I remember a time when electronic products came with proper instructions. My first mobile phone had a thick booklet, explaining in detail each button, and the various features. But no longer. Now there is a diagram with the outside buttons pointed out, but no further detail. You need to find the various features yourself.
But that is not how God operates. He doesn’t expect us to discover on our own, through instinct or trial and error, how to do what we were made for. The first question of the Shorter Catechism (WSC) said our purpose ‘is to glorify God and enjoy him forever.’ The second tells us where we find our instructions.
WSC Q2: What rule hath God given to direct us how we may glorify and enjoy him?
WSC A2: The word of God, which is contained in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, is the only rule given to direct us how we may glorify and enjoy him.
The Bible! That’s where we find our answers! That’s where we find our instruction! God has spoken words of life, and they are recorded for us, and passed down through the ages. The word of God, the Scriptures, the Bible, is where we discover how we can do this incredible task, our wondrous purpose.
God’s word is not only ‘able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Jesus Christ,’ but it useful for how we live and what we think (2 Tim 3:15-17). The church is ‘built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone’ (Eph 2:20).
There is no other ‘rule.’ No obligation or teaching found outside Scripture has any authority when it comes to glorifying and enjoying him. He has given us all we need. Praise God.