“Some people say a man is made out of mud, a poor man’s made out of muscle and blood, muscle and blood and skin and bones, a mind that’s weak and a back that’s strong.” These are the lyrics of a song made well-known by Tennessee Ernie Ford in the 1950s. It tells of the plight of the coal miner, working and working, only to “owe his soul to the company store”.
A man is made out of mud (Genesis 2), but it’s more than that! Theologian Richard Pratt, in his book “Designed for Dignity”, states that we are not simply lucky mud, but are made in God’s image with dignity and purpose. God made us for worship, work, family, and society (Genesis 1-3). He has ultimately made us for fellowship with himself, in fact, that is what eternity and heaven is all about (Revelation 21). Of course, sin (Genesis 3) separated us from God and brought about the strife, futility, thorns and thistles that we find so troublesome.
Each of us desires to know where we came from, why we exist, what is the meaning of life, what is my purpose, is it all vanity and meaningless? We want to know the bottom line of life and pursue it. If God made us for worship, work, family, and society, then why did he allow them all to be so broken? Why do we chase what will never satisfy?
After the Protestant Reformation of the 15th century spread across Europe, various nations and their churches had to come to grips with a church outside of Catholicism. The English Parliament brought together an assembly of ministers and theologians to help codify their doctrine, worship, and church government. The resulting Westminster Assembly produced a confession of faith, along with question and answer studies for children and adults. The well-known first question of the adult catechism reads, “What is man’s chief and highest end?”, is answered with, “To glorify God and enjoy him forever.”
We may spend much of our lives being educated, working, and attending to necessary tasks of life. If afforded with opportunity, we may be able to cease daily work and spend our latter years in some form of leisure. Fact is, much of our daily routine requires self-care, family, religion, and work of some sort. These are subordinate to the chief end of life. God has given us a top priority. We will enjoy him in eternity, when by faith we reach our everlasting home, but we also find a glimpse of that enjoyment and rest in this life. We worship God each Sunday as the church gathers (Psalm 122). We worship the Lord in our daily duties, following Saint Paul’s “do all to the glory of God” admonition (1 Corinthians 10).
For all, there is a built-in futility to life apart from God. Augustine, a bishop of fourth century North Africa, began his autobiography with this prayer: “You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in You.” Much of his early life was spent in pursuit of life experiences and various systems of thought. None made sense until he took up and read the Scriptures, coming to faith in God. It is in God that he finally found happiness.