Born to worship God
Chapter 4
Born to worship God
And to the man he said: Because you have obeyed the voice of your wife, and you ate from the tree that I commanded you, saying: You shall not eat from it;
Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat food from it.
every day of your life. It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat plants from the field. With the sweat of your brow you will eat the for you are dust, and to dust you shall return; for dust you are, and to dust you shall return. And Adam called the name of his wife, Eve, because she was the mother of all living things. And the Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife, and He dressed them. And the LORD God said: Behold, the man is like one of we, knowing good and evil; now, therefore, do not prolong his hand, and also take from the tree of life, and eat, and live for always. And the Lord took him out of the garden of Eden, to till the land from which it was taken. So he expelled the man, and placed to the east of the garden of Eden cherubim, and a flaming sword that revolved everywhere, to preserve the path of the tree of life.
Génesis 3:17–24
One of the greatest tragedies that can happen, even in the most enlightened times in history, is the failure of millions of people who do not discover the reason why they were born in this world. Deny it if you want (and some people will) but wherever you want there are human beings, there are people suffering because of a kind of depressive and hopeless amnesia that forces them to cry out, whether silently inside or with an audible frustration, "neither "I don't even know why I was born."
To illustrate this matter, I would like to share a story with you, a story that could have happened anywhere. It's about a man who lost his memory and, therefore, lost his identity. In
I once had to meet with a friend at the town hall of the city. I was sitting waiting on a bench near the corridor of the place. Suddenly, a pleasant and well-dressed young man approached me and she sat next to me. She smiled at me with a smile that seemed to me somewhat confused.
-Do we know each other?- I asked him.
No, I don't believe it, mess-. Then he continued.-Something happened to me. I think I slipped on something. I fell and hit my head at this city's site. I can't remember. nothing was clear. When I woke up, I realized that I had been stolen; they had taken all my documents and my cards. No I have identification and I don't know who I am.
You must have relatives somewhere; don't you have any information about them? them?
I probably have family but I don't remember anything.
I was about to tell this confused man that he would have to go to the police because I did not have the means to help him. Just At that moment, I observed a distinguished gentleman standing on the platform. near the bench where we were sitting. He also looked confused. he was restless but when he directed his gaze towards us, he let out a scream out of joy. He rushed over and called the man who was with me. by his name. He squeezed it and shook his hand.
Where have you been? What have you been doing? All the members The orchestra is extremely worried about you.
The man who had been lost looked bewildered.
Excuse me sir, but I do not know you. Rather, I do not... I recognize.
-What? Don't you know me? We came to Toronto three days ago. Don't you? you know that we are members of the philharmonic and that you are the first Violinist? We have fulfilled our commitments without you and we have I have been looking everywhere.
-So, that's me and that's why I'm here! But I still don't know if I can play the violin.
Incidents similar to this happen all over the world. The police it seeks many victims of amnesia and the doctors face this problem with his patients. But, why am I telling this story? To remind her who the first parents of the human race were: a man named Adam and his wife Eve.
Adam suffered a fall and received a terrible blow; next to him in that disaster was Eva, his wife. When they tried to remove the mist from their minds, looking at each other, they realized that they already They did not know where they were or why they were alive. They did not know the purpose of your existence.
Since that moment, human beings have been separated from God; since they must live in a fallen and sick world, they cry out saying: I have no idea why I was born. revelation given by our Creator God we firmly believe that God does nothing without a purpose. Therefore, we are convinced that that God had a noble purpose in mind when he created us. Also we are certain that the will of God is that human beings we desire communion with the Lord above all things because we were made in his image and likeness.
According to his plan, it was to be a perfect communion based on a passionate adoration of the one who created and sustains all things. If you knows the catechism of the Presbyterian Orthodox Church, will know that the first question posed since it was written hundreds of years ago What is the primary purpose of man?
The answer is simple yet profound and is based on revelation and the wisdom of the Word of God. "The primary purpose of man is glorify God and enjoy Him forever." This statement no explanation is needed for an intelligent person. To adore and Glorifying God is the primary purpose of every man and woman.
So, why have so many people not understood it? Why How many ignore love and God's plan throughout their entire life? Why? how many people curse the unpleasant situations they go through. they go through in their lives, crying out in the midst of despair: "Oh, I don't even know why I was born into this world? How is it possible that the desired will of the creator for all the sons and daughters of Adam may be have been frustrated in such a strong way?
In these days when sin, violence, and transgression abound everywhere, we must point out that there is an almost universal denial of the malicious and sinful nature of the human race as result of the fall of man; a fact that is faithfully recorded in the book of Genesis.
Let me assure you that not only through the revelation of God in His Word we can learn what is necessary to know ourselves ourselves. The Word of God teaches us frankly the great damage we suffered, which caused us numbness and amnesia. We it deals with the sad account of man's fall from his state of original perfection. When Adam and Eve decided that morning that they had the right to place their own will above the will from the Creator, they experienced the terrible fall. The result was the loss of the identity that God had given them.
They tried to eliminate the confusion from their minds and their hearts, but when looking at each other, they understood that they no longer knew the purpose of their existence. They had suddenly been afflicted by a strange amnesia, arising from the perverse sin of disobedience. They no longer knew with accuracy where they were located and they also did not have the sense divine of the reason why they had been created and what they had to to do.
