the thoughtful reader. His lament can potentially spare us from devoting our efforts and wasting our lives climbing the wrong mountain. Solomon has already ascended the summit of worldly happiness and sent his report back to us at base camp: It was all an utterly pointless pursuit – “futility and striving after the wind”! Yet the book closes with a pointer in the right direction as to the true goal of life: “Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is man’s all. For God will bring every work into judgment, including every secret thing, whether good or evil” (Eccl.12:13-14). Living for the glory of the One who will inevitably judge us is the only worthwhile pursuit in life.

The Westminster Catechism declares: “Man’s chief and highest end is to glorify God, and fully to enjoy Him forever”! This is soundly scriptural: “Give to the Lord, O families of the peoples, give to the Lord glory and strength. Give to the Lord the glory due His name…” (1Chr.16:28-29b). Life is not about pleasing ourselves – we can’t ever fully do so, because our sinful appetites are insatiable. Instead, the goal of our lives should be to glorify our Creator. We’re however confronted every day with the consequences of forsaking that calling, as the culture around us futilely pursues the sinful self-satisfaction it cannot attain. True fulfilment is possible when we lift our eyes off ourselves and pursue God’s Glory. The resounding testimony of Scripture is that God is glorious and infinitely worthy of our steadfast devotion: “Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God” (1Cor.10:31); “But he that glories, let him glory in the Lord” (2Cor.10:17).