What did God want to accomplish in saving YOU?

There’s little we can enjoy fully, or do well, unless we first have at least a basic understanding of its purpose.

An illustration of that simple point was published in Campus Life:

One of golf’s immortal moments came when a Scotchman demonstrated the new game to President Ulysses Grant. Carefully placing the ball on the tee, he took a mighty swing. The club hit the turf and scattered dirt all over the President’s beard and surrounding vicinity, while the ball placidly waited on the tee. Again the Scotchman swung, and again he missed. Our President waited patiently through six tries and then quietly stated, “There seems to be a fair amount of exercise in the game, but I fail to see the purpose of the ball.”

I think a lot of people try to “swing away” at being a Christian without a basic understanding of the purpose God had in meticulously working throughout human history to execute a perfect plan that would result in His reconciling us to Himself.

He had a specific purpose in mind, something we can read about in several places in the Bible; here’s one of those insights into God’s ultimate purpose for saving us, as explained by the Apostle Paul:

“God’s purpose was that we Jews who were the first to trust in Christ would bring praise and glory to God. And now you Gentiles have also heard the truth, the Good News that God saves you. And when you believed in Christ, he identified you as his own by giving you the Holy Spirit, whom he promised long ago. The Spirit is God’s guarantee that he will give us the inheritance he promised and that he has purchased us to be his own people. He did this so we would praise and glorify him,” Ephesians 1:12-14.

God’s primary purpose wasn’t what many preachers and Christians make it out to be, which is to save us from hell. Instead, it was to free us from slavery to sin so that we could live lives fully devoted to the praise and glory of God.

Using a limited human mind, some might think it’s narcissistic to a divine degree that this is so ultimately important to God. But that thinking changes quickly when you come to know God and discover He alone is actually worthy of it! The immediate and natural response of any interaction with God is to worship Him; that’s the reality in heaven …

“Whenever the living beings give glory and honor and thanks to the one sitting on the throne (the one who lives forever and ever), the twenty-four elders fall down and worship the one sitting on the throne (the one who lives forever and ever). And they lay their crowns before the throne and say, ‘You are worthy, O Lord our God, to receive glory and honor and power. For you created all things, and they exist because you created what you pleased,” Revelation 4:9-11.

… and what we’re called to do here on earth:

“Shout with joy to the Lord, all the earth! Worship the Lord with gladness. Come before him, singing with joy. Acknowledge that the Lord is God! He made us, and we are his. We are his people, the sheep of his pasture. Enter his gates with thanksgiving; go into his courts with praise. Give thanks to him and praise his name. For the Lord is good. His unfailing love continues forever, and his faithfulness continues to each generation,” Psalm 100:1-5.

“Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to your name goes all the glory for your unfailing love and faithfulness,” Psalm 115:1.

“Therefore, let us offer through Jesus a continual sacrifice of praise to God, proclaiming our allegiance to his name,” Hebrews 13:15.

“But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light,” 1 Peter 2:9 (NIV).

There’s a story told about a mishap at a greyhound dog racing event …

In greyhound racing, dogs are trained to chase a mechanical fur rabbit that goes along the track in front of them. The speed of the rabbit is controlled by a man in the press box who keeps the rabbit just in front of the dogs. One time in Florida, everyone was ready for the big race. The starting gun went off, the man in the press box pushed his lever, cages opened, and the dogs took off. But just as the rabbit went round the first bend, an electrical short caused it to stop, explode, and burst into flames. No longer having a rabbit to chase, the dogs had no idea what to do. Some of them laid down on the track, two ran into a wall and broke some ribs, one chased his tail, and some howled at the spectators. Not a single dog finished the race.

Without discovering and experiencing our ultimate purpose for existing, we’re like hapless dogs chasing our tails.

So, why did God save YOU?

“He did this so we would praise and glorify him.”

How is that truth penetrating, permeating, and impacting your life?

Scotty