Basic Training Week 4: How Do We Know That the Bible is the Word of God?

As we again take a look at the basics of Christianity we find ourselves looking at Scripture. The question we find ourselves asking really has two different answers. One of which we will cover this week. There is an answer that is historical and extra-biblical, but the one we are looking at today is how does Scripture testify to itself in such a way that we can know that it is the Word of God. Again, this question and answer is from The Second London Baptist Catechism.

So, how do we know that the Bible is the Word of God?

The Bible evidences itself to be God's Word by the heavenliness of its doctrine, the unity of its parts, and its power to convert sinners and to edify saints. But only the Spirit of God can make us willing to agree and submit to the Bible as the Word of God.

We see here a few different answers to the question.

• The Bible evidences itself to be God's Word by the heavenliness of its doctrine.
• The Bible evidences itself to be God's Word by the unity of its parts.
• The Bible evidences itself by its power to convert sinners and to edify saints.
• Only the Holy Spirit of God can make us willing to agree and submit to the Bible as the Word of God.

So, we will go through this one answer at a time.

First, the Bible evidences itself to be God's Word by the heavenliness of its doctrine. This simply means that Scripture's teachings are obviously supernatural. There is an other-worldness to the teachings of Scripture. One example of this is simply to look at the main difference in Christianity and all other religions.

The other religions in the world center around the accomplishments of man. Think about it for just a second. The other world religions focus on how man can overcome this world and achieve something, whether the end be reaching Nirvana, Paradise, or whether it is an adaptation of the real Heaven like the Mormons. Their teaching is either what man can do to get himself to God, or what man can do after the work of God. 

 Christianity teaches something much different. Christianity teaches that God has accomplished salvation totally and completely for us by the work of Christ. People like themselves and think highly of themselves.  Mankind's pride simply would not allow him to come up with a religion where someone else accomplished everything for him and that mankind's role in his salvation was to bow in submission with faith in someone else's achievement.  

We also find prophesies coming to pass that would be impossible for a human to know. We have prophesies about wars and countries, such as Alexander the Great in the book of Daniel. There are instances in history prophesied such as captivities and destruction brought to Israel, and the death of Christ on the Cross (Psalm 22, Isaiah 53). We see here in the prophesies that their is an otherness of Scripture.

We also find it taught in Scripture that the wisdom written down did not originate from the wisdom of this world. In the midst of a civilization that is still considered to be one of the most intelligent in history we find in Scripture a greater wisdom than the wisdom of this world. We specifically see this in 1 Corinthians 2:6-7 & 13-16. Paul states very clearly that his teaching is not something man made, but originated from God. We can understand this better if we think back to last week.

God so governed the writing of Scripture that we can rightly say that God is the author of Scripture. That is why we call it God's Word. The Holy Spirit moved men to write everything God intended them to write (2 Peter 1:21). The reason there seems to be an otherness to Scripture is because it originated from God not man. There is an otherness, a heavenliness to Scripture's teachings.

Second, we see that the Bible evidences itself to be God's Word by the unity of its parts. Scripture is comprised of over 66 different books, written by over 40 authors over a period of more than 1,500 years, yet it is unified in all its parts. The message of Scripture remained the same throughout all the different writings, authors, and years.

After man had fallen and God handed down the curses due to them, we find in Genesis 3:14-15 the first message of the eventual demise of Satan and evil. As we move through Scripture we slowly see God setting aside a people for Himself through which He would have a King whose lineage would never end. From this lineage the Messiah who would destroy the power of sin and death that will eventually be completely consummated when Christ returns.

That is why Peter can say in Acts 10:43 all the prophets "bear witness that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name". The writings of the Old Testament testified to what would happen in the New Testament. We find Apollo showing the Jews that Jesus was the Christ they had been waiting for (Acts 18:28), and Paul testifying that everything that came to pass was prophesied by the prophets and Moses (Acts 26:22).

So, we see that the Bible evidences itself to be God's Word by the unity of its parts.

Next, we see that the Bible evidences itself by its power to convert sinners and to edify saints. The power of Scripture can be seen in the work it does in converting someone from a non-believer to a true believer.

This really comes from something we talked about a few weeks ago. The way that God has made for our salvation can be found through the message of His Word. Paul writes to Timothy and tells Him that it is the Scriptures that are able to make a person wise for salvation (2 Timothy 3:15). The point is that the way of salvation is made known to us through the pages of Scripture and the message that we find in the pages of Scripture is the power of God unto salvation (Romans 1:16).

