The Meaning of Life

What is the purpose of your life? Do you know? Do you even care? This last question—Do you even care?—should shock our senses. Why would anyone not care?

We come into this life knowing nothing. We involuntarily arrived one day, and today we find ourselves somewhere, at some age and stage of life, being who we are. But at some point, often in our teenage years or as we near the end of our time on earth, we wonder, What’s it all about? What an enigma!

Do you ever ask yourself this question? If not, why not?

Sadly, too many don’t seem to be very concerned. Based on how people respond to our publication offers, there are more people interested in where the world is headed than where they are headed. But can there be any more important questions than, Who am I? Why was I born? What is the purpose of life? Does God exist—and, if so, what is His plan for me?

The answers to these questions are found in the pages of the Bible—but they are not what most professing Christians think. No, the purpose of life is not to float around for eternal retirement in Heaven. Dear friends, your purpose is infinitely greater than that!

For millennia, philosophers and theologians have mulled over and debated the meaning of life—yet the answer has been there from the beginning. We are not left to our own limited minds to come up with some novel idea that suits our personal fancy.

No Meaning or Purpose Without God

Evolutionists Have No Answer

Those who subscribe to an evolutionary origin of life—thus in their own minds doing away with the need for God—have no answer. What grand purpose can there be for a life confined to the here and now? Even if you live a thousand years and discover a cure for cancer, what good will that do you in the end? When you die, if there is no God, all hopes, dreams, memories, and temporal rewards will end in the blackness of darkness forever.

“Freedom” Without God an Illusion

Professor Thaddeus Metz, summarizing philosophers’ current theories on life’s purpose, tells us, “Lately, however, an extreme form of naturalism has arisen, according to which our lives would probably, if not unavoidably, have less meaning in a world with God or a soul than in one without” (“The Meaning of Life,” The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Fall 2023 Edition).

In other words, to them, God’s existence would take away from a meaningful existence! Professor Metz explains several theories put forward regarding how this absurd conclusion came about. The first postulates that God’s existence places us in a master/servant or parent/child relationship, thus “our independence or dignity as adult persons would be violated.”

Put another way, we could no longer be our own boss. We would have to answer to a higher power, and atheists chafe at such an idea. Professor Metz points to an additional God, don’t tell me what to do line of reasoning: “Another salient argument for thinking that God would detract from meaning in life appeals to the value of privacy.… God’s omniscience [knowing all] would unavoidably make it impossible for us to control… the most intimate details about ourselves, which, for some, amounts to a less meaningful life than one with such control.”

Futility Without Eternity

Then there are those who argue against the value of eternal life itself. As the professor explains, “First and foremost, there has been the argument that an immortal life could not avoid becoming boring... rendering life pointless according to many subjective and objective theories.” The philosophers’ musings are broad, technical at times—and, well, meaningless! Leave out God and His revelation to us, and there can be no purpose beyond our far-too-short temporary existence.

Some are surprised to learn that one major Jewish sect during Jesus Christ’s day believed there was no future beyond the grave. We read that, during Jesus’ three-and-a-half-year ministry on earth, there came a day when “the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to Him” (Matthew 22:23). Brought before the religious leaders of his day, the Apostle Paul created a near riot between the Pharisees and Sadducees over this subject. “But when Paul perceived that one part were Sadducees and the other Pharisees, he cried out in the council, ‘Men and brethren, I am a Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee; concerning the hope and resurrection of the dead I am being judged!’… For Sadducees say that there is no resurrection—and no angel or spirit; but the Pharisees confess both” (Acts 23:6, 8).

Some among the Christians at Corinth were influenced by this erroneous idea. Paul’s first letter to those brethren discusses the resurrection—and reasons with perfect logic the futility of life if it is only for the here and now. “For if the dead do not rise, then Christ is not risen. And if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins! Then also those who have fallen asleep [died] in Christ have perished. If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most pitiable” (1 Corinthians 15:16–19).

What Would Be the Point of Life Without a Resurrection?

Regarding the futility of self-sacrifice in a world without God, Paul takes the idea to its ultimate conclusion: “If, in the manner of men, I have fought with beasts at Ephesus, what advantage is it to me? If the dead do not rise, ‘Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die!’” (1 Corinthians 15:32).

