Why something rather than nothing?
Why are we, lost somewhere in a cosmic expanse of nothingness, clinging to a planet moving through said nothingness at approximately 67 miles per second, able to potter around making cups of tea and confusingly long sentences?
Science can go far in giving us a mechanistic answer, but in the same way that "the heating element has transferred enough heat energy to the water molecules, ensuring that some of them have gained sufficient kinetic energy to leave the fluid" is hardly a satisfying response to "Honey, why is the kettle boiling?", sometimes it is helpful to look beyond these rather primitive explanations.
So why are we here? What is the ultimate purpose of you, the human race, and the universe existing?
Worship.
Let me justify this by first explaining what I mean. Not elderly women singing hymns in chapels - or at least not exclusively that. Worship is something we all do, all of the time. Right now? You're worshipping.
We all have something that we value above all in our lives, and as such that thing is the object of our worship. It may be a lover, a child, a friend or a possession. But in our culture the idols of ideals, philosophy, science, and (perhaps more subtly still) prosperity, comfort and satisfaction are more likely.
We are worshipful creatures by instinct and by habit. But I am not merely suggesting that the meaning of our existence is to find something we're passionate about, make it our god and pursue it with all our hearts; not all worship is good, and we weren't made for all types of worship.
In Matthew 6:24 Jesus says "No one can serve two masters. For you will hate one and love the other."
We are creatures of worship because we were created to worship our creator. The sole reason for our existence is not the futile maximisation of our own satisfaction, but instead the glorification of the one from whom all things worthy of our affection came.
We can so easily make things like sex, friendships, music, logic, exercise, or happiness our gods precisely because these are not bad things. They aren't even merely competing with God for our affection. They were created by God in order that we may see His supremacy all the more clearly. So often we worship the creation and not the creator. We fixate on the mechanism and not the meaning.
In Exodus 20:5 we see that God is jealous for the worship of His people - "You shall not make for yourself an idol of anything in heaven above or on the Earth or in the water below... for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God."
An argument I've been hearing a lot recently runs along these lines: "If God exists, He created me a rational human being. I don't believe there is enough evidence to warrant my unabated adoration of Him, so why would He care that I refuse to worship Him? Surely He wants us to make the most of our lives? Why would God be so petty and selfish as to insist that I worship Him at my own expense?"
The question of existential evidence is one for another time, but the juicy part of this argument is the idea that God is selfish. I would agree; God is ultimately self-seeking. If He were not it would be difficult to find explain His jealousy, and summons to sacrificial worship.
However, before we are repelled by the idea of a selfish God we need to remember whom we are talking about. This is the being who brought everything into existence. More potently, this is a being who is perfectly good. God can not be unloving, as He is love - 1 John 4:8.
Therefore He has made us in such a way that His good is also what is best for us. God has not set up a zero sum game, that He may be glorified because of our suffering. Rather, He seeks for us to have life to the full - John 10:10. He is jealous of our praise not as one may covet their neighbours car, but instead as a spouse is jealous of their partners affection; this is not an unattractive jealousy, but one fully deserved and in the knowledge that it results in the best for all parties involved.
"God can not give us a happiness and a peace outside of Himself because it is not there. There is no such thing." - C.S. Lewis
What has this got to do with all of the singing Christians seem to love doing? Sometimes, sadly, very little. Humans are all too prone to thinking that we are worshipping God by doing the right things, and slow to realise that this in itself can be idolatrous - just read Isaiah 1!
But at its best, making music and singing praises onto the Lord can be an affirmation of our desire to put God above everything. An emotional engagement with the insufficiencies of ourselves. An acknowledgement of His sufficiency and sovereignty in all things. A declaration of our determination to live in such a way that He may be glorified through us. A celebration of all that He has done for us, and all that He has promised for us.
To make anything else our god is to elevate the gift above the giver, and to diminish our own satisfaction. God will still be glorious whether we worship Him or not. As Lewis so wittily put it, "A man can no more diminish Gods glory by refusing to worship Him than a lunatic can put out the sun by scribbling the word 'darkness' on the walls of his cell." Yet God invites us to live in such a way that reflects His glory, thus more fully stepping into what it means to be made in His image. This is the ultimate end. Not "meeting the one", or knowledge, or power, or happiness. But giving God glory.
"God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him" - John Piper
