The Pursuit of Purpose

Why are we here? This is a question that has puzzled humanity for nearly as long as humanity has existed, and perhaps never more so than in this 21st century. The lie that life is meaningless is propounded by evolutionists who foolishly conclude, “There is no God” (Psa. 14:1), and yet even the atheist’s heart yearns to accomplish something meaningful with his time on earth.

Few of us never aspired to be an astronaut, the president, or a movie star. Perhaps these aspirations were not as significant as we once believed, but they do reflect the common desire of us all to live purposeful lives. Even as adults we’re discontent with pointless careers. We have children to leave a living part of us behind once we ourselves are gone. We write blog posts because we want to be part of a conversation deeper than next week’s weather forecast.

As Christians, of course, we know that the Divine purpose of life is chiefly to enjoy an intimate relationship with our Creator and glorify Him “in our body and in our spirit” (Rev. 4:11; 1 Cor. 6:20; Eph. 2:10). Moreover, we have the promise of Christ that “if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also” (John 14:3). If all of this isn’t enough, recall that in the meantime we have been commissioned to join in the greatest rescue mission of all time by sharing the Gospel of salvation “to those who are perishing” (2 Cor. 4:3; Mark 16:15).

The objective of this blog post is not to encourage an overinflated sense of importance or self-esteem, but to offer a reminder of this simple yet profound Biblical truth: when Christ was on the cross, it was out of love for you and me (Rom. 5:8). To discount the meaning of life is to discount the value of Christ’s life-giving sacrifice by which you have been “bought at a price” (1 Cor. 6:20).