So, before we set off to eat, drink, and die forever, let’s ask ourselves the central question Paul addresses here: Is there a resurrection from the dead? Either there is or there isn’t. If there is no life after death, we are left with no lasting purpose, no hope beyond the here and now. The late Dr. Roderick C. Meredith asked:

Is there any transcendent reason for you to be alive? Can you have a remarkably interesting and fulfilling destiny ahead of you, regardless of your present situation? Can you be 100 percent sure of a future rendezvous with happiness, joy, and peace? Or are you living a fleeting, disappointing existence on planet Earth with no more purpose for your life than the birds, the bees, or, for that matter, the worms that crawl in the dirt? (What Is the Meaning of Life?, p. 1).

These are serious questions for serious-minded people. Are you satisfied going through this life without ever knowing why? Wouldn’t you like to know the purpose for your existence? There is an answer, and it is revealed in the pages of your Bible—and what the Bible actually says, as opposed to what people think it says, is both shocking and exciting.

A King’s Search for Meaning

Solomon Knew He Couldn’t Take It With Him

Ancient king Solomon sought for purpose in life through wine, women, song, and many other physical pursuits, and he concluded that none of these brought lasting happiness. All was vanity and grasping for the wind. He explained:

So I said in my heart, “As it happens to the fool, it also happens to me, and why was I then more wise?” Then I said in my heart, “This also is vanity [worthlessness].” For there is no more remembrance of the wise than of the fool forever, since all that now is will be forgotten in the days to come. And how does a wise man die? As the fool! Therefore I hated life because the work that was done under the sun was distressing to me, for all is vanity and grasping for the wind (Ecclesiastes 2:15–17).

You and I can never match Solomon when it comes to wine, women, and song, nor in fame or fortune. Most who try find that what they thought would make them happy does not. Consider the lives of so many celebrities who outwardly “have it all.” Some get strung out on drugs, others have one failed marriage after another. Time and again, people with good looks, fame, fortune, and everything else most people dream of, find that none of this provides the happiness they seek. This is not to say that every rich person has a failed marriage or that all celebrities are unhappy—only that happiness does not come from temporary pleasures, and that without a God who promises a resurrection from death, anything we do in this life is temporary.

Did King Solomon and Paul Both Know God’s True Purpose?

How can we be certain we can live again? While there are those who have been resuscitated and claim “out of body” experiences, only One was resurrected after three days and three nights in the grave—and that was nearly 2,000 years ago. But how can we know that a man named Jesus did indeed rise from the grave?

Paul answers that question in the same “resurrection chapter” we read from earlier—listing by name individuals who saw Jesus after His crucifixion, and then asserting, “After that He was seen by over five hundred brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain to the present, but some have fallen asleep [died]” (1 Corinthians 15:6). This was written fewer than 25 years after the crucifixion, while most of those 500 people were still alive. What credibility would Paul, or his letter, have if this were not true?

A Belief Worth Dying For

And scholars recognize further evidence. According to John 7:5, Jesus’ own half-brothers did not believe in Him prior to the crucifixion, but afterward they became disciples. James went on to become the leader of the Jerusalem congregation, and he wrote the letter of James in your Bible. His half-brother Jude also became a believer and wrote the letter bearing his name.

Many have died as martyrs for a cause they believed in, but how many would die for a cause they knew to be a lie? Jesus’ apostles knew the resurrection was true. History records that, of the Twelve Apostles (including Matthias, who replaced Judas), only John did not die a martyr’s death.

But the question remains: If God exists and there is life after death, what does that mean? What is God’s purpose for you and me?

Are We Mere Animals?

Why Man is Different

Have you ever wondered why human beings have so much greater mental capacity than animals? Several animals have larger brains, but none come close to the human capacity to reason, to think, to innovate. None can go to the Moon and return. None can build a telescope, a television, or a computer. Yes, I know your dog is pretty amazing, but there is something fundamentally different between the two of you.

What makes that difference? How is it that mankind can build machines to go higher, faster, and further than any animal? And why, even with such superior intelligence, can we not get along with one another? Why is there divorce? Why are there wars between nations? Why do people scam, steal, and bludgeon each other?

