“What profit hath a man of all his labour which he taketh under the sun?” (Ecclesiastes 1:3)
Solomon asked the big questions. He enquired not only for himself, but on behalf of mankind. “What are we here for?” “What should we devote our lives to?” “What pursuit is most profitable?” Solomon’s quest and questions have been answered in Christ. Only those who are in Him have discovered the chief reason for their existence. They are “the called according to His purpose.” (Rom. 8:28)
The Bible has answers for the big questions in life. Why were you created? You were born for the same reason every other person was born – to worship God. Revelation 4:11 tells us: “Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.” Such a life of worship where we are no longer in charge of our lives, but live to discover and do God’s will is the very life Jesus lived and reproduces in His own.
The world is also on a mission to “help people find their purpose.” They want each person to “be who they were meant to be.” But however high-sounding the message of self-actualization may seem, we are destined for vanity when we fail to fulfill the purpose of our Creator. No matter how thrilling or satisfying it is to us, serving at the altar of our own pleasure ultimately leads to death. “There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.” (Prov. 14:12)
The first duty of man is to do what is right in God’s eyes; loving what He loves; and wanting His glory to be revealed through us. “He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?” (Micah 6:8) Nowhere in the world’s message is there any thought toward God. There is no wanting to understand His will; no alignment with His Word; no desire to lift Him up. It is us “doing us,” us “being us.”
The church’s message is corrupted when it is conformed to the world’s message. Our mission is not to “help people find their purpose” outside of God’s purpose. Better that we never find and fulfill our calling in life if it takes us away from God’s purpose. If what we are doing is not an expression of our worship of God, it is not worth doing.
Yes, God has individual gifts, callings, talents to give to each member of His family; but those can only be actualized when we are dedicated to the chief purpose of our life: the worship of God in spirit and in truth. Make HIS dreams come true in you!