The Bible declares the divine origin and the divine destiny of man,
and that he was made in the image of God and for His glory.
A Threefold Obligation rests upon man to serve and glorify God,
"1. On account of his creation by God, the Father.
"2. On account of his redemption by God, the Son.
"3. On account of his regeneration and sanctification by God, the Holy
Ghost."
The Great Concern of Man should be conformity with the divine likeness
(John 5:30; Matthew 6:10,33; 16:26; Romans 14:8; I Corinthians 10:31).
"Be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing
of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good and acceptable and
perfect will of God" (Romans 12:2). It is only when man succeeds in
bringing his will to do God's will and makes God's plan his plan of
life that he comes to his best and highest estate. The world is full
of sin and misery, and there are many burdens heavy to be borne,
because man insists upon having his way instead of seeking God's
way. Many great civilizations have gone down and many forms of society
have been disrupted because, in them, man strove to set up his glory,
rather than God's glory, as the standard to be striven for. Man has
repeatedly attempted to attain to "the dominion" promised him only to
fail because he has desired such "dominion" to spend it upon
himself. God desires to crown man with glory and honour and to do
exceedingly large things for him, the Scriptures are filled with great
promises, but man only grasps at the shadow of power, when he might
have the substance. All great inventions and discoveries but point to
still greater ones, when man shall be fitted by spiritual grace and
goodness to be intrusted with them. The kingdom of heaven must come in
man's heart before any great material or spiritual advancement can
come in the world. Education, commerce, art, science, in all their
majesty of strength, can never do what the Christian religion can do
for men when it shall succeed in getting them to seek to be conformed
to "the divine likeness": this is a truth too little emphasized, but
it is fundamental and necessary to any real progress in the
world. "There is a higher law for life than self-will and unregulated
impulse; the real world goes deeper than things of sense; this
temporal life is related to eternity; and God is the central verity of
all."