Westminster Short Catechism: “A man’s chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever.”
“…walk worthy of the calling with which you were called.” Eph 4:1
“…walk in wisdom, redeeming the time, not being unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is…” Eph 5:15-17
You Have a Call
Every believer has a call, and the biggest questions are do you know what it is and do you know how to achieve it?
While there are many ways that the call of our life in God is manifested according to our giftings (e.g. preaching, teaching, etc.), I believe there is a call which we all have which is overarching every other call and is central to our life in Jesus Christ! This call and its fulfillment is what I want to explore here.
I believe the Westminster Short Catechism above is probably one of the most succinct yet undervalued insights to that most central of calls!
Your chief end in this life is to glorify God, and to enjoy Him forever!
You can find that purpose stated in various ways in 1Cor 10:31, Rom 11:36, and Ps 73:25-28.
Now ask yourself, does the world situation, its challenges and difficulties and conditions, or that of your personal life change that call in any appreciable way? I would say no. God’s call on your life is steady state regardless of things temporal and external.
But there is a key here that we often overlook to entering into a deeper understanding of that call…
Let us look at that:
To Glorify God
I found the most profound understanding of what it means to glorify God through Kay Arthur’s book, Lord I want to Know You, A Devotional Study of the Names of God.
In it she clarifies that to glorify God means to give an accurate estimate of Who God is and how He is. In a sense we are, ourselves, mirrors which are reflecting the truth of God to the world. The more we are moved to a greater understanding of Him by the word, the bigger and more clear is the image we carry and share of Him.
But really interesting is the fact that you and I can lean heavily on the Holy Spirit here, because it is the Holy Spirit Who lives to glorify Jesus.
You see, according to Scripture, we are all being transformed into the same image (of Christlikeness) from glory to glory, by the Spirit of the Lord. (2Cor 3:18)
And through the agency of the Holy Spirit, He takes what is Jesus’ and He declares and reveals and transmits it to us!!! (Jn 16:14-15AMP) It is the Holy Spirit’s primary function to glorify Jesus, and we can be His living chalkboards to carry that message to the world!!!
Now think about this further!
When I set my heart to know Jesus in truth and in Spirit, when I worship Him and wait on Him and have encounters with Jesus my Lord through the Holy Spirit, when I have been Baptized in power in the Holy Spirit and have the gifts of the Holy Spirit animated in me and the character of Christ being built within me continuously by my most holy faith…
Then I begin to fulfill the call on my life to glorify God and enjoy Him forever…
I submit to you, that without the Baptism of the Holy Spirit in power, I cannot really begin to glorify God in truth, nor can I enjoy Him…
And so that is what I share with you today…
Have you hit a wall, or impase, or dead end in your Christian walk???
Then you need to things to both glorify Him and enjoy Him. You need His Holy Spirit to fill you and increase you in Him so that the image on your life mirror is expanded and clear, and you need the enduement of the power that comes with the Baptism of the Holy Spirit, so that you can overcome your self-interest and self-focus, and be moved by love in ministry to others…
This is the Way!
“For now we are looking in a mirror that gives only a dim (blurred) reflection [of reality as in a riddle or enigma], but then [when perfection comes] we shall see in reality and face to face! Now I know in part (imperfectly), but then I shall know and understand fully and clearly, even in the same manner as I have fully and clearly known and understood [by God].” 1Cor 13:12
Let all the perfection of Jesus Christ that can be revealed and transmitted to us by the Holy Spirit be ours even today, that we will fully glorify God in this moment and will enjoy Him forever, without delay!!!
and we will share this with the world…
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