Not only is the power of Scripture seen in conversion but it is also seen in the building up of believers (Psalm 19:7-9; Hebrews 4:12; Romans 15:4). God has given us His Word and it is very profitable for the life and the health of the believer (2 Timothy 3:16). Why is it that preaching is at the very center of everything that is done at a healthy church? Why is it that God's Word is the guide to the healthy believer and the healthy church? The answer is Scripture is the very center of all that we believe and do and builds up the individual believer and builds up the Church.

The answer we get here adds something we have already spoken about a few weeks ago also. Only the Spirit of God can make us willing to agree and submit to the Bible as the Word of God. Though, there is great power in the Word of God, we as sinful people do not have it within ourselves to agree with God's Word and submit to it.

Because of this there is a prayer that I pray before I sit down to read from God's Word:

"God, open my eyes that I might see wonderful things from Your Word."

In doing this I am acknowledging that I myself am unable to completely understand and submit to Scripture without the power of God working. I am admitting my inability and praying something very similar to what David said in Psalm 119:8.

Though Scripture is our standard and ultimate guide, we must have the power of God to work in our lives before we are able to submit our lives to what it says.

We find that the unbeliever has been blinded and it is the Holy Spirit of God that gives us freedom to see and submit to what Scripture teaches (2 Corinthians 3:14-17). Paul goes so far as to say that it is Satan himself who has blinded the unbeliever (2 Corinthians 4:4-6), and it is God who "shines in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ".

We have seen that the Bible evidences itself to be God's Word by the heavenliness of its doctrine, the unity of its parts, and its power to convert sinners and to edify saints. But only the Spirit of God can make us willing to agree and submit to the Bible as the Word of God.

R. Dwain Minor

Do You Think Reading Your Bible Is Boring?

Many times we run into people who claim to be believers that believe that Scripture is boring, or as Spurgeon says here, "horrible dry".  What are we to make of that attitude toward God's Word?  Well, here is some wisdom from Spurgeon on this question from his sermon entitled The Bible delivered on March 18, 1855.

Others there be who read the Bible; but when they read it, they say it is so horribly dry. That young man over there says it is a "bore;" that is the words he uses. He says, "My mother says to me, when you go up to town, read a chapter every day. Well, I thought I would please her, and I said I would. I am sure I wish I had not. I did not read a chapter yesterday, or the day before. We were so busy, I could not help it." You do not love the Bible, do you? "No, there is nothing in it which is interesting." Ah, I thought so. But a little while ago I could not see anything in it. Do you know why? Blind men cannot see, can they? But when the Spirit touches the scales of the eyes, they fall off; and when he puts eye-salves on, the Bible becomes precious. I remember a minister who went to see an old lady, and he thought he would give her some precious promises out of the word of God. Turning to one, he saw written in the margin "P.," and he asked, "What does this mean?" "That means precious, sir." Further down, he saw "T. and P.," and he asked what the letters meant. "That," she said, "means tried and proved, for I have tried and proved it." If you have tried God's word and proved it—if it is precious to your soul. then you are Christians; but those persons who despise the Bible, have "neither part nor lot in the matter." If it is dry to you, you will be dry at last in hell. If you do not esteem it as better than your necessary food, there is no hope for you; for you lack the greatest evidence of your Christianity. 

The point is that the Bible is precious to the child of God.  God has spoken to His people in the words of Scripture and the Bible becomes precious to those whom God has transformed.

 R. Dwain Minor

The Tolerant: Blinded By Their Own Intolerance

One of the humorous things that can be seen constantly today is the intolerance of those who think they are tolerant and constantly accuse Christians of being intolerant and bigoted. You can watch the news or talk shows today and watch the arrows slung at the Christian while they are blind to their own intolerance.

If the Christian viewpoint on marriage (Genesis 2:24, Matthew 19:5, Mark 10:7-8, Ephesians 5:31) being between one man and one woman is brought up, the Christian is said to be bigoted and judgmental. At this point the question is asked of the believer, "Why can't you be tolerant of other people's way of life?".

When believers attempt to protect the innocent who are still in the womb, because murder in a womb is treated the same as murder out of the womb (Exodus 21:22-25), we are said to be pushing our beliefs on other people and trying to limit their freedoms.

Because we stand firmly on Scripture in these two areas we are told that we are pushing our beliefs on everyone else and the we are intolerant, but I have a question that must be asked.

