On Purpose

The following is a repost of an entry that initially ran in 2009.

Photo courtesy of Randi Anglin (tonepix.com)

A few years back I read a book called The Purpose of Man by A.W. Tozer. It’s very good. The book’s basic premise is that God creates everything with a purpose in mind. Everything. Nothing is accidental or created without reason.

The reason we (you and I) were created is so that “…we might worship God and enjoy Him forever.” The ultimate tragedy of Adam & Eve’s disobedience in the garden, he argues, is not poverty or war or disease. It is that they lost their purpose. What used to be such a natural and everyday affair, worshiping and enjoying the fellowship of God, suddenly seems uncomfortable and embarrassing. They become disoriented and suffer what Tozer refers to “spiritual amnesia.” Throughout human history all across the globe people wander around not knowing who they are, why they are here, and where they are headed. Religion, he goes at great lengths to point out, offers no help to this condition of the heart. Focusing on “the externals,” our religious piety and attempts to impress do no better in restoring this fellowship than fig leaves over Adam’s nakedness. But we continue to try, don’t we? And we continue to fail.

Readers, we are made in the image of God for the purpose of worshiping Him and enjoying Him forever. My prayer is that He will increase in my life, that I will grow in worshiping Him in “spirit and truth,” and I will, as James Snyder says, “withdraw from the rat race of religious life and focus on my birthright of worship.”