Hey guys,
The first few weeks of BLAST we looked at our mission statement, who God is, and the Trinity. As Brynn, Christy and I met to plan what we would talk about at BLAST, we decided we'd use the Westminster Shorter Catechism as a guide. The Catechism is a little book written to help teach people the basic doctrines (beliefs) of the Church. In the past, kids learned the catechism in Sunday School. Your grandparents and maybe parents learned the questions and answers.
So the very first question in the catechism is:
What is man's chief end?
And the answer:
Man's chief end is to glorify God and enjoy him forever
To put it another way, what's the number one reason why God made you?
1.Glorifying God- Showing how wonderful he is
2. Enjoying Him- enjoying how wonderful he is.
So if God created us to enjoy Him, its important to know how we can do that. You cannot fully enjoy a flower unless you stop and take a good look at it, 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.
Possible Questions you might want to respond to- or you might have something completely different to say!:
When you think about your life- where does this fit in, where and how do you glorify and enjoy god? Does it surprise you that this is the absolute number 1 reason God created you? Do you feel like you enjoy God? If I had just asked the question whats the number one reason God made you....what would your answer have been?
Ok so write a few sentences and post them as a comment by friday, and comment on as many other comments as you want :)
See you all soon!
this is just a quick comment but yea:)
ReplyDeletei thought that we were made to show how the power and wonderfulness (if thats a word!:s) of god and also to worship him:)
Xx
p.s. i no this was a quick comment but will comment more tomorrow! lol
I think that I sometimes take God for granted because he has always been there for me and provided all of my needs. I think that I need to sometimes to make more time to worship and to glorify him, after all he made everyone of us!
ReplyDeleteLx
i agree lois:)
ReplyDeletebut i do try to pray often to god about any worries i have:)
btw i dont really get much time to read my bible so was thinking if we could look at it some weeks in blast?! even though we do - just keep that up!! lol:D Xx
Yea I would pray most nights and I try to do devotions but I agree with Rachel sometimes I feel that I don't spend enough time doing that!
ReplyDeleteYea I feel sometimes that i often say the same prayers over which i try not to but sometimes i suppose i just am so sleepy and want to go to sleep that i just say stuff that i usually say and dont really focus. so yea i think i am going to try to prayer more when i am awake more so maybe in da mornings and even try reading my bible then !
ReplyDeleteSamers lois and Rachel
ReplyDeleteFor me this question kinda helps me prioritize. Lots of things in our life can seem super important...but then I think, you know what's actually important, what's actually important is am I doing what God made me to do- because when I'm chilling in heaven all the other stuff will seem lame- and all that I'll really value is the stuff that was the God stuff.
ReplyDeleteSo I cheated and read your comments first- heres a couple of thoughts.
The bible reading- we can and will! Also, another option, it wouldnt be cumpulsory but for those who wanted we could do a reading plan all together-even talk about it on here each week.
Amount of time- Lois your comment got me thinking-heres a question for you (you don't have to answer- just food for thought). Do we think we should spend more time with God because that's what Christians should do...or because we want to know God better and meet with him?
I think for everyone, including myself, unless we're really careful,some of the time its the first- but what kind of friend only talks to you because they have to?!
Prayer stuff- how many of our prayers are so dull that we don't even notice if God answers them or doesn't. I think prayers should be exciting- because when we see God answer prayers we see God work and thats awesome. I think alot of the time I pray lame prayers :S
Anyhows there are some thoughts- keep blasting! :D
I think I do spend time with God cause I want to get to know him better. I'm not the best at praying though I do keep a prayer diary and I think it's really cool to see God answer your prayers. I've been doing the E100 and I think some of the readings are good and I hadn't read some of the things before. But I find that some of them are waaaay too long and I think im sacrificing my normal quiet time to do them.
ReplyDeleteI think that I spend time with God to get to know him better and to build a realationship with him!
