All trees need access to sunlight in order to grow. Likewise for Christians to grow they must dwell in divine light. We cannot properly develop by focusing on ourselves. D. M. Baillie says it well:
To a true Christian ethic the ‘chief end of man’ is not the cultivation of his personality, or even the formation of his character on ideal lines, or anything so self-centred and introverted as that, but faith and love towards God as He comes to us through our relationships with our fellow-creatures—in short, ‘to glorify God and to enjoy him for ever’. Concentration on the development of personality or the cultivation of character does not really produce a soundly integrated personality, and certainly does not produce Christian character. The good man, in the Christian sense, is not centred upon himself, but on God. (Baillie, 44)
Baillie’s quote comes from the first question and answer of The Westminster Shorter Catechism:
Q. “What is the chief end of man?”
A. “Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him forever.”
Our chief end is not to glorify ourselves and to enjoy ourselves forever. Nor should we seek to cultivate our personalities or character in our own strength. We are curved in on ourselves (Latin: incurvatus in se) so we need to straighten out and open up to light from above.
How do we straighten out?
By looking to Christ—his life, death, and resurrection. Seeing the divine gift of salvation begins to break us free from our curvature problem. But this is an ongoing process. Martin Luther said,
Our nature, by the corruption of the first sin, is so deeply curved in on itself that it not only bends the best gifts of God toward itself and enjoys them . . . or rather even uses God himself in order to attain those gifts, but it also fails to realize that it so wickedly and viciously seeks all things, even God, for its own sake. . . . The problem is that we don’t want to come into God’s presence for God’s sake, but for the sake of all the good things he can do for us: we want to use God. (Leithart, 44)
Even after we have accepted Christ, we can pull good things inward toward the self. Instead of using God to satisfy our own desires, we should seek to enjoy God. As Paul says, “Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!” (Phil 4:4).
I have served as a high school Bible teacher and counselor in Asia and the U.S. I am passionate about understanding and teaching the Bible. Here’s a link to my book page.
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