What a tragedy! Adam and Eve lost the glory of God despite having they were created to reflect the omnipotent. Since they had been made in the image of God, Adam and Eve resembled the Lord more than the heavenly angels. God created men to look at them and see in them a greater reflection of his glory than that which is in the full heavens
of stars. Unfortunately, the mirror became opaque and diffuse. When God saw the sinful man, he could no longer see his own glory. man had become a disobedient and sinful being; he had failed to fulfill the purpose for which it was created: To worship to its creator in the beauty of holiness.
Men of our time feel tired, guilty and lost, therefore, they are too busy solving the tragedies of their families and their societies as to look back at the past and recognize the terrible and overwhelming tragedy that occurred in the fall of man. It is a complex tragedy because God had asserted with joy: "Let us make man in our image" (Genesis 1:26). Then, God bent down, took a bit of clay, shaped it, and made the man. Then, he breathed the breath of life into his nostrils and he became in a living being.
Later, the Creator asked man to observe the rest of "All of this is yours, and I am yours," God said to him. "I will look at you." And I will see in your face the reflection of my own glory. That is your purpose; you were created to worship me, glorify me, and have me as your God "forever." But once God stepped back for a moment, the evil one, the dragon named Satan, poisoned the minds of man and his beloved woman. Then, they sinned against God.
When God returned, he came back as if he knew nothing about the tragedy. what had happened. He called out: "Adam, where are you?" Adam came out of his hiding with full awareness of his guilt and shame. God said to him: "Adam, what did you do?" The man confessed: "We ate from the fruit of the tree that you prohibited us from eating, but it was the woman you gave me who he seduced me." God said to the woman, "What have you done?" and she said to him. He answered: "It was the serpent that deceived me."
In that brief span, our first parents learned the art of to blame another person. That is one of the great pieces of evidence of sin: betrayal, and we learned it directly from our first parents. We do not accept the blame for our sin and iniquity; we blame to others.
If you are not the man you should be, you probably blame it on someone else. to his wife or to his ancestors or perhaps to his workplace. If you do not he is the young man he should be, he probably blames his parents. If he is not the woman or the wife she should be, perhaps blames her husband or her children. Since sin is so horrible, we prefer to blame others. We blame and blame again; that's why we are where we are.
That's why illness catches us and takes us to the grave. that is why accidents happen. That is why there are prisons, mental hospitals and cemeteries. Yes, it's all because of the great tragedy and the disaster that we call the fall of man. Is this not Is tragic reality the only thing that exists? Is there nothing beyond?
No, no. This is the answer we give to each of the people. what makes up the human race: we have wonderful news for You. It is the news that the God who created us did not grow weary of us. He did not tell the angels: "Scrape them off the universe and remove them from me" memory." On the contrary, he said: "I still long for them. I still want that they be a mirror in which I can look and see my glory. I still want to be admired by my people. I still want them to enjoy me and I be their God forever.
That is why God sent his only Son through the miracle of the incarnation. When Jesus was on earth, he reflected the glory of Father. The New Testament says that He is the brightness of glory. of God and the shine of his person. When God saw the son of Mary, he saw himself reflected. What did Jesus mean when he said: "He who He who has seen me has seen the Father?
What I was really saying is: "When you see me, you are seeing " the glory of the father reflected. I have come to complete the work that has been given to me. "commissioned". God was glorified in His Son, although at the moment of the death of Jesus, the glory was terribly marred. The fishermen pulled his beard, hit his face and tore off his hair. They caused immense bruises on the forehead; they nailed him to the cross, where he groaned, sweated, and suffered for six hours before giving up his spirit and die.
The bells of the heavens rang because the men who were the lost had been redeemed. The path of forgiveness was open for sinners. On the third day, Jesus rose from the dead and since then he has been at the right hand of the Lord. God has taken care of since then to redeem a people for Himself and lead them to His purpose originals of being reflections of his glory.
Certainly, the worship of the loving God is the main purpose. for which man exists. For that we are born on earth and for that reason we are born again spiritually. That is why we were created and it is also the reason why God recreates us. For this reason there was a genesis at the beginning and for that reason there is a re-genesis called regeneration. That is also why there is a church. The Christian church. It exists to worship God above all else. All other things They must be in second, third, fourth, or fifth place.
Many generations ago in Europe, the beloved saint of God, the Brother Lawrence was on his deathbed. He was losing his strength. quickly; he observed those who gathered beside him. "I am not dying. I'm just doing the same thing I've been doing for the last forty years and what I hope to do for all of the eternity.
"What do you mean? What are you doing?" they asked him. And He replied immediately: 'I am worshiping the God I love.'
Worshiping God was a primary concern for Brother Lawrence. She was also dying, but that was secondary. Eventually, she died and they buried his body somewhere but his soul was alive because it had been created in the image of God. That is why it is still worshiping with all the saints around the throne of God.
It is really sad, very sad, to hear the lamentations of many people today who have never discovered the reason why they were born. This brings to my mind the description that the poet John Milton reflects on the pathetic solitude and perdition of our first ones.
parents. He says that after they were thrown out of the garden, "they took hand in hand and walked alone through the valley.