My question is, do these people apply the same standards to their own judgments? The obvious answer to this question is no. When we are told that our view of marriage is judgmental, are they not being judgmental and intolerant of the Christian view of marriage?

When we are told that a woman has a right to choose whether or not to have an abortion and that we are trying to take freedom away from her, whose freedom is really being taken away? That baby has the same right to live as the mother. So, whose freedom has really been taken away? Is the freedom to live worth more than the freedom to live promiscuously without consequences? Is the freedom to live worth more than the freedom to try to gain some sort of prosperity without children? The obvious answer to that question is no.

As we listen to the rantings and ravings of the supposedly tolerant, let us remember that their empty speech withers away as we apply their own standards to their own speech. Funny how the seemingly wise and tolerant end up looking foolish and intolerant isn't it?


R. Dwain Minor

Basic Training Week 3: What is the Word of God?

As believers we are asked to stake our entire lives on God's Word, but what is it? That is the question we deal with today. Once again, this question and answer comes from the 1689 London Baptist Catechism.

What is the Word of God? The scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, being given by divine inspiration, are the Word of God, the only infallible rule of faith and practice. When the word scriptures is used here it is speaking of the writings of the Old and New Testaments. We would think of the individual books of the Bible. Of course, Old Testament is before Jesus entered the world, and the New Testament is after Jesus' birth.

Now to look at how these writings were given to us. We find in Scripture that these writings were given to us by divine inspiration. The word divine here means "proceeding from God", or "coming from God". It is inspiration that proceeds from God, but how does this inspiration come from God?

Sometimes it is easier to explain something if we first see what it is not. That is what we are going to do here. I think it will be quite helpful. So, we will first see what divine inspiration is not.

• Divine inspiration is not mechanical. When the writers of Scripture sat down to write they did not go blank and just begin writing without knowing what they were doing. 
• Divine inspiration is not someone merely being inspired in the same way that a man is inspired to write a love song for his wife. Inspiration is much, much more than this.
• Divine inspiration does not mean that God wrote Scripture and it magically appeared from the sky. The Bible did not come to us completed dropping down from Heaven.

Now that we have seen what it is not, we need to know what it is. Here is a definition that we can work through. 

Inspiration is the special work of the Holy Spirit in which He superintended the human authors of Scripture in such a manner that employing their different perspectives, writing styles, personalities, and grammatical abilities ensured that what they wrote was what He wanted them to write.

So, what we are saying here is that the Holy Spirit so directed the writing of Scripture that every word in Scripture is what was supposed to be there, yet at the same time men wrote what they felt they wanted or needed to write. Men wrote for many different purposes, but all the while God was overseeing the entire writing of Scripture in such a way that the men wrote what God wanted to be written.

Some examples of this are that Paul wrote ever angrily to the Galatians because they had been adding to salvation by faith alone. Paul was very angry as he wrote this letter, but that which he wrote God intended for him to write. Paul also wrote to instruct Timothy in the the faith and what he needed to do as a pastor, but what he wrote was what God wanted him to write. Luke investigated the life of Jesus to give a report of it to a man named Theophilus, but what he wrote was also what God wanted him to write. Many of the books of the Bible are historical accounts of events that had occurred.

The thing that we must remember is that these books were written in the exact way God wanted them to be written. No matter what reason men wrote these books, God intended for these words to be written. God, so oversaw what was written that we can legitimately say that they are God's words, and that Scripture is God's Word to mankind. 

We see this in Scripture very clearly as we read 2 Peter 1:21. Peter describes the giving of the truth as men "carried along by the Holy Spirit". The imagery used here is that of wind in sails of a sailboat. The Holy Spirit worked in much the same way that wind moves a sailboat. Men were writing Scripture, but the wind that was moving them to write what they needed to write was the Holy Spirit.

Paul also states in 1 Corinthians 2:13 that it was not human wisdom that he was teaching to people, but it was wisdom taught by the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit so oversaw the work of Scripture being written that Paul states in 2 Timothy 3:16-17 that Scripture is "breathed out by God". Men wrote the words of Scripture, but God so oversaw the work that it is the product of God.

The last thing we need to see now is that Scripture is the only guide of what we are to think, feel, and do that is completely and totally correct and true. That is why we said in the beginning that Scripture is the only infallible rule of faith and practice. Scripture is the only perfect standard of what we should think and feel, and the only perfect standard of how we should act. That is why Paul says in 2 Timothy 3:16-17 that Scripture is "profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work".

