Is God the End, or the Means?
All the people rejoiced for all the glorious things that were done by him. -Luke 13:17
People do not really change all that much. We love to see good or glorious things done; we are enamored with the miraculous, or even by good humanitarian deeds. But many are only interested in what God can do for them. In other words, he is a means to their end; not the end of their means. In 1961 President Kennedy famously said, “Ask not what your country can do for you – ask what you can do for your country.” Many preachers before me have alluded to the fact that few people apply JFK’s powerful quote to their Walk with God. We tend to think that all of the acts of God in history, are solely for our benefit. Concerning our flawed man centered theology, I like how Paris Reidhead says it, “This philosophical postulate that the end of all being is the happiness of man, has been sort of covered over with evangelical terms and Biblical doctrine until God reigns in heaven for the happiness of man, Jesus Christ was incarnate for the happiness of man, all the angels exist . . . for the happiness of man.1″ We have abandoned the historical gospel and replaced it with a humanistic one. The Bible never teaches that man is so great he deserves God’s blessings; the whole concept of grace describes how an undeserving people were saved by a loving God. A deserved grace would be no grace at all!
Now back to my primary subject…is God our end, or our means? When we pray, are we only asking him for what we want; or are we asking for him to have what he wants? In our devotional time are we reading “Your Best Life Now;” or are we ravenously devouring the scriptures, seeking after this God who purchased us at so great a price? Are we also discovering how we can use our lives to honor and glorify him? Is our attitude thy will be done, or my will be done, thy kingdom come or my kingdom come? And please don’t be flippant; our answers to these questions could not be more important. The legacy we leave behind will be one of glorifying God, or one of pleasing ourselves.
For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom [be] glory for ever. Amen. Romans 11:36
For by him (Jesus) were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether [they be] thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him. Colossians 1:16
1. Paris Reidhead, Ten Shekels and a Shirt
