That is the first question set out in the Westminster Shorter Catechism compiled at the Westminster Assembly of divines (theologians) that met in London in 1644.  It was a catechism, or question and answer manual of instruction, intended for a united Church of all of Great Britain and Ireland, but it ended up becoming the catechism of only the Church of Scotland, and of other Presbyterian denominations.  But it is a good catechism nonetheless, and it is a good opening question.

 It asks us what is our true purpose in life; not our only purpose, but our chief one.

 It asks us not about the purpose, or end, which we are aware or conscious of but our real purpose, for which our Maker and Judge has designed and intended us.  The only purpose, in other words, which can give us true, as well as ultimate joy and fulfilment.  It is a purpose, not that we make for ourselves and comes after us, but for which we are made and is thus prior to us.  An animal may have an awareness of its own private and personal intentions in whatever it does, without being in the slightest bit aware that a heavenly and almighty power has so placed it in an ecology, an environment, where it has a true and chief part and purpose, of which it may be barely aware; and in which it had no part in formulating.   So it is with man. Whatever our personal designs and intentions, God has put us here in His environment and (spiritual) ecological system for a prior and greater purpose, in accord with His designs.  We are not our own.  We are made as part of something far bigger and greater than ourselves, the glory of God, as much as we are valued and important, as individuals, to our great and glorious Maker and heavenly Father.

Mans’ Chief End is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever.

And that chief end, as the answer to question one of the Shorter Catechism says, is that we should glorify God, and enjoy Him forever.   That should make us pause for thought.

The Puritans, mainly of the Church of England, who wrote this Shorter Catechism are often portrayed  as being miserable, dour and sour; a bit like Jock in the comedy Dad’s Army, who was always saying that “We are all doomed”.  No doubt there may be a little, or even a lot of that, in some Puritans, both of those days and of later times; but the characterisation in and of itself is false.  The Puritans knew what true joy was, and it was in the service of their faithful maker and saviour, where true joy always abounds.

Yes, there are other joys too.  There is the joy of work, there is the joy of rest, there is the joy of play.  There is the joy (and sorrow) of parenthood; the joy (and sorrow) of friendship and of parting; but the psalmist of Israel tells us that at the Father’s side, God is our exceeding joy (Ps 43: 4).  The ungodly are not so but are like the chaff which the wind doth drive away (Ps 1: 4). And how are these joys ours?  They are ours by making Him who knew no sin to be our chief end and glory; by making Him who is the Saviour of sinners, our personal Saviour, friend and Lord; and by making Him who is the Lord God of Israel, our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ too.

Under the old covenant the land of Israel was the land of promise.  Under the new covenant, it is the Lord Himself who is the land of promise and our eternal rest: the saviour promised long.  He is the true fulfilment of the promise of a land flowing with milk and honey.  He is the source of all lasting joy, as well as of everlasting salvation. Whilst the Mahometan waits for paradise in the next life and deprives himself of much in this, the genuine follower of Jesus Christ has a foretaste of Him who is the source of paradise itself, already in this life: Christ within us, the hope of glory (Col 1: 27)!

O LORD OUR LOVING AND ETERNAL HEAVENLY FATHER,

grant to us who trust in Thee and in Thine everlasting Son,

that joy which the world cannot give (and which it cannot take away);

that Thy servants, ever trusting in Thee,

may glorify Thee in their hour of trial upon the Earth:

We ask these things for the sake of Thine eternal Son

who with Thee, most heavenly, loving and eternal Father,

reigns with the Holy Spirit,

Ever One God; world without end. Amen.