We never find written in Scripture that we are to follow our hearts, follow our feelings, follow our gut, follow visions, follow dreams, or anything else but God's Word. It is God's Word that is given to us as the standard by which all of our thoughts, feelings, and actions is to be governed by.  And the fact that Scripture is the very product of God gives it authority.  When we read the words of Scripture we are reading what God has communicated to men.  This is very important for us to remember.  Nothing else that we read, see, or hear on this earth carries the authority of Scripture.

Does this mean we cannot be helped by reading books that help to teach Scripture? No, that is not what this means. Can we be helped by what people of the past have written? Of course, we can. But we must always remember that they are only helpful as long as they are faithful to the writings of Scripture. They can be wrong, but Scripture cannot. It is the only perfect standard by which all things are judged. It is God's Word that is perfect, but other things can be very helpful (Psalm 19:7-8).

What is the Word of God? The scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, being given by divine inspiration, are the Word of God, the only infallible rule of faith and practice.

Are we reading, studying, and thinking on God's Word as we ought? Are we submitting our entire lives to the standards of God's truth revealed in His Word?

R. Dwain Minor

Look to Jesus, Not Yourself

Many times the gospel is confused in a person's mind.  The good news that God has given to us is not about what we have done, or what we can do, it is about who God is and what He has done for us in the person and work of Jesus Christ.  


I was reading a sermon from Charles Spurgeon entitled Sovereignty and Salvation, and I found the most wonderful depiction of this very thought.  

"First, to whom does God tell us to look for salvation?  O, does it not lower the pride of man, when we hear the Lord say, "Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth?"  It is not, "Look to your priest, and be ye saved:" if you did, there would be another god, and beside him there would be someone else.  It is not "Look to yourself;" if so, then there would be a being who might arrogate some of the praise of salvation.  But it is "Look unto me."  How frequently you who are coming to Christ look to yourselves.  "O!" you say, "I do not repent enough."  That is looking to yourself.  "I do not believe enough."  That is looking to yourself.  "I am too unworthy."  That is looking to yourself.  "I cannot discover," says another, "that I have any righteousness."  It is quite right to say that you have not any righteousness; but it is quite wrong to look for any.  It is, "Look unto me."  God will have you turn your eye off yourself and look unto Him.  The hardest thing in the world is to turn a man's eye off himself; as long as he lives, he always has a predilection to turn his eyes inside and look at himself; whereas God says, "Look unto me."  From the cross of Calvary, where the bleeding hands of Jesus drop mercy; from the garden of Gethsemane, where the bleeding pores of the Savior sweat pardons, the cry comes, "Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth."  From Calvary's summit, where Jesus cries, "It is finished,"  I hear a shout, "Look and be saved."  but there comes a vile cry from our soul, "Nay, look to yourself!"  Ah, my hearer, look to yourself, and you will be damned.  That certainly will come of it.  As long as you look to yourself there is no hope for you.  It is not a consideration of what you are, but a consideration of what God is, and what Christ is, that can save you.  It is looking from yourself to Jesus."

How glorious a thought!  Yet, how often we tend to miss it as church leaders guide people through man made shortcuts rather than to look to Jesus.  Rather than taking them to Calvary they are led to trust in the "prayer they prayed", how well they prayed, if they walked an aisle,  or if they signed some sort of card when they came down the aisle.  The call is to look to Jesus.  As Spurgeon says very well here, "It is looking from yourself to Jesus".


It is not about how many ministries I work in at the Church.  It is not about how many people I witness to.  It is not about attending church.  It is not about whether or not I prayed a prayer that a pastor led me through.  It is not about being a member of a church.  It is not about whether or not I live my life in a way that pleases others.  It is about Jesus.  Christ cries out for us to look to Him.  We don't trust in ourselves anymore, it is all of grace.  It is all of Christ.


R. Dwain Minor

Basic Training Week 2: How Do We Know There is a God?

The third question we will be looking at from the London Baptist Confession is this: How do we know there is a God? So, how do we know that God even exists? This is a very important and legitimate question given the prominence that atheism holds in today's thinking. You will see that I have added the brackets in order that we will better understand what is stated in this answer.

So, how do we know there is a God? The light of nature in man [conscience], and the works of God, plainly declares that there is a God; but His Word and Spirit only, do effectually [in a saving manner] reveal Him unto us for our salvation. The Scriptures that teach this rather plainly are Romans 1:18-21; Romans 2:14-16; Psalm 19:1-2; 2 Timothy 3:15; 1 Corinthians 1:21-24; 1 Corinthians 2:9-10; Matthew 11:27.

