Good luck trying to get most people to thoughtfully articulate the purpose of their existence.

Some might say, “To be a good person.” Others may respond, “To grow up, have a family, and leave something for the next generation.” Or perhaps, “To leave the world a better place.”

These are all logical answers but lacking in insight into the grand scheme of things.

Most biblically literate folks would answer by harkening back to those familiar words from Genesis 1:26-28 in the Book of Genesis: 

“… God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. God blessed them; and God said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth.’”

But despite this original glorious mandate to mirror the character of their Creator, our forebears Adam and Eve rebelled.

Mankind then morphed into a terrible mishappen version of what God had originally intended.

Rather than being God-centered, man became twisted into a self-centered, sinful “image” of the Serpent who beguiled them in the Garden of Eden. 

God’s Two Adams

We also learn from scripture that God was not caught by surprise by all this, and was prepared with an ingenious plan to bring about a new creation of mankind, restoring His divine image to His beloved creatures.

The Apostle Paul writes about our first earthly forebear, Adam, dooming his sin-stained family tree to lives separated from God.

But then, in the fullness of time a “Last Adam” would come to form a second family tree, rooted in Heaven, that would be joined to God forever, as explained in 1 Corinthians 15:45-49:

“So it is written: ‘The first man, Adam, became a living person.’ The last Adam was a life-giving spirit. However, the spiritual is not first, but the natural; then the spiritual. The first man is from the earth, earthy; the second Man is from heaven. As is the earthy one, so also are those who are earthy; and as is the heavenly One, so also are those who are heavenly. Just as we have borne the image of the earthy, we will also bear the image of the heavenly.”

This is why Jesus was so emphatic when He declared in John 3:3, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless someone is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

All men are born physically, naturally. Only those who are “born again” are born supernaturally and therefore bound for Heaven.

Additionally, all who are born again possess the image of their forebear, Jesus Christ.

So, what is man’s purpose today?

Simply put, our primary purpose is 1) to be born again (a one-time transaction) and then 2) spend the rest of our lives allowing God to cause us to be conformed to the image of His Son (a lifetime process), according to Romans 8:28-30:

“And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters; and these whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified.”

Notice the so-called “golden chain of redemption:”

Foreknown  Predestined  Called  Justified  Glorified.

This is God’s purpose for every human being IF they will listen to God’s inner voice, stop the mad dash of a life going nowhere in Adam#1, and lay hold of His Gospel promise to be included in the life of the Last Adam.

Outside of that, man’s innumerable strivings are simply window dressing, however “important” the world makes them appear.

The hard part: Letting go and letting God.

Now a paradox. God’s “job” in a Christians life is to gradually wean the believer from reliance on self to reliance on God. And His primary “tool” will surprise you.

In his book, The Complete Green Letters, Christian author Miles Stanford writes, “Failure where self is concerned in our Christian life and service, is allowed and often engineered by God in order to turn us completely from ourselves to His Source for our life — Christ Jesus who never fails … As we, in our abject need, consistently and lovingly look on our Lord Jesus revealed to us in the Word, the Holy Spirit will quietly and effortlessly change the center and source of our lives from self to Christ — hence for each of us it will be, ‘Not I, but Christ.’”

How About You?

So, whose image would you like to bear? Adam #1’s with his empty worldly strivings, or the Last Adam’s image reflecting the character and excellencies of the Living God?

Your choice.

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