The Objectives of Life

1. Learn about God

As we have previously discussed, God wants us to choose Him, or not.  In order to do that, He wants us to learn about Him as much as possible so we can make an informed decision.  As such, God has given us His Word.  In 2 Timothy 3:16 we are told, “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:”  Here we are told the scriptures are for 1) doctrine, which tells us what is right;  2) reproof tells us what is not right; 3) correction tells us how to get it right; and 4) instruction tells us how to stay right.

God has made it clear that He wants us to learn His ways.  In Proverbs 2:1-5, we are told, “1 My son, if thou wilt receive my words, and hide my commandments with thee; 2 So that thou incline thine ear unto wisdom, and apply thine heart to understanding; 3 Yea, if thou criest after knowledge, and liftest up thy voice for understanding; 4 If thou seekest her as silver, and searchest for her as for hid treasures; 5 Then shalt thou understand the fear of the LORD, and find the knowledge of God.” In these verses we see that if we start by hiding God’s commandments within your heart, which means earnestly desiring to learn God’s ways, we will move through a progression of knowledge, understanding and wisdom.  That will lead to “the knowledge of God”. 

Knowledge is the first level of learning.  With it, we gain awareness of something.  We learn a truth about life.  Then there is understanding, in which we learn how that truth applies to our life.  The final step is wisdom, in which we act in accordance with what we have learned.  A good real-world example of this is gaining the knowledge of the speed limit being 55 MPH when you drive by a speed limit sign on the freeway.  Understanding how it impacts you comes when you see lights flashing in your rearview mirror and get pulled over for exceeding that limit.  Wisdom comes the next time you are driving and you make sure you do not exceed that limit in the future.  In the last case, you have adapted your actions based on what you have learned.  That is the wisdom God wants from us when applying His commandments to our lives.  Doing so takes us to the next task.

2. Spiritually mature

By learning what God wants us to be like through His Word, we move through the process of spiritual maturation called “sanctification”.  This is a lifelong process that begins when we accept Christ as savior.  It is at that point He becomes our “Lord”.  To be Lord, means we do what He says.  That is easier said than done, so we have to learn how.  The author of Hebrews tells us in Hebrews 5:14, “But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.” We can see that it is a growth process that gets us to a point of maturity, like a child growing up.  It takes a while for us to learn the difference between good and evil, as the darkness is constantly trying to make us believe what is bad to God is actually good. 

Paul emphasizes this in Ephesians 4:13-15, “13 Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ: 14 That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive; 15 But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ:” We have to grow up in Christ.  This means learning not only what He wants, but to live accordingly.

Accepting Christ is vital and the beginning of the process. Yet, we do not want to remain as infants.  Peter describes in 1 Peter 2:2, “As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby:” At first, we are like babes in need of milk.  It is when we mature that we can begin to eat “meat”, as described in Hebrews 5:14 (referenced earlier).

This step takes the learning done in step 1 and applies it to your daily life.  This is the wisdom God wants from us.  Wisdom is knowledge in action.

3. Love God with all you heart, mind and soul

As we learn to walk in God’s ways, we have to remember to always put God first in all things.  When asked what was the greatest commandment, jesus replied in Luke 10:27, “And he answering said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself.” His answer is to put God first!  Notice how He answers this.  He is referencing Deuteronomy 6:5, which says, “And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.” Jesus made a slight tweak to the Old Testament answer.  He said to love God with all your 1) heart, 2) soul, 3) strength and 4) mind.  This addresses the emotional (heart), the spiritual (soul), physical (strength) and mental (mind).  This means in EVERY WAY.  The Deuteronomy version had the last two combined into one.  Jesus made it more specific to emphasize it was more than just physical (might).  He was raising the bar on understanding the Word of God.

Remember, if we truly love God above all else, we will do what He says and learn to walk in His ways.

4. Love others as yourself

In that same answer Jesus gave to the Pharisees in Luke 10:27, He added on, “…and thy neighbour as thyself.” After loving God, loving others was next on the list.  Notice that it is not taking care of yourself.  It says to “love your neighbor AS yourself”. It is a given that we all have a desire to take care of ourselves, but to love another AS yourself means you put their needs above even your own.  Otherwise, you would not be loving them as yourself.  Think about it.  The only way to do that is to put their needs ABOVE your own. 

Jesus didn’t tell us to love others more than ourselves.  That means we need to love all of God’s created beings equally.  That includes ourselves.  The idea here is to put others before yourself and when everyone does that, everyone is taken care of.  That is the upside down, backwards world Jesus taught us in the Beatitudes (Mat 5).  This is the shadow of things to come in the New Heaven and New Earth, when the world will be that way. 

Paul tells us in Romans 13:8, “Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law.”  Love is the purpose of the Law.  The 10 Commandments and the rest of the Law teach us how we miss the mark and need a savior.  It is by God’s love for us that we have that savior.  He laid down His life to pay for our sins that the Law points out.  God loved us first, beyond any capacity of our own understanding, and as a result, we can truly love Him in return. “We love him, because he first loved us. (1Jo 4:19)

5. Proclaim the Good News

The word “gospel” means good tidings, or good news.  Jesus told us to tell the world about the “good news”.  That good news in essence was about the fact that Jesus fulfilled the Law and forgiveness was now available to all who believe that He died for their sins, was buried, and rose again after 3 days. This was the presecription for the fulfillment of the Law.  There had to be a perfect sacrifice that was a “Son of Man”.  There had never been one before or since, but Jesus was that perfect sacrifice.  That is what He wanted all of us to share with the world when He told us in Mark 16:15, “And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.”

It was a well-known fact at the time and even still today, that this message may not be well received.  In Romans 1:16, Paul tells us, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.” We need not be ashamed of the truth that many in the world don’t want to hear.  They need to hear it anyway.  It is by hearing it that the Holy Spirit will convict the hearts of those who will believe.  It is not our job to change people’s minds, but only to tell them the truth. 

This is followed up with Matthew 24:14, which says, “And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.” There will come a time when all will be exposed to the truth of the gospel and then Jesus will return.  That is the glorious day we as believers long for.  Let’s do our job and get the message out there. 

God wants us a His students to help others learn.  This demonstrates to the world of what we have learned and how much we believe it!