by Jon Burnett
In Ecclesiastes 12:13, after much observation and thought on this very subject, Solomon in his inspired wisdom says, �The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.� In the book of Acts, the apostle Luke states God created man �that they should seek God� (Acts 17:27). He goes on to say that �we are indeed his offspring� (verse 28). Also in Deuteronomy 10:12, Moses said that God�s expectations were for us are to fear him, walk in his ways, love him, and totally serve him. Man�s purpose is clear: we are designed as servants, made by our Creator to love and serve him in return for our marvelous existence.
In life to we serve God? Are we following his commandments? Are we seeking him? In our day of increasing materialism, humanism, and moral relativity, you can be what you want, have what you want, and think and do what you want without ever being wrong. We�ve become so motivated by own successes and future that we have become not on selfish, but over confident in the effect our lives have on our world, and on God. A recent preacher I heard said that on his way to church one night, he saw two kids walking down the street away from the direction of the church building, and another carrying a song book on his way to the building. Are we walking away from God, or approaching him everyday. Compare your hours of fellowship, studying, singing, and praying as a Christian to those you�ve spent shopping, hanging with friends, watching TV, listening to inappropriate music, and sleeping in. Are we serving God or ourselves?
But this attitude of self-service and self-importance is common to many servants. Man has found itself in a state of failure. God�s purpose for our existence was eternal service to him, however, we turned away from that quickly (Genesis 3:16). Sin is our failure in purpose. To God sin is lawlessness (1 John 3:4) and wrongdoing (1 John 5:17). We do we break the law? Why do we do things we know to be wrong? It�s a simple question, but the answers are often startling. Our most common reason is to have fun. Are we enjoying our journey with Satan? By not serving God we are serving the very enemy of Christ.
But it�s not enough for man to merely abstain from wrongdoing and lawlessness, but to reject desire (James 1:14,15) and do what you know to be right (James 4:17). As Christians we are not only not sin, but also remove our desire for our former life away from Christ. We can�t desire sin anymore, but be fully devoted to Christ. We are told in Genesis that we are created in the image of God: we have a conscience! God has given man the ability to make his own decisions and the self-control to have power over his own body. Along with God�s commandments we have God telling us what to do in our minds (just make sure your mind isn�t telling you to do something the Bible doesn�t). We should not do anything we know to be wrong!
Only Christ himself was able to live without sinning. In writing to Christians in Rome, Paul said in Romans 3:10-12, �None is righteous, no, not one � All have turned aside; together they have become worthless.� The only distinction in the eyes of God is that between those who believe and do not, �for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God� (Romans 3:23). The �fall� Paul speaks of is not something that happened, but was still happening. We continue to sin! John told us that, �If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and truth is not in us� (1 John 1:8). Are we calling Christ a liar? By rejecting his salvation, we�ve essentially said that we have no sins. Are you perfect and exempt of needing Christ�s cleaning power? The Bible says no!
Man was created to serve God, keep his commandments, to seek him, to hold him in reverence. Instead, we have found superficial comfort in our worldliness. We sin, we do what we know to be wrong, and we seek not God, but rather gain. We have failed in our purpose of Creation! We have all sinned and made man worthless to God. But just as we have chosen to fall from God�s grace, we can choose to turn back to it in the cross of Christ. May we all do so, and in our repentance restore our worth to God.