I remember my first internship well. Because that’s the opposite of how it went. I was working at an advertising agency, creating campaigns for big tech companies and NBA teams— the dream! Or at least I thought.
There I was, with the job I had spent years preparing for, when the panic set in. Instead of feeling fulfilled and excited, I felt frustrated and stuck.
I dreaded going to work. I spent most of my day bored, looking for distractions. By the time I got home, I was both exhausted and wishing I had done more with my day. Rinse and repeat.
I couldn’t help but ask: “Is this it?”
At the time, I thought I was asking, “What should my job be?” This one didn’t pan out, but surely the next one will.
Now I realize I was actually asking, “What is my purpose?”
Many of us are asking that. Maybe you are. Almost all the college students I work with are. It might be the main question underneath all the other questions they’re asking.
Should I change my major? Take this job? Move to this city? Date this person? Go to grad school?
What they’re asking is: what is my purpose?
Maybe that’s where you are — preparing for the next stage of life and trying to figure out what to do. Or maybe you already made the decisions. You picked the job. You moved to the city. You got married. You had kids. But now, instead of feeling like you found your purpose, you feel stuck.
We all want purpose, but we’re not always sure where to find it.
Thankfully, Christians have been asking this question for a long time.
One answer comes from the Westminster Shorter Catechism, a resource written in the 1600’s to show Christians how to live. It starts by asking, “What is the chief end of man?”
In other words: What are we here for? What is our purpose?
The answer is beautifully simple: To glorify God and enjoy him forever.
To glorify God means to reflect his greatness, honor him, and praise him. To live in a way that shows he is good, beautiful, and satisfying.
To enjoy God means what it sounds like: to delight in him. To know him not only as Lord, but as treasure.
Those two things often feel different to me.
Glorifying God suggests going to church, reading the Bible, serving, and evangelizing.
And honestly, I don’t often enjoy those things. At least, not as much as the other things in my life. I enjoy coffee on my back deck, laughing with friends, hiking in the woods, eating good food, and holding my child.
But I don’t always see how those things connect to God.
Which one is the Christian life supposed to be: duty or delight?
Are we here to glorify God, or to enjoy him?
The answer is yes.
God’s glory and our enjoyment of him belong together. In fact, one of the most freeing truths in the Christian life is this: we glorify God by enjoying him.
John Piper puts it like this in Desiring God: “God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him.”
Enjoyment glorifies the one enjoyed, and that’s especially true of God.
You were made to bring glory to God as you enjoy him.
Practically, how do we do that?
Here are two ordinary ways to live out your purpose by enjoying God.
1. Enjoy God by reading his word
If you’re like me, reading your Bible doesn’t always sound enjoyable.
But look at how the people who knew Jesus talked about it. The apostle John writes, "We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. We write this to make our joy complete" (1 John 1:3–4).
John says the message about Jesus is an invitation into a relationship with God, and the goal is joy.
When you read the Bible, you’re not just learning about God or reading old stories.
You’re getting to know your Creator. You’re hearing his voice so that you'll better know what it sounds like. You’re learning how he thinks, feels, sees, and rules over all things — yourself included.
The next time you open your Bible, ask: What is God showing me about himself that helps me connect with him? What is beautiful here that I can delight in? What can I enjoy about him?
2. Enjoy God through his gifts
Paul writes, “So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God” (1 Corinthians 10:31).
That’s a wild sentence if you think about it.
Paul doesn’t say, “Whether you preach or pray or go on a mission trip, do all to the glory of God.” He says, “whether you eat or drink.”
Your life with God is not limited to the “spiritual” things.
You can glorify God while eating breakfast. Drinking coffee. Going for a run. Watching your kid play soccer. Studying for an exam. Building a spreadsheet. Grilling burgers. Laughing at the table. Taking a walk. Resting.
But there is also a warning here. If Paul has to tell us to eat and drink to the glory of God, then there is a way to eat and drink that doesn’t glorify God.
The question is whether the gift leads us back to the Giver.
A good meal becomes worship when it makes you grateful. A friendship glorifies God when it reminds you that you were made to love and sacrifice for others. Work glorifies God when you treat it as a place to reflect God’s call to create, cultivate, and work hard.
The goal isn’t to over-spiritualize every conversation or cup of coffee. The goal is to wake up to reality.
This is your father’s world. Every good gift comes from him. And when you enjoy his gifts with gratitude, humility, and worship, you are enjoying him through what he has made.
Your purpose is simply to glorify God and enjoy him forever.
Imagine a church that really believed that.
A people who are not frantic to find purpose, because they have already been given one.
A people who can play, cook, study, work, parent, serve, and love to the glory of God.
And as we enjoy him, others will see — because if we genuinely enjoy God, he will be glorified as we live out our beautifully simple purpose.
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