What Is God’s Purpose for Humankind?
We all have a desire to rise above the ordinary to distinguish ourselves. We want our lives to count for something bigger and greater than ourselves. Yet, there is a right way and a wrong way we can pursue this goal. God has essentially put a desire for eternity in our hearts. (Ecclesiastes 3:11). God “will render to each one according to his deeds: eternal life to those who by patient continuance in doing good seek for glory, honor, and immortality; but to those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness—indignation and wrath” (Romans 2:6–8).
God created us for His own glory.
God did not create us to bring glory to the created, but to the Creator. “Everyone who is called by My name, whom I created for My glory, I have formed him, yes, I have made him” (Isaiah 43:7).
“In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will, that we who first trusted in Christ should be to the praise of His glory” (Ephesians 1:11–12).
How do we live out God’s purpose for our lives?
Since God has created us for His glory, we are to glorify God in all that we do with our lives. “Whatever you do, do all to the glory of God” (1 Corinthians 10:31).
“Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s” (1 Corinthians 6:19–20).
What are you doing with your life? Are you living for His glory or your own? The apostle Paul summed up his life with this statement: “For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain” (Philippians 1:21).
Good news
If we fulfill the primary purpose that God created us for, we will, as a byproduct, find what most of us are looking for in this life: happiness, purpose, and meaning (see Psalm 16:11). Jesus said, “I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly” (John 10:10).
When we realize that God created us to glorify Him, and we start to act in ways that fulfill that purpose, then we will begin to experience an intensity of joy and fulfillment in the Lord that we have never known before.