ReplyDeleteI try to read my Bible every morning and it really gives me a great start to the day. Is anyone else doing the E100? It would be good to have someone else to discuss stuff with and to keep me on track cause I think I am a bit behind!(^_^)
ReplyDeleteI can not believe it is friday already. For anyone that did not hear this week - I have an offer from Queen's for Medicine (providing I get an A in Chemistry),
ReplyDeleteI got an interview from Liverpool
And I got my AS results both A grades
So it's been a pretty good week. And GOD has answered a HUGE prayer for me! Praise Him. I think I need to fill you all in because I guess it will somewhat influence my response.
To GLORIFY God for me is to Praise Him both in worship, and with my life- how I live it, trying to follow His commands and continually seeking His plan for my future but also for the simple what He wants me to do or act now.
How do I ENJOY God: when i'm spending time with Him, getting to know Him better studying His Word and praying. This week the assurance that what I was convinced He wanted me to do careers wise, seems to be coming true, has definately been full of enjoying God moments. Entering Down High (at the bottom of the year grades wise) I never would have dreamed I would have left with the grades I achieved and then have gone on to apply to medicine and get an offer- without God I would not be where I am right now, that may sound extreme, but for me I know it to be true. Feel free to ask me about it all. Also before this week I had times when I really enjoyed how God had been working in my heart giving me joy and peace amidst university rejections for 2 other medical school and waiting a long time to hear from the other 2. Which could have been pretty crappy times. However, admittedly and regrettably there are times when I do not always 'enjoyed' God- frustrated would be the most accurate term. But generally in those times when I force myself to get back to proper God times I begin enjoying Him again.
I thought it was odd that it does not include anyone else- There are just two subjects. You/I are to glorify God and enjoy Him. It does not include sharing the message, but I guess this should follow naturally as we get to know God more and want to glorify Him,sharing Him is probably an other way we can.
I also think it is funny how God made us to Glorify Him and to enjoy Him, I mean if you were going to make something/one to glorify you would you know make something greater than us, who continually mess up, or fail to trust...
Congratulations you have read to the end of this uber long post.
Oh dear.... oh dear that was a looooonnnnngggg comment guys! Sorry!
ReplyDeleteJust read all your comments....I'm loving this discussion! In response to Louis' first comment :)
ReplyDelete'I think that I sometimes take God for granted because he has always been there for me and provided all of my needs. I think that I need to sometimes to make more time to worship and to glorify him, after all he made everyone of us!'
Totally agree, but also thinking about how we glorify God in the every day things, how we interact with each other, being loving and showing forgiveness for example when someone is frying our heads (Petra and I both need to work on this one ;) )
Christy I think you touched on something really important that this question shows us.
ReplyDeleteIt is so easy to think of Christianity as doing the things that God wants us to do...and even that God loves us more when we do them...I mean we'd never say that or think it directly but we can kinda live like it's true- Like God made us to do certain things. I mean when we make something alot of the time its because we need it to do something...I need somewhere to sit so I'll make a chair- that kind of thing.
The reality is nope, he made us to love him and be in relationship with him- and thats it! nothing we can do could ever make Him love us one bit more or one bit less.
So yeah I totally agree- evangelism isn't something we go out and do like a chore because its what we were made to do, because Jesus told us to- its because we have good news and when you have good news you want to tell everyone you can- we shouldnt need a command to do it
So I suppose this whole post was a very long way of saying " Yes Christy I totally agree! " :)
As for the making something better, a couple of thoughts on that. Firstly we are made in the image of God so that explains some of our characteristics. Secondly I wonder if the possibility of screwing up actually makes the times we don't- well if that gives God more glory because thats Him at work in us. But I'mnot sure about that- I'd need to think more about it :)
Also YAY Lydia! You found us! Welcome :)
ReplyDeleteAnd do you guys have to hit post comment like 5 times before it works? or is that just me?
Very FUNNY christy lol but maybe it at times is true lol xo
ReplyDeleteHey guys finally found this really cool website!! About Rachel's previous comment i also feel that i don't get much time to read the bible during the week so it would be cool if we could study bits of it at BLAST. :)
ReplyDeletethat's me 'Cara said said' lol
ReplyDeleteHey Dave,
ReplyDeleteMy Mum wanted me to tell you this as she doesn't have your phone number,she can't come to your house for the course thing tomorrow as she has to go back to school for a parent's night!!!Mum hopes to be there next week!!!
Lx