Outside of biblical revelation, this is an impossible question to answer because everyone has their own response. This is the impact of sin on the human mind. Ask 100 people who God is and get 100 different answers…unless one is informed by biblical revelation.
Yet for the Christian, for those who claim to be followers of Jesus, the sin of selfishness can creep in and take control of our lives. After all, the message of humanism is the philosophy of our times coming in as an assault from every direction. Beneath the surface, many Christians are secretly telling God that they really want to be fixed.
We all know something is wrong with us. We all know we are not mature as God intended. This is because we are made in God's image and are hard-wired for God whether we realize it or not.
The concern is to be so focused on getting fixed that we obsess over it and are robbed of any real joy.
The culture we live in is all about self first. This is the only position the secular mind can grasp because man is the center of the universe. This position is taught in all public schools and subtly woven into the curriculum.
With this daily blast of self-esteemism, how can the Christian get their heart and mind in alignment with God’s heart and mind?
There’s really only one way…the Word of God! Yet knowledge of God’s Word is only the start…obedience is the way to live in Christ. It is not enough to know all the notes on the page of music…the notes were meant to be played.
God created humanity for a reason.
God created you with a purpose...
What is the purpose of life?
It is to glorify God. God created us for His own Glory. Talking about mankind in the book of Isaiah, God says about us, "whom I created for my glory" - Isaiah 43:7
In 1 Corinthians
God is sovereign, meaning that He is completely independent. He did not need to create us. He does not need us for anything.
Based on this we might come to the conclusion that we are not important to God... that we are not needed and we have no purpose. But, that's not the end of the story. God tells us in Scripture that we were created to glorify Him.
That's our purpose and that means we are important to Him personally.
* We were created to glorify God...
"I will praise you, O Lord my God,
with all my heart;
I will glorify your name forever."
- Psalm 86:12
* We were created to enjoy God...
As a result of our glorifying God, we find that we enjoy God and delight in knowing God. The Bible says that we were also created to be filled with joy. Jesus said, "I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly." - John 10:10
Psalm
“In commanding us to glorify Him,
God is inviting us to enjoy Him.” - C.S. Lewis
And God rejoices in us...
As a result of our glorifying God and enjoying Him, God in turn rejoices over us. Isaiah 62:5 says, "so shall your God rejoice over you."
A prophecy in Zephaniah tells us that God "will rejoice over you with gladness, He will renew you in His love; He will exalt over you with loud singing as on a day of festival." - Zephaniah 3:17-18
What does it mean to glorify God?
How do we glorify God?
It means to bring Him honor through what we say, how we act, and how we think. To glorify God means to acknowledge His glory and to value it above all things.
To glorify God means we make it known to others. To glorify God means we have a heartfelt gratitude. We glorify God through our faith (trust).
We glorify God through our love. We glorify God through our desire to obey Him (our obedience). We glorify God through our desire to know Him.
"We are cruel to ourselves. We try to live in this world without knowing about the God whose world it is and Who runs it. The world becomes a strange, mad, painful place, and life in it a disappointing and unpleasant business, for those who do not know about God. Disregard the study of God, and you sentence yourself to stumble and blunder through life blindfolded, as it were, with no sense of direction and no understanding of what surrounds you. In this way you can waste your life and lose your soul.” - J.I. Packer (Knowing God)
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