When I was a graduate student at Princeton Seminary,  I took a test that if passed, I would receive the Robinson Award… and $150 to boot.  That was big bucks in those days, my ‘salad days’.  My portable television was losing its ‘picture-hold’, so the screen kept scrolling up, around and around, so that if I didn’t get a different set pretty soon, I’d need to see a chiropractor on a regular basis or become a bobble-head doll long before they became popular!

What did I have to do to win such a coveted award with those 150 smackers?  Memorize the Shorter Catechism of the Westminster Confession of Faith. All 107 questions and answers verbatim.  Piece of cake!  Who doesn’t know that?  Besides me… and most of the human race, then and now!   But I worked hard at it.  Over and over again…memorizing while driving my 1963 VW beetle wherever I went.  Racking my brain until the little gray cells said ‘no more’.  On the day of the test, it all came together.   I won…along with buying that new television! However, 41 years later,  I only remember the question and answer to that very first catechism question, and it’s the big one–

‘What is the chief end of man?  Man’s chief end is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever’.   Step back a moment–isn’t that the most apt question in life?  Our chief purpose?  To glorify God.  And all that that means, individually and collectively.

The next part really amazes me–to glorify Him AND to enjoy Him.  As it says in Psalm 149:2–‘Let Israel be glad in his Maker…’ and verse 4–‘For the Lord takes pleasure in His people; He adorns the humble with salvation’.

Did you notice that the enjoyment runs both ways?  We delight in Him, and He takes pleasure in us.  A  loving, mutual relationship.  Nothing one-sided about it.  God takes such pleasure in those of us who trust in Him, who have received His salvation in Jesus Christ.  That’s you?  If not, ask His Son Jesus into your life today.  He loves you so much.

What about those of us who already have believed in Jesus, and maybe for a long time?  Does enjoying Him describe how we feel about our Lord?  Can’t wait to spend time with Him?  Nothing more important to you in all the world?

I ask myself the same questions.  I must be honest–sometimes yes, and sometimes… Maybe you feel that way?  I do know this that if I spend more time with Him, in prayer and in the Bible, doing for others, that my delight in the Lord keeps building.  The more I give to Him, the more enjoyment I receive.  The New Year approaches with time to decide to delight in the Lord, to enjoy Him.  Resolution #1?  More time with Him and for Him.   Go for it!  I will…

Prayer:  We want to live for you, our Lord.  In Jesus’ name.  Amen.