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understanding meaning
That age old question: what is the purpose of life? Meaning in life is not only the answer to this question, but also to the question, “What is the purpose of my life?” It is how you complete this sentence: If I invest my life into ____, I will be fulfilled. What is worth doing? What purpose do you have that will out-live you? When you die, what do you want to have done that made your existence meaningful? This is the deep need we all have for meaning. But how do we find it?
Examples of "Meaning" Idols
It is very common for people to “create” a meaning for their lives. It might be to raise good kids or save the rainforest. We all have this deep need of the heart. However, just as with idols that pertain to other aspects of life, when we provide the solution to our problems, it doesn’t work well and often ends in emptiness. Here are some things we typically turn to for meaning in our lives:
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Career/Status
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DANGER
It ends when you die. Whatever you lived for will either be given to someone else or destroyed. |
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Standard of Living
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DANGER
All this can be lost. |
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Possessions
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DANGER
It ultimately does not satisfy. |
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My Own Pleasure
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“The only way to get rid of temptation is to yield to it.”
- Oscar Wilde |
Living for pleasure doesn’t satisfy and often results in conflicts – see the previous section.
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Family
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When your life is over, whatever you invested your time in will live on – for a time. But then those that you helped will also die. In time, you won’t even be a memory. So, whether you were a saint or a cruel person will not ultimately matter.
When you depend on something that you can lose to give your life meaning – you’re wrecked when you lose it. If suffering can take it away, you’re on shaky ground. This is one reason retirement can be hard. |
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Activism
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If, in order to live out your created meaning you must appeal to a sense of justice – you’ll fail without an absolute standard of truth. For example, working for women’s rights in a country that does not value women won’t go very far when assuming equal rights are somehow innate to all of us.
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What to do about meaning
Whatever we choose to trust in to give our lives meaning will be something we serve – something we live for. When we give our lives to something it is called worship. When we live for some purpose other than God it is an idol. It doesn’t work in the end and often destroys us when whatever we were living for either dies or we lose it.
Meaning in life cannot be something that we create. We are created beings and we were made for a reason. The solution to this one comes from the One who made us. The purpose of life is this: To love God and enjoy Him forever.
Meaning in life cannot be something that we create. We are created beings and we were made for a reason. The solution to this one comes from the One who made us. The purpose of life is this: To love God and enjoy Him forever.
Meaning Facts
- We cannot create meaning for ourselves
- Purpose for life must be discovered (Rev. 4:11)
- Our Creator rightly decides our purpose (Isa. 43:7)
- Our Creator is a God of relationship (Trinity) (John 17:3)
- God has a design and intended purpose for everything He made (Matt. 6:33)
You were made for a relationship with God. Knowing Him, serving Him, and loving Him is the purpose of life.
So what about your purpose? What should you invest your life into that will bring fulfillment? What will is worth doing? What can you do that will live on without you – forever? When you die, what do you want to have done that made your existence meaningful?
So what about your purpose? What should you invest your life into that will bring fulfillment? What will is worth doing? What can you do that will live on without you – forever? When you die, what do you want to have done that made your existence meaningful?
process it
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