The Ultimate Purpose and Goal Of Man
Is there an ultimate purpose for your life? Do you believe in heaven and hell? If not and you believe we just die and that is it, then I guess you can just live however you like until you die. But what if there really is a God and a heaven and hell? Where will you spend eternity? So what is really man’s purpose in life?
In Billy Graham’s book "World Aflame" he states that "Only the Bible gives an adequate answer to the question of the purpose of man’s existence. God made man in His own image. This is not a physical image since God is a spirit and has no spiritual body. Man was given God’s social nature with moral and rational faculties. Adam and Eve were created physically and morally perfect. Man was morally perfect with no lust, greed, or hate in the beginning. Man was the crowning act of God’s creation.
"Man was to be God’s closest friend, His partner in cultivation and development of the earth. So man was created with a high and exalted purpose and destiny. God loves man and wants man to love Him back. God did not want man to love Him because he was forced to do so, since that would not be true love. He wanted man’s love and fellowship because man chose to love God. This is why God gave man ‘free will’, so man could choose whether he wanted God’s friendship and fellowship or not. God gave man free will to make his own decisions about right and wrong. Man is a self-conscious and self-determining being, made in the image of his Creator and capable of free moral decisions between good and evil."
From "The Ten Commandments", a booklet put out by the United Church of God, it is stated that "God gave us His ‘Ten Commandments’ to guide us in how to maintain proper relationships with God and our neighbors. Every commandment of God is for our own good. The first four commandments define how to show proper love and respect for our Maker - God. The other six define the essentials for right relationships with each other.
"We have all been made in the image of God, for fellowship with God. This is our purpose: 1) We are to learn to love the Lord our God (with all our heart, all our soul, and with all our mind), and 2) We are to learn to love our neighbors as ourselves. God wants us all to live forever - to attain eternal life. But first we must learn how to get along with each other and love each other. Peace and harmony are impossible without respect and love. If God were to grant us eternal life without teaching us how to love each other, He would be committing us to live forever in confusion and chaos. Without God life is miserable, empty, confused, and frustrated. Without God life has no meaning; but with God at its center there is life, an inner strength and peace, a deep satisfaction, an unfading joy known only to those who know Jesus Christ."
I believe God has a purpose for each and every person, whether it is for you to do one single specific act in your life for someone, or for you to devote your entire life to His ministry. God may even be preparing you for a specific duty in His heavenly kingdom. What if something happens to you before your purpose is accomplished? I believe that God sometimes uses miracles to save, heal, or restore certain people whom He still has a purpose for. God’s Will will be done, one way or another. All we can do is to try to live a Christian life and be prepared to accept God’s Will.
When Adam chose to use his free will to disobey God, God’s punishment for mankind was "separation from God." Our sins and sinful nature keep us separated from God. Ever since the "Fall of Man" (Adam’s sin), man has had to try to reconcile his relationship with God if he wanted to enjoy God’s fellowship.
"So, (discovering God), then establishing, developing, and maintaining that personal relationship with the true and living God is the most important commitment we can ever make. God wants us to become like Him by emulating the thinking, attitudes and outlook toward life exemplified by our perfect example, Jesus Christ.
"The awesome purpose for which we were born is for each of us to become members of God’s family through continual development of righteous character. Our Heavenly Father gave us this lifetime to establish a permanent relationship with Him so we can receive eternal life as His children. We should love, honor and respect Him so much that He alone is the supreme authority and model in our lives."
By using God’s Word, the Bible, as our guide, we are to strive to be good Christian children to our parents, spouses to our mate, parents to our children, and neighbors to others. "Being like God - developing His own character in us - is what our existence is all about. Being like God is our destiny - providing we surrender our lives to Him in obedience to His commandments. Knowledge and understanding of the truth of God are essential for developing the holy, righteous character He desires to create in us. Once we gain an understanding of God’s revelation, He holds us accountable for what we know, and for our words and deeds. We must apply this revealed knowledge in our lives.
