If you ask the average person, what is your purpose in life? Even if those who don't know God,

you know, what purpose do you have in life? You're going to hear a variety of answers. No doubt.

In days gone by, when we taught the children the shorter catechism of many years ago,

had you asked a child, what is the purpose of your life?

He or she would have told you within split seconds.

It is to glorify God and enjoy him forever.

Today, many adults cannot give you such eloquent and high and lofty answer.

And yet the Bible makes it very clear that God has not only

a plan and a purpose for each one of us, but we are under obligation to discover and to find

out what is that plan, what is that purpose in order that may we obey it, in order that

we may fulfill God's purpose in our lives. Period.

And God's ultimate purpose, who should be the result of working his plan and purpose in every one of us,

is that we may bring glory to the name of God. And so that his name be lifted up among the nations.

That is the ultimate goal of the plan of God and the purpose of God

and each individual who is listening to me right now. Now, to be sure, there are blessings,

there are benefits, there are glorious things that come to us as a result of us not only knowing

but fulfilling the purpose of God in our lives. Yes,

that is a fact. Nobody can deny that. But the problem is when we allow the benefits and the

blessings to become an end in themselves, we not only wrong God, not only we fail God, but we fail ourselves.

But that's not all.

When we fail to discover and obey the purpose and the plan of God for our lives,

we ourselves become unfulfilled.

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