What is your purpose in life?
Be Strong, Be Well — Wednesday, May 12, 2021
What is your purpose in life? This is a legitimate and vital question to consider. It is truly an eye-opener. So what is your answer?
Some folks think the most essential thing in life is to make as much money as they can. This goes hand-in-hand with piling up as many material possessions as we can in the time we have. Jesus associated this attitude with covetousness. He warned, “Take heed and beware of covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses” (Luke 12:15). Another word for covetousness is greed, defined as “excessive desire to acquire or possess more (especially more material wealth) than one needs or deserves.”
Other people may focus on acquiring more and more knowledge. There’s a broad spectrum of knowledge, both specific and general. We make decisions on our education and careers around the time we are in high school. The knowledge we pursue is important, but only if we use it wisely. We must guard against becoming consumed with it.
Solomon spoke on the great need for knowledge and wisdom in Proverbs. However, in Ecclesiastes 1:18, he said, “For in much wisdom is much grief, And he who increases knowledge increases sorrow.” When it comes to religious understanding, Paul said, some folks are “always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth” (2 Timothy 3:7).
One of the most common answers to “What is your purpose in life” is to pursue worldly pleasures. Many people think of nothing more than experience as much pleasure as they can before they die. The world is overflowing with immorality and selfishness because they are “lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God” (2 Timothy 3:4).
The apostle John gives us some direction in answering our initial question. “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world. And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever” (1 John 2:15-17).
Whatever we may latch onto in this world, it all falls into the category of temporary. Our purpose in life should be focusing on eternity. Solomon said it best. After pursuing everything any one person could find and experience, he repented and returned to God.
“Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God and keep His commandments, For this is man’s all. For God will bring every work into judgment, Including every secret thing, Whether good or evil” (Ecclesiastes 12:13–14). —Chris