Made for Glory and Joy
On the chief end of man
Maxwell Kendall · 2026-07-05
The very first question of the Shorter Catechism does not begin with sin, or law, or even with God in the abstract. It begins with purpose — the reason we exist at all. And its answer joins two words we rarely hold together: glory and enjoy.
Two ends that are one
We often assume that giving God glory and enjoying ourselves pull in opposite directions — that worship is a duty we pay before we get to the things we actually like. The catechism refuses that split. Notice it says man's chief end (singular), not ends:
Man's chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him forever.
To glorify God is to enjoy him, and to enjoy him is to glorify him. They are two descriptions of a single life rightly ordered toward its Maker.
Why this comes first
- It frames every question that follows. Sin, salvation, and obedience only make sense against the backdrop of what we were made for.
- It is deeply personal. The catechism is not asking what humanity is for in general, but what you are for.
- It ends with forever — locating our purpose not merely in this life but in the life to come.
Everything else in the catechism is, in one sense, a footnote to this first line.