We begin our search for the answer to the meaning of life in the first chapter of the Bible. Here we find that God made mankind very different from any other creature:

Then God said, ‘Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.’ So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them (Genesis 1:26–27).

How many have read over this passage without considering what it means? In plain language, God made human beings not to take after any animal, but rather to take after Him. We are different because we are created in God’s image and likeness. Read that for yourself, in your own Bible, and consider what it means.

Made to Become Like God

God created us to be as He is, with amazing ability to think, to reason, and to do a multitude of marvelous things. So why don’t we conduct ourselves in a godly manner? Scripture explains the missing element—that man is made a free agent with the ability to make moral choices.

“And out of the ground the Lord God made every tree grow that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil” (Genesis 2:9). Then we read that “the Lord God commanded the man, saying, ‘Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die’” (vv. 16–17).

Mankind was given the ability to choose between right and wrong, between good and evil. As spelled out on another occasion for the nation of Israel, “I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live; that you may love the Lord your God, that you may obey His voice, and that you may cling to Him, for He is your life and the length of your days” (Deuteronomy 30:19–20).

Mankind’s Freedom a Curse?

More than 55 years after we sent men to the Moon and brought them back safely, we still cannot get along with one another. There are too many failed marriages; too many murders, rapes, and assaults; too many wars, cutting short the hopes and dreams of millions.

Why is there such suffering? People wonder why God, with all His power, does not stop the atrocities that occur here on earth. But which of these same people are willing to submit to God’s will in everything? God made us to be free moral agents for a reason.

God’s Purpose for Us

A Plan to Raise Godly Offspring

The idea that God is creating man in His own image is truly profound—and this theme is found throughout Scripture. David looked up at the night sky and wondered why God would even be interested in mankind, asking, “What is man that You are mindful of him, and the son of man that You visit him?” (Psalm 8:4). The book of Hebrews picks up on this question and explains:

“You [that is, God] have put all things in subjection under his [mankind’s] feet.” For in that He put all in subjection under him, He left nothing that is not put under him. But now we do not yet see all things put under him. But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, for the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, that He, by the grace of God, might taste death for everyone. For it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings (Hebrews 2:8–10).

The Bible reveals a plan and purpose being worked out that is far greater than retiring to Heaven to stare into the face of God for eternity. So, why is it that people do not accept what the Bible plainly says? The Apostle Paul is not vague about our future. He explains that we will be sons of God and joint heirs with Christ. “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, ‘Abba, Father’” (Romans 8:14–15). Now, take note of and think about what he says next—that the Spirit of God “bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God” (v. 16).

Children and Heirs to a Promise

Did you catch that? We are to become children of God. As brought out in Genesis 1, mankind was made in the image and likeness not of any kind of animal, but of God Himself! Can you believe what the Bible clearly says? Paul continued by writing that “if children, then heirs—heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together” (Romans 8:17).

In previous generations, we all understood that the terms man and mankind represented both men and women in this context; but if anyone is offended by that “micro-aggression,” note that women are not left out: “I will be a Father to you, and you shall be My sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty” (2 Corinthians 6:18).

But how can we be “heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ”? Consider again that Romans 8:16 mentions two spirits: God’s spirit and “our spirit.” In this we find the difference between God’s thinking and our thinking. Humanly speaking, we do not think as God thinks (Isaiah 55:7–9).

God Will Provide the Helper—and a Hope

Without God’s indwelling Spirit, though intelligent in material matters, human beings lack true love and self-control. Without His Spirit, we exhibit all the traits of a fleshly nature influenced by Satan, the Devil. “Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like” (Galatians 5:19–21).

But does this mean we can never think as God thinks? Let Paul give us the answer: “But as it is written: ‘Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love him.’ But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God” (1 Corinthians 2:9–10). Paul goes on to explain the difference between the animal brain and the human mind. “For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God” (vv. 11–12).

The spirit in man empowers the human brain far above that of animals, but without the Spirit of God dwelling in us, we can no more understand the things of God than my dog Marcus could understand calculus. To be fully made in the image and likeness of God, to think as God thinks, these two spirits must unite. “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.… The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together” (Romans 8:14–17).

Wow—we are “children of God… heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ.” Now, that is a purpose worth living for!