What is the purpose of life?
This is probably the biggest question we all live with. What is my purpose? What am I here for?
Purpose is very closely aligned with hope. Without purpose, we very quickly lose hope. The Bible says in Proverbs 29:18 “Without a vision, people perish”. Without a sense of purpose, life can seem pointless and hopeless.
We search for purpose in many different ways. For most of us, purpose comes from a sense of knowing that what we do, and who we are, makes a difference to someone.
We find purpose in knowing that our life is contributing to a greater cause.
This is the reason why so many people find a sense of purpose in supporting charities, raising funds for the needy and helping those who can’t help themselves.
And this is a magnificent thing to do. The Bible says in James 1:27 “True religion is caring for widows and orphans in their distress” and this means caring for, and helping those in need, and those unable to help themselves.
Christians have a very strong sense of purpose and call to devote our lives to help meet the physical and earthly needs of the poor, the hungry, the disadvantaged and the persecuted as well as helping people to find spiritual freedom through connection with Jesus Christ.
There are many people who give their whole life to helping others in both an earthly and spiritual way. It is such an important thing to do, you could be forgiven for thinking that helping others, being “the hands and feet” of Jesus and leading others into a knowledge and relationship with Jesus, is the purpose of life.
But have you ever asked yourself this question?
What would the purpose of life have been if Adam and Eve had not sinned?
What if sin had never entered the world and brought with it the chaos, pain, hardship, war, evil and injustice that we see in the world today? What if there was no need to spend our lives helping others and leading others to know God?
What then was the purpose of God creating the world and mankind?
This is a very powerful question to ask because it brings us back to the very basics of what we were created for. It identifies the answer to one of life’s deepest questions; what is the purpose of life?
Mankind was created, in the very beginning, for a purpose and that purpose has not changed. It is still the main purpose of life today. If we discover this purpose, we will live a very fulfilled life.
God created the world and mankind to be in relationship with Him. It was His purpose from the beginning to love us, walk with us, spend time with us, to be in relationship with us.
Colossians 1:16 says “all things were created through him and for him” and Revelation 4:11 says “You are worthy O Lord to receive glory, honor and power; for you have created all things, and for your pleasure they are and were created”
We were created simply to have a loving relationship with God and to spend time with Him in His presence. Nothing more, nothing less.
Before it ever became necessary for us to help other humans, or to lead them to the knowledge of God, our first and foremost purpose for existence was to be in relationship with God.
I think about Adam and Eve in the garden and realize that they had nothing else to do in life but spend time with God. They did not have to work. They did not have to organize and plan their life. There was nowhere to go. No problems to be solved. There were no other people that needed to be helped. There were not even any prayers that needed answering. It was all about just being in relationship with God. (What a beautiful life He intended for us!)
This is the foremost purpose of our existence. When we spend time with God in His presence, loving Him, we are as close to the very purpose – the essence of our existence, that we will ever be until we see Him face to face in eternity.
In the meantime, we don’t live in that perfect world that God first created. We do live in a fallen world that is full of chaos, pain, hardship, war, evil and injustice and there are people who need both our earthly and spiritual help.
And so we have a secondary purpose in life. The Bible says in Ephesians 2:10 “For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do”.
Often people make the mistake of trying to find and fulfill the secondary purpose of their life – often as a way of fulfilling their own lives.
But you will never find the ultimate peace and fulfillment you desire until you discover the first and foremost purpose for your existence, which is being in relationship with God and spending time with Him.
And here’s an amazing thing I have discovered about God. When we spend time in that place that we were created for; in His presence, our earthly purpose is discovered and flows out of that relationship with Him.
If you have been anxious about finding your purpose and calling in life, then spend time doing the first and foremost thing you were created for and everything else will fall into place.
If you have discovered and are fulfilling the second greatest purpose of your life, it is so important that you don’t lose sight of the first and foremost purpose of your life.
It is so easy to get caught up in the passion and busyness of doing your second greatest life purpose that it’s easy to forget about the most important purpose of your life, which is spending time with Him. And that leads to tiredness and burnout.
It’s easy to get caught up in the “doing”, but the most important thing is to just “be”. Be still in His presence. Be still and know God.
Personally my life never feels more perfect, or more right, than when I spend time in meditation with God and His Holy Spirit because that is when I am the closest to being and doing what I was made for.
And when I spend time with God, not only am I the closest to the purpose of my existence that I can be here on earth but it refreshes and empowers me and creates opportunity for me to fulfill my secondary purpose in life; helping and loving others and leading them into relationship with Him.
I hope this inspires you to take some time out from the busyness of life and reconnect with the purpose that you were created for and spend some time resting in the peaceful presence of God.
If you’re not sure how to connect with God, you can find more information on this website on how to do that.
So many people spend their entire lifetime trying to find purpose and meaning. Please consider sharing this message with your friends by clicking on the links below because there is probably someone you know who needs to hear this message.
Praying blessing and peace for you!
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