No Higher Goal

“Men are characterized by many goals. They want security; they want happiness; they want material prosperity; they want power and influence; they want a reputation. All of these things satisfy the flesh. They do not fulfil the purpose of God, because God’s purpose for your life is to reproduce the life of Jesus Christ in you, so that men may look at you and see the Lord Jesus Christ revealing the Father, thus bringing honor and glory to God. There can be no higher goal. There can be no higher ambition. There can be no higher purpose than that which the Word of God puts before us as the chief end of the child of God, to glorify God. The greatest goal in the believer’s life is not his own enjoyment of his salvation. His highest goal is not learning the truths of Scripture, nor even teaching and preaching the Word. His greatest goal is to live Jesus Christ so that men may know the Father. God is glorified through the transformation in the life of His child that enables Him to use that child to reveal Himself to men, so that as men respond to that which has been revealed of Christ, they might honor and glorify the Father. Jesus Christ could say, “I have finished the work that thou gavest me to do.” May God the Holy Spirit so possess and control us, and so reproduce Jesus Christ within us, that we can say, at the close of each day, “I have finished the work you gave me to do today. The Spirit has reproduced the life of Christ in this mortal body, to the glory of God.”

Pentecost, J. D. (2001). Designed to be like Him: Understanding God’s plan for fellowship, conduct, conflict, and maturity (196). Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel Publications.