Imagine you’re at a shooting range and there are lots of targets with prizes underneath. If you hit that one, you win a rubber duck. If you hit that one, you win a stuffed teddy. If you hit that one, you get a goldfish. And so on. But right in the middle is the biggest target and it has a prize of a million dollars. But no one is shooting at it. People are walking away delighted with their rubber duck and their cute teddy but the biggest target with the biggest prize goes unclaimed!
That’s mad, you say. That would never happen. Or at least, “If I was there, it would never happen!”
But you know, that’s what’s happening all over the world every day. And it’s very possibly happening in your little world too.
God sets himself forth as the biggest prize we could possibly enjoy in this life. But the vast majority of people are shooting for rubber ducks and cute furry teddies: boyfriends, girlfriends, FB, computer games, sports, jobs, money, pleasure, cars, houses, etc. Lots and lots of rubber ducks and furry teddies. But the huge million dollar prize, God, goes unclaimed. In fact few are even aiming at Him
That’s not a recent problem. 350 years ago a number of pastors got together and wrote a brief Q&A about God. And their first question was: “What is the chief end of man?” What should be our number one target? What should we aim at above anything and everything else?
They answered: “Man’s chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy him forever.”
To put it in a more popular way: Our number one target in life is God, and He’s also our greatest prize and enjoyment. That’s why you and I are on this planet for these few short years.
We’re here to end in God. Whatever else we aim at in life, let’s make sure we aim towards God above all.
We’re here to exalt God, to worship God, to praise God, to lift Him up in our thoughts, in our affections, in our words and in our actions.
We’re here to enjoy God. Enjoy God? You may think that these two words do not belong in the same sentence. Enjoy God? Well the main reason for that is that He’s not your chief end, your greatest aim in life. As long as God is second, you won’t enjoy anything in life, and you’ll actually blame God for that.
End in God, exalt God, and enjoy God. And you’ll not only live a more worthwhile life on earth. When it’s time to leave, you’ll leave with much more than a rubber duck!
This is the second film in the series on the Westminster Shorter Catechism, filmed and edited by my son Angus. The introduction to the series can be viewed here:
Introduction: A Summary not a Substitute
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