Again we see two answers given in the response to this question, because there are two different types of knowledge of God. One is natural, one is supernatural and saving in nature. 

1. The light of nature in man [conscience], and the works of God, plainly declares that there is a God. 
2. God's Word and Spirit only, do effectually [in a saving manner] reveal Him unto us for salvation.

So, once again we will look at the two answers separately so that we can gain a better grasp of what Scripture here teaches us.

First, the light of nature [conscience], and the works of God, plainly declares that there is a God. The statement here is that all men that have ever been born have been able to see that God exists in two different ways, the first one that is given here is the conscience.

Conscience simply means with knowledge. The understanding is that when anyone sins they sin with knowledge of God and His law. That is what we see taught in Romans 1:18-21 and Romans 2:14-16. God has implanted in us all this knowledge. The knowledge of God and His law are written on our hearts. We, by nature, know right from wrong.


Why do we see in all of humanity that lying, theft, and murder are wrong? I would propose to you that we are simply seeing what Paul says here, that God's law is written on the hearts of all men. We know right from wrong. We know good from evil, yet we choose to sin and rebel against God anyway. What a devastatingly bad situation we are in. We sin against God with full knowledge that we are doing so. The consequence of this is that we are held accountable before God, we have no excuses before Him. We have sinned and rebelled with knowledge against our creator, the King of the Universe.

We also know that there is a God by seeing the works of God. I love nature and have loved to be in the outdoors quite often. And as we are out in nature we notice quickly the magnificent work of God in His creation. This is the other way that we know God exists. We know God exists by simply seeing the glorious work of creation that exists all around us.  We see the vastness of creation and the great attention to minute detail that God  has paid attention to throughout the world, and we see that God exists and also learn a lot of things about Him (Romans 1:20).

People today try to explain God away in both of these areas by saying that the human conscience and the Universe evolved, but Scripture and plain reason help us to see that God has shown us that He exists through our conscience and through His work in creation. God and His commands have been made plain to us, this is not good news for humanity.

We now stand guilty and without excuse before the throne of God. God's "invisible attributes, namely, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse." (Romans 1:20) We can see through God's creation that He exists and is ruling over the Universe (Psalm 19:1-2), and we also know that we have rebelled against Him. The point is we stand guilty before God without anything to excuse our guilt.  We sinned against God with knowledge, and will be held accountable for this.  

God has not left us in this state, He has made a way for us to be placed in a right relationship with Him and that is through His Son Jesus Christ. God sent His Son to earth who lived a perfect life, fulfilling all righteousness, and was placed on a cross dying in our place. He was our substitute. Our sins were placed upon Him. Every sin of everyone who would ever believe was placed upon Him. Every lie, every theft, every lustful thought, every murder, every adultery, every rape, and every other sin that would ever be forgive was placed upon Christ. In turn we are given His righteousness. We are credited with the perfect righteousness of Jesus Christ who committed no sin and fulfilled all righteousness while He was on the earth. In response to this message we repent and believe the gospel. We acknowledge that God is correct about our sinfulness and our depravity and we turn to Christ in faith. We submit our lives to Christ and His Lordship.

That is the good news that God has brought to us, but can we know it by looking at nature and from our conscience? The answer is no. That is why we say that, God's Word and Spirit only, do effectually [in a saving manner] reveal Him unto us for salvation.

The only way we can find this message of salvation is through God's Word. In fact, this message of salvation that is written here is simply a summary of what Scripture teaches. Does a person have to read it from the pages of a Bible? No, a proclamation from someone's mouth of the teaching of Scripture is an acceptable means of getting the message of salvation from one person to another. The point is we can't look at a tree and know that Jesus Christ is "the way, the truth, and the life" (John 14:6), and our consciences do not bear witness to this either.

The way that God has made for our salvation can be found through the message of His Word. Paul writes to Timothy and tells Him that it is the Scriptures that are able to make a person wise for salvation (2 Timothy 3:15). The way of salvation is made known to us through the pages of Scriptures. The problem is we as human beings are so marred with sin that we need more than just the Scriptures to accept the message.

If we were not marred by the affects of sin we would be able to see the message of Scripture and be saved, but this is not the case.  We stand condemned before God and are def, dumb, and blind.  We don't have the ability to find the way on our own.  We need help.  The result is that though the Scriptures show us the way to a right relationship with God, we are not able to accept that message without the work of the Holy Spirit. That is why we say that God's Word and His Spirit reveal God to us for salvation.

