Perhaps you know this first QUESTION (What is the chief end of man?) of the Westminster Divines, actually a shortened version of the original.
- What is the chief and highest end of man?
I could ask the first question of the Westminster Catechism (teaching) a different way.
What is the Highest Goal of Mankind?
Mankind, of course, includes womankind, just as Scripture frequently includes women while referring to or instructing men.
What is YOUR big GOAL?
OR may I ask the chief question of every man or woman:
WHY am I here?
(You do have a purpose to your mortal life, don’t you?)
If you don't know the ANSWER or have never considered the #1 Question of life, NOW might be the best time to carefully create your own answer to man's compelling question of purpose.
Who do you live your life for?
IF our chief end in life relates to a person, then we must ask:
WHO is this VIP for whom WE live our lives, the one who truly deserves to be the principle person receiving the chief end of our goals of this brief mortal life?
- Our Husband or Wife?
- Our Father or Mother?
- A Son or a Daughter (perhaps all of our Children)?
- A beloved Friend or possibly a Mentor and Teacher worthy of our highest regard?
- Someone from the past or an idol of these present times?
WHO is the MOST important Person worthy of the chief end of your time?
Answer to question #1
Before I reveal the answer (if you don’t already know it) let me ask you this:
Are YOU the ONLY important person in your life OR is someone else the MOST important person in your life?
Didn’t God create you to relate to someone other than yourself?
So then shouldn’t your goals in life — especially your ‘chief end’ — relate to the PERSON of highest importance to the most important outcome or final end of your mortal life?
Consider one additional Person, an overlooked highest One most deserving to become the chief end of our earthly attention, love, praise — and yes, even worship.
It is written from the Gospel:
Now before the Feast of the Passover, Jesus knowing that His hour had come that He would depart out of this world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end.
Gospel of John 13:1 Legacy Standard Bible
Almost everyone knows the gospel of the One worthy of the chief end of mankind’s earthly purpose?
“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.
Gospel of John 3:16 Legacy Standard Bible
Jesus answered, “If I glorify Myself, My glory is nothing; it is My Father who glorifies Me, of whom you say, ‘He is our God’
Gospel of John 8:54 LSB
10:30 ἐγὼ καὶ ὁ πατὴρ ἕν ἐσμεν
“I and the Father are one.”
Good News of John 10:30 – testimony of JESUS that he the Son is of one essence with the One God our Father
Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father but through Me.
Gospel of John 14:6 LSB
.. He showed them both His hands and His side. The disciples then rejoiced when they saw the Lord. – John 20:20b
.. He breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. – John 20:22b
Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy Him forever.
Answer: Question #1 of The Westminster Shorter Catechism
Does GOD deserve to be #1 on your VIP list?
Whoever else you named as #1 on your personal VIP list, this most beloved person you view as your chief end of a purposeful life – they are NOT worthy of your worship.
HOWEVER:
IF you recognize the Eternal Person of God the Father —
IF you recognize the Eternal Person of God the Son —
IF you recognize the Eternal mysterious third Person of the TRINITY, God the Holy Spirit —
THEN you have chosen the right PERSONS of GOD to glorify.
Congratulations! You have won ETERNAL LIFE.
Recognize that the Lord God is a PERSONAL God to those He has chosen.
IF we will choose to place Him at the TOP of our VIP list, we secure His loving RELATIONSHIP for an ETERNAL LIFETIME!
God is not a man like us, yet the Lord God IS One God of THREE PERSONS, a true teaching of the Bible called Trinity.
I cannot address the deeper doctrine of the Trinity as part of this #1 answer to the teaching of a Biblical Christian Church, however you may read more about it here:
What Is the Doctrine of the Trinity?
.. only one God exists; there are three distinct Persons in the New Testament – the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit; each of these three distinct Persons is called God. Therefore the three distinct Persons must be the one God.
Don Stewart :: What Is the Doctrine of the Trinity?
What IF you have the wrong ANSWER to Question #1?
This may be a time to rethink the #1 priorities and goals of your daily and mortal life.
Maybe God has NOT chosen you for eternal life
and regrettably you accept the END of your mortal life
— you are dust and to dust you will return — .. AND then the judgment!
This is all supported by God’s written word of the Bible; but in addition to Scripture you could RETHINK your chief end through further study in the link provided earlier or by reading more about the DOCTRINES of God.
- SELF is ALWAYS the wrong answer (as frequently WE see in others)
- THINGS (like money or work or entertainment or vacations or clothes or cars or houses or politics or social clubs or sports or.. ANY other IDOL) will eventually prove to be WRONG ANSWERS.
- Your mom or your dad (present in your life, but not far distant or long passed from this mortal life), MAY be your #1 living person worthy of #1 on your human list; BUT not in the place of God.
- Most of us know the Biblical Commandment of God concerning the HONOR of Parents, yet honor of our father or mother is less than our chief end of giving glory to the God who created us all.
- Your husband is not worthy of glory above God, though wives are commanded to RESPECT your husband.
- And husbands, your wife is not worthy of glory above God since He commands you to LOVE her as Christ loves the Church.
- These are God-ordained personal relationships between one man and one woman like no other, which God glorifies uniquely as ‘two become one,’ not unrelated to the Oneness of God and Christ with the Church.
- Should ANY child, infant to adult, become the chief end of purpose in the life of a parent (especially a mom)?
- ALL biological fathers and biological mothers ought to cherish the special bond of the conception and birth of their child which God has given into your care, nurture and instruction, but NO CHILD should receive your #1 glory above God. (There are no ‘single moms,’ or at least their wouldn’t be if in the lives of both lovers God we chief end of their relationship.)
- Adopted children with parents having chosen them by a new relationship are also equal to our biological children in our love. Like the children of our birth parents, chosen children inherit God’s love through parents who have chosen them but not in the place of glorifying God first.
- How about a FRIEND?
- Do you value one friend above another? Are both of you not dependent on the God who knitted together the strong cord of all of your heart-held friendships? Glorify God with your friends and thank Him for each.
- As for relationships of our past: have some become idols weighing our heart down to the darkness of the dust? You know God’s Commandment about idols, not all which are chiseled from wood or stone.
Perhaps YOU CHOSE more than one of the PERSONS you glorify for the top of your list. (None deserve #1)
ERASE your former WRONG answer[s] & REPENT.
Glorify God
Man’s chief and highest end is to glorify God, and fully to enjoy Him forever.
Answer: Question #1 of The Westminster Larger Catechism
Go ahead — repent and erase your former wrong answer.
Glorify the Lord God – the only One who deserves our highest worship.
The chief end of YOUR mortal life is to finish God’s work for His Glory.
The chief end for those who love God, mere morals made in God’s image — men, women and children who’s chief relationship is the with Jesus Christ, Son of God — by His grace is eternal life.
By the mercy of God the Father, foreordaining His Only Son to die for our sins — the end of a mortal Son of man, Jesus sacrificed for our sin on the Cross ERASES our mortal end.
Christ’s resurrection of the body to eternal life assures us of God’s mercy, grace and love of those who love Him — those of us for whom He died.
YOU and I have a #1 chief end:
In heart and in deed WE must Glorify the One Person who has saved us to eternal life;
consequently through Christ, our highest end will be with GOD to enjoy Him forever.
Glorify the Lord God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, forever and ever. Amen.
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