What is the purpose of life?! I’ve talked myself in circles countless times trying to figure out the answer – trying to fit what the Bible says into what popular opinion has told me all my life.
I’ve spent the last 30 years following a plan – go to school, make good grades, land a well-paying job, start a career, climb the ladder, and at some point get married and have a family. I don’t regret or take back anything I’ve accomplished in life so far; I’m grateful for every step along the way. God has used every single difficulty and victory leading me to where I am now.
Over the last few years, a single, recurring thought put me on the path to the World Race – there HAS to be more to life that this! More to life than working all week, spend the weekend recovering and cramming in all the fun stuff, just to wake up Monday morning to do it all over again. Of course, receiving an education is extremely valuable and necessary. Jobs, careers, and playing a part in society are all incredibly important. We are created for community and for each person to play a critical part in this world in which we live.
However, the hard truth is none of that matters if it isn’t for a higher purpose. When the things of this world are gone or we are gone from it, what’s left? Eternity. Eternity with God. Eternity without all our possessions, accomplishments, degrees. What’s left is the perfect Kingdom of God. Everything in this world is counted as lost for the hope of spending eternity with God, our Creator and our Lord. I don’t know about you, but that sounds like the better option to me.
So what exactly is this higher purpose? What is this thing worth more than any degree, job, career, even family? The answer has been right in front of me for so long! As Jesus told His followers over two thousand years ago, it is equally as relevant for all of us today. The greatest commandment – to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind. The second greatest commandment – to love others as yourself. And Jesus’ last words to His disciples and his instructions to all His followers ( including us) – go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them, and teaching them all that I have commanded you.
Love God, love others, teach them about Jesus. No thing on this earth is greater than the kingdom of God. So, we are to take what God has given us and use it to build His kingdom. There are no boundaries to anything in our lives not available for God to use. Everything from my free time to how I serve my church or community to my job or career is either for me to connect with God or point others to Him.
I’ve come to believe we can easily choose to live life in our own strength, in our own understanding, and make choices that fulfill our own desires and dreams. We tightly control our time, resources, gifts and set ourselves up where our comfort, safety, and security are the main priority.
But how much more satisfying could life be when we recognize that the God of the universe wants to guide me, wants to be with me, wants to use me. His plan, His purpose, and His will are perfect; He is all-knowing and all-powerful. So when He tells me to do something or wants me to do something, I guarantee it will always be an infinitely better outcome than anything I could have dreamed or imagined in my own understanding and knowledge!
Jesus is the key to the purpose of this life. Faith in Jesus as Lord allows us to have relationship with our Heavenly Father. That is why we are created – to give glory to God in all things through a personal, intimate relationship with Him. Then our love for God overflows to love for anyone and everyone – no exceptions. We point them to God so they might also have a relationship with Him and also experience the only thing that will satisfy us on this earth: knowing and being known by the God of the universe.
God’s kingdom is my new priority and motivation. No longer do I desire anything for my own glory or to boost my own pride and ego, no matter how noble my intentions may seem. I have experienced a complete shift in what motivates my every action, every thought, every desire. Abandoning the old foundation and building my life on a new foundation. That new foundation is what God reveals to me through His scripture and the Holy Spirit – about Himself, about me, about this world, about eternity.
But how do I accomplish this day in and day out? I’m not bound by this world because I am free in Jesus, but I still live in this world, faced daily with human needs and an enemy who tries to turn me from God every minute of every day.
God created each of us uniquely, therefore how we connect with Him and spend time in His presence listening to Him and talking to Him is unique also. What is it that allows you to enter into the presence of God? When or where do you feel closest to Him? For me, it’s anything from running in the morning to sitting in silence drinking a hot cup of coffee, hiking in the mountains to engaging in deep conversations with friends.
God also gives us unique passions, gifts, and experiences in order to draw others to Him through us using those things. He uses how YOU connect with Him to invite OTHERS to do the same. It’s not complicated – it’s as simple as having a conversation that could lead to any number of things – it’s loving people for who they are and desiring to see them intimately know the one true God and also set free through relationship with Him.
I don’t pretend I’ve lived this way before now, nor have I really figured it out yet on the race either. God is uprooting 30 years of selfish, self-serving motivation and behavior to transform my life. Transformation where every minute I am dying to my own desires and thinking of only what God wants me to do. That probably will take some time to unfold fully, maybe even my entire lifetime.
But having this truth revealed, I know I can’t go back.
It’s only forward, however uncertain the future might seem.
You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness. (Ephesians 4: 22-24)
