THOUGHTS ON LIFE AND PURPOSE

 

By Joneil Alcock

 

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about life and purpose; more specifically about the meaning of life and what our purpose here on Earth is. Once you get to know Jesus, these things become more apparent based off His word, truth and commandments for how we should live our lives.

 

At one point while Jesus is teaching, a lawyer tries to test him by asking, “What shall I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus gets him to answer his own question by asking him about Moses’ Law – the lawyer actually condenses the commandments in two main statements, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all they soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself.” (Luke 10:27)

YOUR NEIGHBOUR AND THE LAW

Not being satisfied, the lawyer then asked Jesus who He would describe as his neighbour and Jesus gave the famous parable of the Good Samaritan, showing that no matter our standing, it’s how we treat people with compassion in this life that has eternal weight.

 

The Apostle Paul would later condense the Law into one statement, “For all the Law is fulfilled in one Word, even in this; thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.” (Galatians 5:14)

 

It is relevant to note that as we grow and become more in tune with God’s purpose for our lives we begin to show more compassion and love to our neighbours. Of course, this action is a bold statement of our affections of Christ. Since God first loved us we must also love others. The love came because we truly know what the emotion feels like since God is love.

 

FRUITS OF THE SPIRIT

 

But there’s more, we grow even more and begin or learn to display the fruits of the Spirit, “love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and temperance” (Galatians 5:22-23). Of note, the Apostle Paul remarked that “against such there is no law;” and contended that we wrestle against the lusts of the flesh which will cause us to sin.

 

In Ephesians 2:8-10, Paul expanded more by claiming that it is not these actions/works that are our eternal salvation but we are saved through faith; and it is our faith in Christ that leads us to good works. In fact, he boldly said that these have been pre-ordained, meaning everyone who comes to Christ has a special work or purpose, if you will, which has been determined for them before they were born, before the dawning of time.

 

The Apostle Peter put it that Christ’s followers are a chosen generation that should show forth the praises of Him. “But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should show forth the praises of Him who hath called you out of darkness into His marvellous light.” (1 Peter 2:9) Christ’s followers are priests and kings, a holy people given the task of emulating that light that Jesus showed on the Earth and from the dawn of time.

 

The Apostle Peter later stated that Christ called his people to glory and virtue. His take on the Apostle Paul’s fruits of the spirit is that we should exhibit diligence, faith mixed with virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, godliness, brotherly kindness and charity (2 Peter 1:1-10). These he said would make us neither barren nor unfruitful. In fact, he said those who lack these virtues were blind and  “cannot see afar off.”

 

THE PROBLEM OF SIN

 

The compass of our lives is embedded in our knowledge of Christ and His will for our lives. We should with courage display all the character of Christ and walk holy and virtuous. However there is a problem. That problem has been there from the dawn of time. That problem is sin.

 

It no longer became a problem because Christ died and took away that burden from our lives. The Apostle Paul put it that we fight, or our spirits fight against the flesh and its lusts and we are prone to fall into unrighteousness (Galatians 5:17). The flesh wrestles with the spirit such that the things we should do, we don’t and the things we should not do we do (Romans 7:13-25).

 

He challenged in Romans Chapter 6 for christians to put away the old man and sin no more. “What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound. God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?” (Romans 6:1-2) He stated that we walk in a  “newness of life” and should emulate the “likeness of His resurrection.”

 

Paul explained sin should not rule our lives any more because we “are not under the law, but under grace.” (Romans 6:14) He called Christ’s followers to yield their members as ‘servants to righteousness unto holiness,” because the end thereof of that will be everlasting life. Christ’s are no longer servants of sin but become servants of God.

 

“For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” (Romans 6:23)

 

So as we traverse this earthly plain, we know sin is an ever present danger but it has been conquered and once we come to know Christ we have the ability to overcome it and truly live with a proper purpose and meaning.

 

TRIALS AND TRIBULATIONS

 

The love of God, which was spoken of earlier, has been distributed to Christ’s followers through the Holy Spirit (Romans 5:5) so that we can rejoice knowing that our lives can really and truly glorify God. However, hard times, testings and difficulties will come, what the Bible refers to as trials and tribulations. Interestingly, is it through these that we really get to stretch our faith, learn more about God and gain valuable experience to live out our purpose.

“We glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulations worketh patience; and patience, experience; and experience hope; and hope maketh not ashamed.” (Roman 5:3-5)

 

HOPE

 

Hope is the quintessential human emotion that without it, we can never truly understand the will to go on and move forward with our lives. It provides a daily elixir and life sustenance to keep us dreaming, working and showing that love we ought to. Once we have it, we can focus our daily tasks to accomplish our purpose. Once we have it, we can overcome whatever or what will come our way.

 

Christ provides that eternal hope. He calls to those who don’t know Him and constantly talks to those who do know Him. There is a hop. There is a future we can be confident of. There is a calling, a purpose, a meaning to our lives.

So for all those ever burning, life-changing questions – Who am I? Why was I born? What is my purpose in life?  And What meaning does life have? Christ provides the answer to them. He always did. Life is not just this finite existence that ends at death. Life is also not just a fleshly, day to day meaningless grind. Life has purpose, and that purpose is rooted in Christ.