the chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.
that is the first part of the westminister chatechism.
t i remember the first time i heard that statement i was listening to john piper talk about it. it really sparked a new idea of what my relationship with God was to be.
over the past week that statement has come to mind a number of different times. just last night before our wednesday night fathom worship time, i was asking some of our students what their time in the prayer room was like. i asked why they came to that service, and if they spent that time truly seeking to meet with the Lord. at the end of our conversation that statement was what i left them with. the prayer room is to glorify Him because He is worthy and to meet with Him, because that is where we find true satisfaction.
sunday it came up when talking to a student about how they struggle to “really have a relationship with God” because it just seems like rules and expectations.
i’m doing a bible study right now called “duty or delight” by tammie head . it’s really fabulous. this morning as i was working through this week’s homework she made this statement:
sometimes life isn’t working for us because God is stirring a holy dissatisfaction. He wants us to want Him more.
i realized that in the last few months this is where God has been leading me. to being totally dissatisfied with many things in my life. He’s shown me through dissatisfaction with friendships that sometimes i rely so much on friends and relationships to make me “happy” or “filled”. He’s shown me at at times i get dissatisfied with my job because things don’t seem to be moving or it seems like a “dry” or “hard” season of ministry.
i also know that for a long time now He’s been calling me to Himself in different ways…many of which require more effort on my part than the “easy” relationship i was trying to have with Him.
and once i admitted what He was asking me to do, i realized that not doing it was disobedience…and that my disobedience plus looking for fulfillment in other “spiritual” things was why i was so dissatisfied in that season of life.
so here’s what i’ve learned:
that putting forth whatever it takes to be obedient to God is absolutely more of a blessing than a sacrifice.
that when you have a situation that requires you don’t talk about it to other people, you talk about it to God more…and by talking to Him MORE and FIRST you actually hear clearly…from Him…which helps you to walk obediently and freely…in His will. AND that not having to “figure things out”, “think them through”, “talk them out” before you lift it up in prayer allows you to actually surrender those things and yourself to Him without having to freak out about knowing what to do!
that more time with Him is truly greater than any time anywhere else.
that when you surrender to Him and come to Him first, He will do CRAZY awesome things (duh…its in the bible…)
that He WILL satisfy. totally. completely. He is TOTALLY enough. TOTALLY sufficient. nothing needs to be added. nothing will make Him “cooler”. He and His Word are enough in anything. always…and He has reminded me of that.
He is AWESOME.
john piper said, “God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him.”
in duty or delight, tammie head wrote: “He knows that we are most happy when we are most satisfied in Him…”
in the margin next to this sentence i wrote “the highest end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever”…i flipped the page and read a few more paragraphs, and saw that she ended this section of homework with the quote: “the chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.”
He is so wonderful…
thank You Lord that you are teaching me to learn again how to enjoy You.
Amen. Seriously.