The chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy him forever. The dominion mandate is to bring all of creation under the Lordship of Christ. It is our joy to be His servants and ambassadors to the kingdoms of earth.

I posit here that the chief mandate of the Christian is to worship the Creator God, to glorify Him, to enjoy Him, to serve Him; to love Him! The Westminster Catechism’s first answer can be summed up in this act of worship. And how do we worship the Eternal Immortal Invisible? How do we bring glory to His Name? How can we be fulfilled in the life He created in us? Joyful fulfillment comes through faith and obedience.

And that is the primary directive of the Christian: faith and obedience.

Living life to the fullest involves drawing deep on the power of the Holy Spirit in us to carry out the desires of the Word and the will of the Father, rather than the fleshly body and mind.

Full life is holistic. The power of Christ, the indwelling of the Spirit, the will of the Father, the obedience of faith, the power of prayer, the action of love, the hope of the promise. It’s the good life.

What is it to be a man? Manhood is not a macho facade of “guy stuff” or an effeminate extension of caution. God our Father showed us what it means to be a man when He sent His son, a man’s man, for the world to see. A real man is, above all, Christlike. He walks in faith and obedience.

Jesus was above all focused on His mission (to glorify the Father). Never wavering, never distracted. That’s what the chief mandate is about–focusing on the mission. Guarding against distractions, we must fight the sinful nature and the powers of darkness on all fronts, to bring glory to the Triune God, bring all things under the dominion of Christ our King, and enjoy His fulfillment and inheritance forever.

As soldiers on a mission, we haven’t been sent without our orders. In fact, the chief mandate has been derived from the paperwork with which we have been commissioned. You know, of course, that I speak of the scriptures.

In it’s original form, the Bible is Christ’s narrated word. Conceived by the Father, existing through Christ, and delivered by the Spirit, the very Words of God must not be taken lightly. I refer to all of scripture as the Torah, or God’s Law-Word. Scripture, being sufficient for all of life, primarily consists of doctrine (belief) and experience (action). In other words, what we must believe and what we must do. Faith and Obedience.