THE PURPOSE OF MAN ON EARTH

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1 Thessalonians 5:23 “And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly.”

In this passage, the apostle Paul prays for the sanctification of believers. The word “sanctify” means to be set apart for a special reason or purpose. He is asking that God would set us apart fully, spirit, soul, and body, for His purpose. It suggests that everything created by God has a specific role to fulfill.

Every creation in the universe serves a purpose. When God created the world, including plants, animals, and humans, He set everything in place with a particular role in mind. Genesis recounts that after creating plants, God saw that they were good (Genesis 1:11-12). What was good in God’s sight wasn’t simply the existence of plants but that they fulfilled the role they were created for.

Plants were created primarily to provide food and sustenance for animals and human beings. They serve their purpose by offering nourishment and maintaining the balance of life. Plants don’t have emotions or consciousness—they don’t feel love, anger, or pain. They simply fulfill their assigned purpose.

Unlike plants, animals are created with emotions. They feel fear, anger, and even affection. Animals have a soul, which is evident in their capacity for emotion. For example, bees are not only hardworking but also very emotional creatures. When threatened, bees will defend their hive aggressively, demonstrating the strong emotions they possess.

Each animal plays a vital role in sustaining the Earth. Animals contribute to the delicate ecosystem in their unique ways:

1. Bees: Pollination Specialists Bees have a critical role in pollination, a process essential to plant reproduction. They are instinctively programmed by God to find nectar using specific signals. Interestingly, bees also understand the structure of a hexagon, the most stable and efficient design for building their honeycombs. Through their pollination activities, bees ensure that plants continue to grow and that food chains remain intact.

2. Ants: Soil Aerators and Farmers The book of Proverbs highlights the wisdom of ants (Proverbs 6:6-11), instructing us to observe their hard work and diligence. Ants serve multiple purposes. They aerate the soil, allowing for proper decomposition and plant growth. They also “farm” aphids for food and cultivate molds. Ant colonies are complex, air-conditioned systems that contribute significantly to the health of the soil and environment.

3. Salmon: Navigational Experts Salmon have an extraordinary ability to return to the place where they were born, even after traveling thousands of miles in the ocean. This remarkable homing instinct is part of their divine design, ensuring the continuation of their species.

4. Deer: Returning to Familiar Grounds Similar to salmon, deer also have a natural instinct to return to familiar areas, often coming back to the same place to graze or rest. This behavior contributes to the balance of ecosystems in specific regions.

5. Goats: Self-Regulators of Salt Intake Goats regulate their salt intake naturally, seeking out salt licks when they need to balance the minerals in their bodies. This is another example of how animals are divinely programmed to maintain their health and well-being.

All animals were created with a specific role in mind, and God declared them all “good.” They fulfill their duties instinctively and without question, contributing to the intricate design of life on Earth. Now imagine if a bee or any animal decided to resist its purpose. Chaos would ensue. But animals don’t protest—they do what they were created to do, which is why nature functions so seamlessly.

So, what is the purpose of man? Unlike plants and animals, humans were created with both a soul and a spirit. The spirit is what sets humanity apart, as it gives humans the capacity to seek after God and spiritual things. While animals instinctively fulfill their God-given roles, humans have been given free will to choose their path.

Man’s purpose is to contain God within himself. This means that our ultimate calling is to have a relationship with God, allowing Him to live in us and work through us. However, unlike animals that are programmed to fulfill their roles, humans were not created as automatons. God, in His love, gave man free will. He didn’t program Adam to automatically choose to live in communion with Him. Instead, God placed two trees in the Garden of Eden—the Tree of Life and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil—and gave Adam the freedom to choose.

The Tree of Life represents God’s Spirit, which was available for Adam to receive. God wanted Adam to choose life, to choose a relationship with Him. However, Adam, exercising his free will, chose otherwise, and this choice introduced sin and separation from God into the world.

God’s decision to give man free will is a testament to His immense love for us. He didn’t create us as mere machines programmed to follow Him. Instead, He desires a genuine relationship built on love, trust, and choice. Love cannot be forced, and that’s why God didn’t impose His will on Adam from the beginning.

The consequence of Adam’s choice was the fall, but God, in His infinite grace, provided a way for humanity to be restored to its original purpose: through the Lord Jesus Christ.

To fulfill our divine purpose, to contain God and live for His glory, we must be born again. This spiritual rebirth reconnects us with God and enables us to fulfill our intended role. Without this transformation, we are unable to serve the true purpose for which we were created.

Philippians 2:12-16 teaches us that it is God who works in us to will and to act according to His good purpose. Once we are born again, we have the power to do His will, not because we are programmed like animals, but because we willingly choose to submit to His Spirit and allow Him to guide us.

The purpose of man on Earth is deeply rooted in our relationship with God. While animals and plants fulfill their roles instinctively, humans are called to consciously choose God. We were created to contain His Spirit and live in communion with Him. This purpose is only realized when we are born again, allowing God to work in us for His glory.

In every choice we make, we are either aligning ourselves with our divine purpose or moving away from it. Our greatest fulfillment comes from choosing to live in the will of God, walking in the purpose for which we were created.