Wednesday, August 31, 2005

Glorifying God and Enjoying God Are One and the Same Thing

Question: What is man's chief end?
Answer: Man's chief end is to glorify God and enjoy him forever.
(Westminster Catechism question and answer #1)

The great thing about this question and answer than in two sentences we have a good start to understanding our relationship got God.  The first thing that we notice is that man has only one chief end but two things listed under that chief end.  The implication of this is that glorifying God and enjoying God are one and the same thing. If you attempt to glorify God without enjoying him you have not glorified him.  Men might get away with showing honor to an earthly king and giving him glory while despising him, but you cannot with a heavenly king.  Our father in heaven sees the heart. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your strength, and with all your mind.  If you wish to glorify God you must take pleasure in him.  You cannot love something without taking pleasure in it.  Praise flows from our lips about things we cherish most.  So if me enjoy God we will glorify him with our mouths and lives.  "For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks." (Matthew 12:34)  True love is not complete without praise.  The wonder is that God, the most important thing in the universe, is the center of our praise and the praise God calls us to is what will fill our hearts with unspeakable joy.  The gloriousness of this is that the most beautiful and only inexhaustible being in the universe's plan is that we be eternally happy in praising and enjoying His Excellencies.

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