Rick Warren authored the book, The Purpose Drive Life. The human species, as all others, was created for a purpose. God was creative, making man in the image he would someday assume Himself. Thus, God created the heaven, the earth, Adam-kind, and other living things for a purpose. Mankind was for God's purpose, and all other things were for mankind's purpose.
Evolution denies a purpose for anything. Without a creation everything would be without purpose. The very idea of creation provides purpose for living things. What would a tree be, standing alone, if there was no purpose for it. If it merely evolved from some elementary substance by chance, then even trees serve no purpose.
Contentment is the satisfaction in knowing that we have a purpose in the cosmos. What good would the sun be if it's rays had no eyes to see its brilliance? What good would a moon be if there was no one to enjoy the seasons and tides? Those who have a religion of any sort have a purpose in life; it may be for wrong purposes, but everything in existence serves a purpose. For instance, the purpose of the angel Lucifer was to test the fidelity of people to God. Infidels have no purpose, and hence, accept no God or Devil. In order to have a purpose in life, people must have fidelity toward some thing. Mostly, infidels do have fidelity but it is to themselves (Gen 3:5).
God's purpose is everything. He is "Existence" (Exod 3:14). Because He existed alone, He desired companionship. Mankind was created for communion with God. He saw that all that He created was "very good" (Gen 1:31). The creation was for God's satisfaction. All things before them were made for the first man and woman; they were to satisfy men. On the other hand, mankind, created lastly, was made for the satisfaction of God.
Adam was assigned the task of caring for the Creator and creation, and God promised to take care of man. That mutual understanding and consideration is called "love." Love is not one-sided nor intermittent: "Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends. (1 Cor 13:6-8; ESV). Love is also mutual. For there to be love, love must be reciprocated. God loves us, and Christians want the love of God. We expect His love and He expects ours; He even commands that we love him with our entirety (Greatest Commandment). His grace for us demonstrates His love. Our acceptance of God's grace - his gift of faith and the hope of salvation - demonstrates our love for Him.
Our purpose in the cosmos is to be a creature worthy of God's love. He created for us to love Him, and mankind failed by taking His will vainly - without purpose. Because God so loves us, he provided a second chance which theologians call regeneration, but since we "must be born again," and we were created, rebirth is being re-created or have a re-genesis.
The enlightenment of rebirth is God's purpose for mankind. The purpose God put on flesh was to provide a perfect sacrifice for our purpose. Our purpose and Jesus's are intertwined. Our hope is in Jesus if we are born again. Jesus's purpose changed after he was sacrificed for us. His "Ghost" returned to comfort his new creatures.
Vanity condenses to esteeming ourselves beyond anything. It is the perception that vain people are the gods. Vain people care mostly for themselves. The religion of vain people is self-esteem. We have been led to believe that, that is a good thing, but it is not. Humility is the opposite of vanity; that is having a perception of oneself that matches reality. We are not gods, but God Is! Meek people have humility; prideful people are vain.
Kings are served delicacies by lesser people. Kings are usually the most vain of people. Most people, in that they will never be kings, appropriate godhood on themselves. Others would challenge their royalty but their godhood is done in stealth. Satan is a pretender to God's throne, and as his offspring, sinners seek a place in the Devil's court. They can never truly be gods, but they can be as gods. Pretense to godhood is vanity. Solomon even thought kingship is vanity, let alone godhood!
KEY VERSES:
Thus saith the Lord that made thee, and formed thee from the womb, which will help thee; Fear not, O Jacob, my servant; and thou, Jesurun, whom I have chosen. For I will pour water upon him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground. I will pour my spirit upon thy seed, and my blessing upon thine offspring... They that make a graven image are all of them vanity; and their delectable things shall not profit; and they are their own witnesses; they see not, nor know; that they may be ashamed. Who hath formed a god, or molten a graven image that is profitable for nothing? ...Who hath formed a god, or molten a graven image that is profitable for nothing? I have blotted out, as a thick cloud, thy transgressions, and, as a cloud, thy sins: return unto me; for I have redeemed thee... shout, ye lower parts of the earth: break forth into singing, ye mountains, O forest, and every tree therein: for the Lord hath redeemed Jacob, and glorified himself in Israel.(Isa 44:2-3,9-10, 18, 22)God pouring his spirit on Jacob's seed points to the birth of Jesus. The blessings God will pour out points to the people called Nazarenes and Christians. Those promises are followed by "they that make a graven image are all of them vanity." The problem is not in the image for God easily topples them; the real problem lies in the work of our hands, and what enters and leaves the mind!
