The following is an excerpt taken from pages 9-12 of Training Hearts, Teaching Minds: Family Devotions Based on the Shorter Catechism by Starr Meade.

Q.1. WHAT IS MAN’S PRIMARY PURPOSE?

A. Man’s primary purpose is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever.

Monday

What happens when you use something for a purpose other than its real purpose? For example, what if you wanted whiter teeth, so you tried to brighten them up with white shoe polish? Would it work? Of course not! Shoe polish is for whitening shoes, not teeth. What would happen if you put marshmallows in your toaster? You would have a terrible mess, because toasters are for toasting bread, not marshmallows. Things work best when we use them for the purpose they were intended.

God had a purpose in mind for human beings when He created them. God intended for people to know and enjoy Him. Rocks and trees and kittens cannot enjoy God—but people can!

Read Psalm 16:11. This verse describes the joy and the pleasure people have in God when they live according to the purpose God has for them. Some people live as though their purpose were to have a good time or make a lot of money. People like this are never satisfied. They find that the joy of fun times or of having new things wears off. That is because they are not living according to the purpose God has for them. When we live to enjoy God, we are doing what God made us to do and our joy in Him will last.

Tuesday

Since God created us to enjoy Him, it is important to know how we can do that. You cannot fully enjoy a flower unless you stop and take a good look at it to see how beautiful it is and take a deep breath to see how wonderful it smells. You cannot fully enjoy an apple until you take a bite of it and find out how crisp and sweet it tastes. If you are going to enjoy God, you have to spend time finding out how wonderful He is.

Read Luke 10:38–42. Mary was enjoying Jesus. Martha was confused about the purpose God had for her. She seemed to think that her purpose was to work hard and be a good housekeeper. Jesus said Mary had made a better choice by choosing to spend time enjoying Him. The more time we spend getting to know how wonderful God is, the more we will enjoy Him.

Wednesday

One of the good things about living for the purpose God intended when He made us is that, no matter what is going on around us, we can still enjoy God. If I live for the purpose of having and pleasing friends, when my friends are gone I have nothing to live for. If I live for the purpose of being beautiful and healthy, once I grow old or become sick, I have no reason to live. If I live to make money to buy things, something may happen that causes me to lose everything. Then what will I do?

One of God’s Old Testament prophets was Habakkuk. Habakkuk lived in Jerusalem, where he and his neighbors had comfortable homes and were at peace. Habakkuk lived to enjoy and glorify God. His neighbors, though, lived to please themselves. Because Habakkuk was a prophet, God showed him what would happen in the future. Enemy soldiers would destroy Jerusalem in a war. They would burn the comfortable houses, and Habakkuk and his neighbors would be left with nothing. Of course, Habakkuk did not look forward to losing everything. Since his purpose was not to enjoy things, but to enjoy God, listen to what he could say. Read Habakkuk 3:16–18.

Thursday

God made everything for the purpose of glorifying Himself. That means that He made everything to show how wonderful He is. Right now, there are people who do not know much about God’s glory; there are others who know about God but will not admit how wonderful He is. But God promises that someday everyone everywhere will know of His great glory. Read Habakkuk 2:14.

Although some people refuse to see it, every created thing was created to show us something of God’s glory, to show us something of what God is like. Read Psalm 104:31 and Psalm 19:1. When you look up at all the millions of stars in the night sky, what do you think about God? When you look at the strong, solid mountains that have stood for thousands of years, what do you think about the God who made them?

God’s creation glorifies Him. It shows something of what He is like. We are God’s creatures too. It is God’s purpose that we glorify Him too.

Friday

What are some ways in which we can glorify God? How can we show how wonderful He is? One way is by praising and worshiping Him. Read Psalm 29:2 and Psalm 50:23a.

Jesus said we glorify God by doing good deeds. God is good, kind, and holy. When our actions are good, kind, and holy, we’re showing people what God is like. Read Matthew 5:16.

The Bible tells us that we should do everything we do, even the simplest and most ordinary things, in a way that will glorify God. Read 1 Corinthians 10:31.

Saturday

A strange thing happened to Belshazzar’s dad. Belshazzar’s dad ruled over the greatest kingdom in the world. He became very proud of his kingdom. God warned Belshazzar’s dad that, if he did not give glory to God for his kingdom, God would take it away from him. Belshazzar’s dad continued to be proud and, just as God had said, his kingdom was taken away from him for seven years. Not only that, but the king basically lived like an animal for seven years. At the end of the seven years, Belshazzar’s dad got both his man’s mind and his kingdom back again. Then he gave glory to God.

You would think that Belshazzar learned from what had happened to his dad. You would think that he would have understood that his purpose for living was not to please himself or to be a great king but to give glory to God. But Belshazzar had not learned. When he was king, he lived to make himself happy. He used the cups from God’s temple for wine for getting drunk. One night, at one of his parties, a hand appeared out of nowhere and wrote on the wall of Belshazzar’s palace. Frightened, Belshazzar sent for Daniel, God’s prophet, to explain what the writing meant. Daniel reminded Belshazzar of what had happened to his father.

Read Daniel 5:22–23 to see what else he said to him. That very night, enemy soldiers attacked, killing Belshazzar and taking his kingdom. God created us to give glory to Him, not to ourselves.

Excerpt taken from Training Hearts, Teaching Minds: Family Devotions Based on the Shorter Catechism