Life's Purpose

Is there a purpose to life?

I’ve spent much of my life debating that very question. I cannot consult statistics or scientific studies to answer it. So I do everything I can to keep my mind away from it. But all of life’s distractions don’t eliminate the moments when my mind wanders to the meaning of life, the ultimate purpose to our existence. 

Some years ago I was in Texas visiting my family. One specific day I remember; my cousins and I were having a blast. We played basketball, threw the baseball around and visited a local ice cream parlor. At the end of the day I went for a run, and while running I came up to a clearing where the land was vacant. I looked into the clear night sky and was stopped dead in my tracks. I sat in the grass for at least a half an hour staring into space, looking at all the stars, losing every bit of courage I thought I had. 

As I looked at the vast amount of starts, I felt myself grow smaller and smaller, until I felt reduced to a small piece of dust. I sat there bewildered, barely able to think, 'Why am I here? What is the purpose of all this!?'

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But who are these questions for?

I finished my run and went back to my cousin’s house. We played a few board games and had a great time. For a few moments I didn't feel so small, so insignificant. But as I laid in bed a feeling of despair, like a dense fog, started to seep in through the windows. My feelings brought to mind a monologue in Arthur Miller’s play After The Fall;

'But underlying it all, I see now, there was a presumption. That I was moving on an upward path toward some elevation, where—God knows what—I would be justified, or even condemned—a verdict anyway. I think now that my disaster really began when I looked up one day—and the bench was empty. No judge in sight. And all that remained was this endless argument with oneself—this pointless litigation of existence before an empty bench. Which, of course, is another way of saying—despair.' (Arthur Miller, After The Fall)

I started to reason with myself about the purpose of life and the existence of a judge: 'If there is no judge on the bench then I'm engaging in an endless, pointless argument with myself that I am worthy of something; if there is no judge then there is no justice for the atrocities I hear on the news. So what point is there to be morally good? Is there such a thing as morals? Is there such a thing as finding a purpose in life?' If there is no judge then there is no purpose to our existence because no matter how hard I work, or how much I fight for justice, nothing will ever be completely justified.

But I still feel like there is a deeper meaning to life, and I still feel a sense of injustice that tugs at my heart. Can these seemingly universal feelings and thoughts just be random chemical reactions in our brain?

If there is no god to judge us, or even if there is a god that just doesn't care about us, then evolution should have taken its course thousands of years ago to eradicate any thoughts or desires of social and political justice. Evolution should have rid all feelings of guilt or remorse. Evolution should have corrected our mind's’ tendency to pursue our own purpose in life. If there is no god to judge, then there is nothing logically or morally wrong with anything.

So why do we feel a need for justice or a desire to be better people?

There has to be something more, something that allows us to feel like we can make a difference. 

Maybe God created all of this. Maybe He is the one who placed us on this earth with ideas of purpose and justice. Maybe He is waiting for us to acknowledge Him so He can show us our purpose. 

To find our purpose we have to pursue justice. Check out the next post for what the Bible teaches about being a part of the justice of God.