Soul Mission: Determine Your Purpose for LivingSample

God’s sole purpose for creation is lucid and loud throughout the Bible—to bring glory to Himself. All biblical truth points humanity to an ulterior purpose—to glorify God, to make God look great, to reflect His character, to spread His reputation, to please Him, and to demonstrate His growing weight within human life.

Psalm 8 emphatically reveals God’s ulterior purpose for humanity. This dynamic creation psalm features thrifty poetry and poignant statements. It echoes the preface (Gen. 1) of the Manufacturer’s manual. It presents a grand and unified theory of intentional, human existence. It weaves human origin, identity, meaning, destiny, and morality together in a masterful marriage of thoughts, words, concepts, and precepts. The implications of this psalm are far-reaching for us, especially as we seek to live intentionally.

The one “thing,” the sole mission, our ulterior purpose, can be summarized thus:

God made us so we can glorify God—so we can make Him look good through us.

God made humans great in all creation so we can make God look great to all creation. That proposition summarizes the central idea of Psalm 8. Later in the Bible, we read that God makes humans good (chosen in salvation to be holy and blameless, Eph. 1:3–4) so believers can make God look great (for the praise of His glory, Eph. 1:6,12, 14). But in Psalm 8, God’s glory invested in us must convey His intrinsic glory to all reality. God creates and restores human beings to reflect His character and even echo His reputation on earth.

Two assertions about God’s significant reputation are found in this charming psalm:

• The Creator’s glory is reflected in nature (Ps. 8:1–2).
• The Creator’s glory is expected of humans (Ps. 8:3–9).

Cosmic and creation purpose—the glory of God—must translate into human and personal life purpose.

When you think of your life’s purpose, does it align with God’s ultimate purpose for you?