We all have admired some work or artistic expression of our minds and hands. Taken to the extreme, that is making ourselves some type of royalty - princes and princesses perhaps. When God is taken in vain, people serve their own master which is themselves. They come to think either there is no destiny or that they can control their own destiny. That is vanity; we are not gods, and as such, are not in control. Hope is that someone is. Some have an unknown God but Paul proclaimed his Name (Acts 17:23). Philosophy has no god; each man is their own god. Paul set them straight. They were vain people sitting before an altar to a god whose identity was unknown to them. Paul proclaimed Jesus who is the only God who can resurrect (Acts 17:32).
God's purpose for us is for us to love him. Our purpose is to live forever. Resurrection fulfills our purpose for ourselves. All else is vanity for what would life be without the hope of salvation? Vanity as Solomon pointed out. The Way to obtain resurrection is redemption. Isaiah in the key verses was writing of Jesus's purpose - to redeem Jacob. We are Jacobs "seed." Isaiah was talking about Christians! Isaiah wrote that the Redeemer would glorify himself in Israel. That has double significance; he was the seed of the man Israel, and when Jesus was transfigured, he became eternal as God glorified him on the mountain. Isaiah knew not only that Jesus would redeem mankind, and glorify mankind by God becoming as humans, in contrast to man becoming as God!
"Vanity" is failure to acknowledge Jesus's purpose - to redeem and resurrect fallen man. God assumed Names upon showing his face. He is called Jesus, the Christ, the Son of God, and God With Us. The most important is the Name - Jesus. Hold that thought for a moment.
When the Redeemer comes, Isaiah said that every tree within the forest would sing praises to him. I recently wrote that I see men as trees walking and refer to the trees of the forest as men walking. (https://kentuckyherrin.blogspot.com/2019/01/trees-walking.html; be sure to read the continuation as well) ). Isaiah spoke of men in the same manner! Isaiah saw men as trees and Christians as forests. Adam was assigned to dress and keep the Garden (Gen 2:15) and I take that to mean take care of the trees! (THE Tree of Life in the center of the Garden and the souls of mankind (man's pre-existence) who resided in the Garden of God.) Now let us return to the subject of vanity.
I submit that the First Commandment means anything or anyone else assuming the "face of God." In the Hebrew, "face" is as applicable as "besides" (Strong's Dictionary). God isn't concerned with idols; he's concerned with those who assume godhood for themselves as Simon the Sorcerer did. He called himself God (from secular history) and the Savior. He even levitated in mockery of Jesus's ascension. Simon Magus put on God's "face" and violated the First Commandment.
With his arrogance, Simon also deemed Jesus's redemption as vanity - without purpose. Jesus, again, is God's Name and that Name is the Way to eternal life (Acts 4:12). Simon could save no one. He himself died; he was not Jesus who was the "face" of God.
Now examine the Third Commandment: "Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain" (Exod 20:7). God is without name but is called Jesus. That command has little to do with saying God's Name, but taking His Name in vain.
The purpose of God showing His face and assuming a Name was to redeem and resurrect sinners. I believe that the Third Commandment is taking Jesus purpose with vanity, or uncaring (apathetically). On the other hand, it is safe to assume that we must not call the Lord, "Lord," unless he is the Lord Jesus (Mat 7:21) because those who take Jesus's purpose without significance will not be resurrected.
All is not vanity. Having a right relation with Jesus is not vanity. His Way is truth and life - eternal life. Is that not our purpose?
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