“Everyone who is called by My name, And whom I have
created for My glory, Whom I have formed, even whom I have made” (Isa. 43:7
NASB).
Your life has great meaning and purpose! Some will claim
that you can discover your life’s meaning by looking within yourself. However,
as Rick Warren said, “you didn’t create yourself, so there is no way you can
tell yourself what you were created for! If I handed you an invention you had
never seen before, you wouldn’t know its purpose, and the invention itself
wouldn’t be able to tell you either. Only the creator or the owner’s manual could
reveal its purpose” (Purpose Driven Life, p. 18). Even renown atheist
Bertrand Russell admits, “Unless you assume a God, the question of life’s
purpose is meaningless.”
Meaning comes from the God who created all things, the Lord
Jesus Christ. “For everything, absolutely everything, above and below, visible
and invisible…every-thing got started in Him and finds its purpose in Him”
(Col. 1:16 MSG). However, “Since there was perfect love and fellowship among
members of the Trinity for all eternity (John 17:24), God did not create us
because He was lonely or because He needed fellowship with other persons—God
did not need us for any reason. Nevertheless, God created us for His own glory”
(Grudem, Systematic Theology, p. 440).
While there are 5 specific purposes for our lives listed in
the Bible, they all find their basis in the first one of glorifying God and
enjoying Him forever. This is about knowing Christ and making Him known.
Augustine, one of the forefathers of the early church said,
"You (O’ God) have formed us for Yourself, and our hearts are restless
till they find rest in You.” And God wants the very best for our lives. Jesus
stated that He came so that we may have life and have it abundantly (John
10:10). Therefore, David tells God, “In Your presence there is fullness of joy,
in Your right hand are pleasures forevermore (Ps. 16:11).
“Fullness of joy is found in knowing God and delighting in
the excellence of His character. To be in His presence, to enjoy fellowship
with Him, is a greater blessing than anything that can be imagined” (Grudem,
pg. 441). Proverbs 11:28 states “A life
devoted to things is a dead life; a stump; a God-shaped life is a flourishing
tree” (MSG).
Therefore, I encourage you to follow the words of the
Apostle Paul, “So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for
the glory of God” (1 Cor. 10:31). And in so doing, you will discover the life
that you were born to live.
In His service,
Matt
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