Usually, my devotionals begin with scripture. However, today’s reflection starts with the very first question from the Westminister Larger Catechism.:
Q. 1. What is the chief and highest end of man?
A. Man’s chief and highest end is to glorify God, and fully to enjoy him for ever.
This is the foundational truth upon which the catechism is built. Put simply, God created humans to have an active, living relationship with Him. That is the fundamental reason we exist. His grand design from the beginning was for us to spend eternity in His presence. We were never an afterthought—an “oh, by the way, if you devote yourself to Me, you get to go to heaven” kind of arrangement. God created each of us with intentional purpose. He has a plan for us to accomplish on earth, and beyond that, He desires to enjoy our company forever.
Pause for a moment and really think about that. As Christians, it is far too easy to lose sight of our core purpose. The Westminster Shorter Catechism echoes this same truth: we exist to glorify God and enjoy Him forever. Spend some time reflecting on that statement. If we truly embrace that purpose, how will it transform our daily lives? If my sole reason for being is to bring God glory, is there anything in my life right now that needs to change?
For me, the most powerful phrase in that answer is the last part: “…to enjoy God forever.” To enjoy God, we must first have a genuine relationship with Him. The incredible implication here is that Almighty God actually wants to be accessible to us. He actively invites us into a deep, abiding relationship.
Consider those big desk calendars. You might have one sitting on your desk right now—they are incredibly useful tools for keeping track of events, deadlines, and appointments. But over the course of a month, that calendar also gets turned into a notepad, a coffee coaster, and occasionally a placemat. By the end of thirty days, it is covered in smudges, ink marks, and coffee rings—a messy reminder that it was used for a thousand things other than its original purpose. Magically, a new month rolls around, and once again, a clean, fresh calendar page is staring back at us.
Our spiritual lives can feel a lot like that desk calendar. We gather battle scars, smudges, and marks that get us sidetracked. God created us for one ultimate purpose: to bring glory and honor to Him. But along the way, life happens. We get distracted by all the extra noise. Just like that old month’s calendar, we bear the smudges and marks of a chaotic schedule. Those marks aren’t always blatantly sinful things; often, they are simply the stresses, busyness, and demands of running a household, working a job, and fulfilling commitments at church. Sometimes, we can get so busy trying to serve God that we get completely sidetracked and forget why we are serving Him in the first place.
In a way, we need to be a little more like Crocs. You know those famous rubber shoes? There are plenty of cheap knock-off “Croc-style” shoes out there that look nearly identical from a distance. But if you take a closer look, the difference in quality is night and day. The makers of original Crocs designed them with an intentional, specialized purpose. They aren’t poured from cheap, hard plastic; they are made from a proprietary material called Croslite, engineered to be soft, durable, and naturally resistant to odor. Even those tiny bumps on the foot bed are intentional—designed specifically to stimulate circulation in the feet, making them ideal for diabetics or anyone on their feet all day.
Just like those cheap knock-off shoes, there are times when people can project an outward appearance of Christianity, yet lack genuine spiritual depth and maturity underneath. As human beings, we naturally gravitate toward judging things by outward appearances. But God looks much deeper:
“But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that his life may be revealed in our mortal body. So then, death is at work in us, but life is at work in you.”
— 2 Corinthians 4:7-11 (NIV)
We constantly try to fill our deep hunger for purpose and meaning everywhere except the only Source that can truly satisfy us. We were handcrafted to walk with our Creator. Whenever we try to search for ultimate meaning apart from Him, we will always end up tired, disappointed, and frustrated. Real life begins when we turn back to the One who designed us, wipe away the smudges of busyness, and embrace our true calling: to glorify Him and enjoy Him forever.
