I’ve had the privilege of working with hundreds of students and younger adults for over 20 years now. Much of this mentoring has centered around either the humanitarian challenges our world faces or better understanding how we each were created to engage them. “Why am I here?” and “What is my purpose?” have been asked often during these years, inquiries that are echoed by non-students – and probably by you – as well.
“If I knew the meaning of life, do you think I’d be spending mine up here?”
The above two questions have a very uncertain, confusing, and “climb-the-mountain-to-ask-the-guru” kind of air to them. Part of that’s because we don’t (and perhaps can’t) know ourselves fully enough to decide our reason for being with any true authority. And if we were put here for a reason, it wasn’t determined by us and therefore can’t be reliably discovered by mere introspection. Fortunately, that welcomes us directly to the one who does know us fully and did determine our meaning of life: our creator. Even better, his purpose for us isn’t uncertain or confusing at all. His words on the matter are quite concrete, invitingly simple, and more of the “the-oldest-wisest-one-already-told-us” type.
“From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth…God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us” (Acts 17:26-27). According to the Christian God, the meaning of your life and your purpose on earth is to seek to know and be known by your creator-how awesome (Click to tweet)! That you may only perhaps reach out for him and find him means that you are also able not to seek him, reach out for him, or find him.
In Genesis, God desired to walk with man and woman in the paradise of Eden, and in Revelation he will marry himself to his people in heaven. The biblical story between those bookends simply proves that we can’t achieve such perfection on our own and can only accomplish our purpose through Jesus’ death and resurrection.
God’s purpose for humanity makes sense of so many confusing concepts. Hell is no longer solely a punishment; it’s a place for people who want to be where God cannot be found-where they can be their own god. Heaven is no longer a perfect vacation or eternal family/friend reunion; it’s an environment for those who desire it where God can finally, forever, and fully be found. Salvation is no longer a prayer, a memory, or a moment; it’s a new life of pursuing increasing intimacy with God (Click to tweet). It’s the means to the end we were each created for: perfect community with God, as God, forever.
And that’s not all; once you know why you’re here, you can make way more sense of anywhere you’re headed. Come discover in Healing Hereafter (just two clicks away right here) the many ways the meaning of life and your purpose in it put so much doubt and confusion to rest!
May the restoration Jesus’ resurrection brings heal your hereafter. Have a wonderful weekend!
