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Samuel Rutherford, one of the authors of the Westminster Shorter Catechism
last quote: Quote 6
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hat is the chief end of man? To glorify God and enjoy him forever.
--Westminster Shorter Catechism (London, 1647)
Those are the first words of the Shorter Catechism. No need to write
them down. You can memorize this in half a minute. Reflect on it daily
for a lifelong feast.
We might have expected this teaching tool of Christian doctrine to have
begun with God, or Creation, or Jesus, or Salvation. But it begins with
us and why we are on earth. No beating around the bush. Right to the deepest,
most haunting question of our entire existence.
And the answer given surpasses anything we on our own would ever dare
to hope. Here is the most remarkable distillation of the overall thrust
of biblical revelation. Search all the annals of human literature. There
is nothing that comes close to matching this astounding charter of human
dignity.
But what can it mean to "glorify God?" How audacious! Does God really
need us to glorify him? Look into the beaming eyes of new parents rejoicing
in their incomparable treasure. Might God in some small analogous way
find such joy and glory in us his offspring? "
To enjoy him for ever." Hard to think of a gathering of so called 'divines'
in the midst of an era of rancorous and often mean theological debate
telling us first that we were put here for pleasure. But that is the beginning
point of learning all else. No mention here of family, job, ethics, right
doctrine. We are pointed to sheer perpetual pleasure as the underlying
reason for our existence and readily available if we find it in the One
who put us here for his own reasons.
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