Have you ever stopped to ask yourself what your goal is in living the Christian life? Some would say that the goal is the forgiveness of sins and having eternal life. Others might say that what they want most is God’s blessing on their families and their careers. Still others might say that they long for a sense of internal peace and happiness.
But what is the ultimate goal of the Christian life?
In answering that question it’s important to distinguish between the Giver and his gifts. Our goal is to know, enjoy and glorify God forever. The ultimate goal is not so much simply being in heaven; the ultimate goal is to be with Jesus forever.
Christian writer John Piper once asked, "If you could have heaven, with no sickness, and with all the friends you ever had on earth, and all the food you ever liked, and all the leisure activities you ever enjoyed, and all the natural beauty you ever saw, all the physical pleasures you ever tasted, and no human conflict or any natural disasters, could you be satisfied with heaven, if Christ wasn't there?”
What do we really want out of the Christian life? The gifts – or the Giver?
Imagine a friend comes over to your house on your birthday and gives you a really nice present. You open it and are immediately enthralled with the quality of the gift, the cost of the gift and the usefulness of the gift. It's so nice that you can’t stop talking about the gift and its value. But in the process of marveling at the gift, you end up totally ignoring the person who just gave you that gift.
Sometimes, that’s the way we approach the Christian life. We love the gifts, but sometimes forget the Giver.
1 Peter 3:18 – “For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God.”
One of the reasons Jesus died is that He might connect us to God forever. God is the gift! He is the end of all things: not heaven, not your friends, not simply the absence of hurt and pain. God is the goal.
But let's face it: our goals are usually quite worldly.
Our language sometimes makes the problem worse. We speak about things that are practical, things that apply to our daily lives and how to put our faith into practice. We are looking for hints, for tips and for practical ways to make our lives work better. We want to know ways in which we can use God and His Word to make our marriages happier, our children more successful and our dreams of worldly success more attainable.
Our thinking becomes off-centered and we start thinking that the purpose of the Christian life is for God to help us more effectively pursue the American dream. The words we use to describe our mission aggravate the problem. We saturate our vocabulary with words that evoke a successful business plan: goals, vision, management, marketing, impact, influence, excellence and efficiency. We mine the secular literature for terms that we can glom onto and make ourselves feel more professional.
We love to feel good about ourselves. Because we love ourselves.
Yet -- it’s not about us. It never has been.
The Christian life – all of life – is about God and His glory. He is the end point. One day we will be amazed and speechless in his presence as we are overwhelmed with His glory, goodness, beauty, complexity, wisdom, power and rule. Then that speechless stupor will turn to praise, adoration and worship. And it will be all about him.
The psalmist said, “Great is the Lord and most worthy of praise; his greatness no one can fathom.” Psalm 145:3
To think that words alone can even begin to describe the eternal worth, dignity and majesty of God is unimaginable.
God is so great that even the word great does not begin to capture His essence. He is supreme over everything we can even imagine or think. He is larger than the universe He created. He is so much more glorious than the new heavens and new earth. And eternity itself will not be long enough for us to understand and fully appreciate His indescribable greatness.
The more God-centered and God-focused your life becomes, the more it will align with Scripture . . . and the happier you'll be.
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