The Secret to Finding Purpose
The Secret to Finding Purpose
We want meaning but we're looking in the wrong place.
People want their lives to have meaning. Everyone wants purpose. We are all looking for ways to demonstrate the significance of our existence.
According to a recent Lifeway Research study, most Americans (57%) say they wonder, “How can I find more meaning and purpose in my life?” at least monthly, with more than 1 in 5 saying they consider the question daily (21%) or weekly (21%).
This is such a central pursuit for humanity that one has to think the quarter of Americans (23%) who say they never contemplate how to find more meaning and purpose are actively lying or have at least deluded themselves.
There is nothing wrong with wanting our lives to matter. It seems clear this is a divine imprint on human beings. We were created to crave significance and purpose. Unfortunately, the primary place we try to find meaning is the place we are least likely to find it.
Think about how someone usually behaves if they say they want to give their life more purpose and value. Often they try to add significance through personal experiences or advancement.
“I want my life to mean more, so I need to go on this trip I’ve always wanted to take,” they may say. Or, “I’ve been thinking a lot about my life’s purpose, so I’m chasing my dream job.” Maybe they’ll come right out and say, “For too long I’ve worried about everyone else, but if I want to find significance, I’ve got to focus on myself and my needs right now.”
They don’t realize they’re drinking salt water to try and satisfy their thirsty soul. We want to find meaning, purpose, and significance by turning our eyes inward, but we’ll only find it by looking out.
Undiscovered purpose
Even for Christians, we can often get consumed with ourselves. We tend to examine the events in our lives based on their impact on us, even if we give it a spiritual veneer.
When blessings and good seasons come our way, we may thank God for them, but our primary concern is what this means for us. “God has blessed me with this promotion, now I can buy that new car I’ve been wanting.” “Thank God, I’m finally through that time of stress. I can just relax for a while.”
Similarly, when hard moments and trials overwhelm us, we ask God for help in dealing with them or even how these times can help us grow in our faith, but we aren’t thinking about others. “God, give me the courage to walk through this time of suffering.”
Yes, it is difficult to think about how both our blessings and trials can be used for others, but that’s the path to finding significance. We can see our purpose and meaning much more clearly when we lift our eyes beyond ourselves.
You have to understand that nothing you go through is just for you. Let me repeat that. Nothing you go through is just for you.
Yes, God blesses you for you, but not just for you. Yes, God allows you to go through trials to deepen your faith, but not just your faith. We are meant to turn those back to Him in praise and trust, but also toward others to help them praise and trust God as well.
In C.S. Lewis’ sermon, The Weight of Glory, he famously reminds us, “There are no ordinary people. You have talked to a mere mortal.” But before that quote, he speaks of our impact on others.
It may be possible for each to think too much of his own potential glory hereafter; it is hardly possible for him to think too often or too deeply about that of his neighbour. The load, or weight, or burden of my neighbour’s glory should be laid on my back, a load so heavy that only humility can carry it, and the backs of the proud will be broken.
It is a serious thing to live in a society of possible gods and goddesses, to remember that the dullest most uninteresting person you can talk to may one day be a creature which, if you saw it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship, or else a horror and a corruption such as you now meet, if at all, only in a nightmare. All day long, we are, in some degree, helping each other to one or the other of these destinations. It is in the light of these overwhelming possibilities, it is with the awe and the circumspection proper to them, that we should conduct all of our dealings with one another, all friendships, all loves, all play, all politics. [Emphasis mine]
“All day long, we are, in some degree, helping each other to one or the other of these destinations.” We aren’t thinking of those around us in terms of their eternal destinies, nor are we considering how our actions are leading them closer to one or the other of those.
Your triumphs bless those around you and encourage them in their walks. Often, even more, your faith in times of sorrow spurs others to trust Christ more.
But it’s not only for those who walk beside you now; it’s for those following your footsteps years from now. Your obedience now plows the field for those coming behind you to reap a harvest.
Eternal meaning
Think of the biblical characters highlighted in Hebrews 11. Yes, their faith was a testimony to those who knew them personally, but we benefit from their walk thousands of years later. The writer of Hebrews says this comes from their eternal and heavenly perspective.
In Mere Christianity, Lewis explains:
If you read history you will find that the Christians who did most for the present world were just those who thought most of the next. The Apostles themselves, who set on foot the conversion of the Roman Empire, the great men who built up the Middle Ages, the English Evangelicals who abolished the Slave Trade, all left their mark on Earth, precisely because their minds were occupied with Heaven. It is since Christians have largely ceased to think of the other world that they have become so ineffective in this. Aim at Heaven and you will get earth “thrown in”: aim at earth and you will get neither.
We can trust that our lives have significance because we are created in the image of God and have inherent worth, dignity, and value. But we will not know the extent of our meaning and purpose until we, like God, exist outside of time and can see the fruit of eternal legacy. The choices you and I make today will ripple far into tomorrow.
When you look beyond yourself, you can recognize that your faith and obedience serve those around you and those after you. The more you stare inside, however, the smaller and less significant you feel.
If we want to truly find meaning and purpose, we must aim our lives at eternal significance and turn our gaze out toward others.