Paul says that the message of the cross is "foolishness to those who are perishing" (1 Corinthians 1:18), that natural man does not "accept the things that come from the Spirit of God" (1 Corinthians 2:14), and that natural man cannot submit to God (Romans 8:7). We understand that no matter how much the message of salvation is presented to us from the Scriptures, we do not have within ourselves the ability to come to Christ on our own. We do not have the ability to trust in Him and Him alone for salvation. We do not have the ability to change our minds about how wicked and evil we are and turn to Christ for salvation.

Both the Word of God and His Spirit only, do savingly reveal God to us for salvation. That is what we find in 1 Corinthians 2:9-10. Our glorious salvation can only be revealed to us through God's Word and as we see here the work of the Holy Spirit.

All of mankind can see that God exists through creation, which surrounds him. Every human being has God's law written on their hearts. Yet, this is not enough. Mankind has rebelled against their natural light. Mankind has rebelled and acted as if God is not there to submit to, but putting on a blindfold and sticking your fingers in your ears does not make the situation change. God is real and has shown us that He exists through His Creation and His law written on our hearts (the conscience).

God has made a way for us to be brought back into right relationship with Him. He has given up His Son as the ransom to be paid for our sin, yet we cannot and will not submit to this way of salvation unless the Holy Spirit first works in us first. The Holy Spirit makes us able to see the truth of God's Word and able to submit to it.

So, how do we know there is a God? The light of nature in man [conscience], and the works of God, plainly declares that there is a God; but His Word and Spirit only, do effectually [in a saving manner] reveal Him unto us for our salvation.


R. Dwain Minor

Basic Training Week 1 (pt2): What is the greatest purpose of man?

The second question from the London Baptist Confession we are looking at is this: what is the chief end of man?  The way that we would word this question is: what is the highest and greatest purpose of man?  This is a question that many adults sitting in our churches today wish that they knew, but do not.  There are many people wandering through this life trying to figure out their purpose in life.  We find the answer given to us in Scripture.


Man's greatest purpose is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.  The Scripture we find that deal with this question are 1 Corinthians 10:31; Psalm 16:11; Psalm 37:4; Psalm 73:25-26; Isaiah 43:7.   


It seems that question one and question 2 are linked arm in arm.  If we are going to fulfill our greatest purpose in life it is going to be in glorifying and enjoying the one who is the highest and greatest of beings: God.  


As you can see there are two parts to this answer.  1. We glorify God.  2. We enjoy God forever.


What does it mean to glorify God?  When we use the word glorify here we do not mean to make glorious.  How can we, mere creatures, make God glorious?  The answer is we can't.  The reason we cannot is because God is already glorious.  God, who is the first and best of beings is already glorious, we are reflecting to the world how glorious God is.  It is like the job of a telescope.  A telescope looks far out into the distance to see the glorious beauty of the Universe.  A telescope reflects the greatness of these huge stars and planets.  This is similar to how we glorify God on this earth.  We reflect His greatness to the onlooking world.


We find in Scripture that all things that we do are to glorify God in this way (1 Corinthians 10:31).  Notice here that Paul is showing that even the most tedious of things we do during our day are to bring honor and glory to God.  Eating and drinking do not seem to be significant tasks, but we are to bring honor and glory to God through even the smallest of things that we do throughout our day.    



Our purpose is to glorify God.  God has created us for this purpose (Isaiah 43:7).  Now we are to bring honor and glory to God in all that we do.  But the second part of this answer shows us that it we enjoy God forever.


When we wrap our entire lives up in this one who is the highest and greatest of beings, we are wrapping our lives up in the one whose presence is "fullness of joy" and at whose "right hand are pleasures forever" (Psalm 16:11).  It is not a joyless and dry service to God that we give.  Rather, God is where we find the greatest of joy and pleasure.  There is no where else in all creation that we can find the joy and the pleasure that we find in God.  However, this does not mean that our greatest joy and pleasure will be found in this life.  The Christian's greatest joy and pleasure is found in the life to come, when we are in the presence of the one in whose presence is "fullness of joy" and at whose "right hand are pleasures forever".  


Our greatest purpose in life is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.  We reflect to the world how glorious God is in even the most tedious of tasks on this earth, but this is not a great burden to us because our greatest joy and pleasure is found in God not in this world or the things of this world.  


We will find purpose, fulfillment, joy, and pleasure in this life as we seek to fulfill our greatest purpose: to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.


R. Dwain Minor