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What's My Purpose - Part 2

Mankind was Made in God’s Image to be His Vice Regent

Last week we looked at a general perspective regarding the purpose of mankind. Flowing out of our primary identity as his image bearers, God charges humanity to be fruitful, to fill the earth, to subdue it and rule over the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground (Genesis 1:28). In Genesis 2:15, after God had created a special garden for men’s dwelling, he put the man in the garden to work it, take care of it, and guard it. Later in the chapter we see the man giving names to the animals which God had created. In chapter 3 we see that he failed to guard against the danger that was present, disobeying God.

Let’s look at an analogy of mankind as God’s representatives on earth. God is like a CEO who creates a company, sets its vision and mission, and overall is responsible for the high-level organizational matters. He creates the systems, rules and operations that enable the company to run smoothly. Mankind is like the managing director who looks after the day-to-day running of the operation, making sure the CEO’s plans and processes are implemented correctly.


The term some theologians use to refer to this is vice regent, which basically means vice ruler. Mankind is vice regent over God’s creation. This means that God puts us in charge of his creation. He wants us to stand in his place and to be his representatives on earth; to care for and guard his creation and maintain working toward his vision and mission.

Mankind was made for Special Relationship with God

Because our purpose emerges out of our identity as made in the image of God, it is vital that we understand his purpose. What is God’s purpose? Our knowledge and understanding of God emerges from our experience of his work. Without knowing his work, it is impossible for us to know him and his purpose. He reveals his work to us through his creation and his word, the Bible. In the history of mankind, as depicted in the Bible, people come to know God by experiencing his work.

In Genesis God creates. He exerts himself and speaks creation into being and brings order into it. He makes the world a habitable place. With each creative activity of bringing order, God acknowledges the good that came out of his work (1:4, 1:10, 1:12, 1:18, 1:21, 1:26). Moreover, each creative activity is geared towards making the world a better, more habitable place for the creatures he makes on day 5 and the human beings he makes on day 6.

It is important to note that God creates mankind last of all, and he creates them with a very unique provision which we have already highlighted. He creates them in his image. As we said last week, this is a loaded term. Mankind has an extra special relationship with God. Notice in Genesis 1:28 that this is the only part of his creation that God actually speaks to. He gives them clear instructions. This special relationship is mankind’s ultimate identifying marker. Everything mankind is responsible for flows out of this relationship. This is why we are told in Genesis 2 that God created a garden for mankind to dwell in. It was a garden in which God and man had mutual access to each other, it depicted their special deep relationship.

From our understanding of Genesis 1&2 we can know that God’s activities are geared toward one purpose, to have a special relationship with mankind. He creates the world in order to make it habitable for them, he makes them in his own image, he sets them as vice regent over his creation and he plants a special garden for him to have a place of special connection with them. Thus, mankind was to embark on the mandate God had given him, to be his representative on earth, guarding it, caring for it and ruling it in his place. But, all of this was to happen while mankind maintained a special relationship with God and remained obedient to his purpose. It is in this relationship that man had vitality, it is in this relationship that they would be able to carry out their given mandate because this mandate flowed from this relationship.

The Goal of Work is God’s Glory and man’s Dignity

Remember the three characteristics of work…

1) Work is a creative endeavor in which a being exerts themselves and brings about order.

2) Work brings about good for the living creatures which God creates on day 4 and day 5.

3) Work brings about God’s glory which we defined as God making himself known to human beings.

One thing that is crucial to notice is how points 1 and 2 are fulfilled in the ultimacy of point 3. The third attribute functions as the ultimate purpose of work. When God works, creatively exerting himself, bringing about good for his living creatures, he is expressing himself thereby making himself known. He is bringing himself to bear on the existential needs of his creation and in doing so he makes it possible for the human beings that he created in his image to know him. God’s glory allows mankind to know him thereby to have a relationship with him.

In Genesis 3 we see that Adam failed to guard the garden against the serpent and was disobedient. This changed the relationship between God and Adam. No longer could Adam access God in close relationship as before, he failed to carry out the role of First Adam. Yet, God was merciful and extended grace to Adam, banishing him from the garden but maintaining relationship; one which retained the original mandate but needed reconciliation. Our purpose is still like Adam’s we just are unable to complete the task alone. In Christ, the second Adam, we can be reconciled to God. Through him there will be final completion and glory. But, in the meantime, we remain tasked with fulfilling our role in the mandate.

In Romans 1:19-20 Paul declares that God has made himself known to mankind through the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. Thus, when God works, he works so that people can know and understand him and so that they can have a renewed relationship with him.

This is true of our work as mankind. As human beings, we were created to work and this is our function. We were created to work as vice regents on earth, to creatively exert ourselves and bring about order for the good of mankind, and the glory of God. If you think about it, every single job in the world fits into this description. Even the lowest of jobs, in man’s eyes, provide an opportunity to creatively exert yourself and to bring about good.

This however does not mean we should neglect and ignore our God-given talents and take up any job. Our work allows us to express ourselves, to make ourselves truly valuable by providing our services to a world that needs them. It makes us known and it gives us dignity when our skills are of use to the world. We should always consider the roles of skill and passion. It is important for you to pursue a career path that you love, because then you can most creatively and skillfully exert yourself to bring about good.

Ultimately this should all be done to the glory of God. What this means for us as human beings is that, unlike God, we don’t bring glory to ourselves but we bring glory to him, by making him known. When people look at our work, they should see the imprint of God’s glory in its goodness, and they should be able to say we have gotten to know a bit more about God’s goodness from the goodness of your work.

This is why Paul writes, in 1 Corinthians 10:31, that whatever you do, do it to the glory of God. This means that we should seek excellence in all that we do, but not for our glory, for the glory of God. Further, it is through our work, when done properly, that we get to experience and know God. God gives us individuality and personality. More importantly, he gives us dignity and pride in our work. It is in this that we can be fully satisfied with our work because our work allows us to draw closer to God.

Our Satisfaction is found in relationship with God

When we began this blog post last week, we mentioned that the question of purpose can be tacked from many different angles;

1) What is my God-given gift to utilize for the benefit of the world?

2) How can I find satisfaction in my life?

3) What is the purpose of life in general, as in why do we human beings as a collective exist?

These questions bring different dynamics to the single idea that we want to function to the fullest of our potential and find satisfaction from what we do with our life.

But we must be very careful. The pursuit of a satisfying life often lands us in a ditch. We have to understand that it is not our work which brings satisfaction. This is the mistake which the world makes, and which lands us into trouble. This comes about as a distortion of our understanding of work, a discussion which we can not have in full here. But for our purpose, it is necessary to know that mankind often works for their own selfish reasons and they seek glory for themselves and this lands us in trouble because this is not what we were created for.

So, what is my purpose in life? The question cannot be answered by just figuring out what exactly you should be doing with your days. There are many ways to figure what kind of work you should embark on; knowing what your skills are, what you are or can be equipped in, what your passion is, and so forth. The important thing to understand is that it is not the work itself, or its rewards, that bring satisfaction. That is not what work is designed for.

Work is designed to point us to God’s glory such that we can enrich our relationship with him, which in turn is what brings us full joy and satisfaction in life. PURPOSE.

by Masimba Yuba

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