Have you wondered why you are on this planet? Is it really just to work, eat, sleep, be nice to people who are nice to you, try not to mess your kids up too much, enjoy entertainment and then die? All of these things are good gifts for our enjoyment, but none of them is why you exist. You were created for a purpose. You are not an accident.
Until we understand and embrace our reason for living, our lives will be fragmented, frantic or just plain failing. We experience this in broken dreams, broken bodies, and broken relationships. So what is the answer? Why do you exist?
The God who created everything made you for a purpose. God created you to reflect his own goodness by enjoying him forever. This is your purpose. It is only by living out this purpose that you will find the joy and wholeness that your heart craves.
Of course, there is a problem. You know it deep inside and you see it all around. We do not want to reflect God’s goodness. We want to elevate ourselves above God; or simply deny that he even exists. We want to do things our own way. As one teacher puts it, “It's my life. I should be free to do what I want, when I want, with whom I want . . . as long as I'm not hurting anybody.” But, of course, someone is always hurt. This is what has led to the fractions, franticness, and failures of our lives. This is what is called sin and it is serious. It is what has separated us from our creator. It is why every good thing in our life fails to fulfill us and every bad thing overtakes us. Living apart from our purpose of reflecting God’s goodness by enjoying him has failed.
What’s more, the consequences go beyond just our lives on earth. Because we are rebellious and alienated from God, when we die we will face God’s just wrath. Treason has a penalty. The greater the one against whom we rebel, the greater the punishment. God’s infinite beauty and perfection deserves our whole lives, but rejecting it earns us infinite punishment.
There is good news. We do not have to be alienated from God and from our purpose in life any longer. We do not have to suffer the just punishment we deserve. God made a way for us to be brought back into a right relationship with him; a way for us to once again pursue our purpose of reflecting God’s goodness by enjoying him. God’s plan from all along, from before creation, was to send Jesus, God’s unique son, equal to God in every way, into creation to perfectly live the life we should have lived and to bear on our behalf the punishment we deserve. Jesus’ life and death can be credited to our account so that before God who created us we can stand holy and blameless. We can be freed from slavery to our sin so that we can live out our true purpose in life, forever!
The solution has already been provided. Jesus has already come. Jesus has lived a perfect life and died on a cross as a punishment for our sins. Beyond that, Jesus was resurrected from death after three days as God’s stamp of 100% approval on Jesus. Death no longer has power over Jesus or anyone who belongs to him. So how do you get Jesus’ life and death credited to your account so that you can live the life you were meant to live? There are three things that God demands of you in order to have forgiveness and the gift of eternal life in a right relationship to God.
First, you must repent of your sin. Repent means to acknowledge that you are a rebel against God and turn from your rebellious life. If we are unwilling to agree with God that we have rejected him, we will not be able to accept his gracious solution to our rebellion.
Second, you must look to Jesus, and only to Jesus, for the rescue from your sins. This means that you accept that Jesus’ life and death on your behalf as the only solution for your brokenness and sin. There is no other way to be forgiven and made right with God than to have Jesus’ perfect life and sacrificial death credited to your account.
Third, you must seek to love and honor God above all else. This is, after all, why you were created. To love God is to reflect his goodness by enjoying him. It is to have your deepest desires and longings met in the only one who can satisfy them, the one who made you and knows what you need for life and happiness. God has even promised you his very Spirit to live in you so that you will have the power to fulfill your purpose.
God has promised that Jesus will return visibly to earth. When he does he will finally and fully deal with all sin, injustice, and rebellion. All who have repented and placed their lives in his hands will experience full redemption and restoration. We will live with Jesus forever in a perfect loving relationship. All who remain in rebellion against God will experience the full consequences of their rejection of Jesus. God wants you to be in that first group.
God has given us three key resources for living out our purpose: the Bible, the church, and prayer. The Bible is from God and tells us how we can reflect God’s goodness in our lives. We read it so that we can best fulfill our purpose. The church is a family of Christ-followers that encourage us, strengthen us and keep us accountable. Prayer is talking to God so that we stay in a constant relationship with him. When we pray, read the Bible, and join with a church we are empowered to live the life God intended for us to live, a life of freedom and forgiveness from sin and of reflecting God’s goodness by enjoying him forever!