It is all about Jesus. In this life, it is all about knowing Him, and when we die, it will be about knowing Him. As some of you know, the Westminster Catechism tells us that our purpose is summed up as this: “The chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.” The author and pastor John Piper famously changed one word to say “The chief end of man is to glorify God by enjoying Him forever.” We are here to enjoy God and to worship Him, to give Him glory by our lives.

Of course, to glorify or worship someone or something is not something you can force upon anyone, much to the chagrin of many parents who wish their children would love God, or wives who wish their husbands would become believers. No – worship is something that comes naturally when you love and adore someone or something. When you enjoy something, what do you do? You praise it; you tell others about it, you want to share it with others; and you want to experience it again and again. You rearrange your schedule around it, you commit your life to it. When we enjoy something, we naturally want to praise it. C.S. Lewis put it this way: “I think we delight to praise what we enjoy because the praise not merely expresses but completes the enjoyment; it is its appointed consummation. It is not out of compliment that lovers keep on telling one another how beautiful they are; the delight is incomplete till it is expressed.”

I love UConn basketball – I love reading about it, tracking what recruits are coming. I look forward to the start of the season, I love watching games with others who like it. I like to talk about how good they are and talk with others who enjoy UConn basketball. I rearrange my schedule around their games.

I love the pictures Sarah McCoy takes of my kids. I love to share them with others, to look at them, to enjoy their beauty. I praise them, and I tell others about the fantastic job she does.

I can remember the first time I saw some of my favorite movies, like Forrest Gump, Memento, and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. I wanted to see them again, and take others to see them, and watch behind-the-scenes commentaries on the making of the movie so that I could learn all I could about them.

And so it is with many other things – the ocean, sunsets, landscapes; beautiful women or men. An exquisitely crafted object. A beautiful song played skillfully on an instrument. When we enjoy something, we praise it. We glorify it. We want to experience it again and again. We want to share it with others.

But if you’ve never seen the movie, can you really praise it? If you’ve never experienced the sunset, the beautiful song, the video that moves others to tears, how can you praise it or enthusiastically tell others about it? No, you must enjoy it for yourself, experience it for yourself first.