Everybody wants their life to count for something. But sooner or later, a question sneaks up on you: Why am I here?
Maybe it hits you late at night when you can't sleep. Maybe it hits after you finally get the job or the house you worked so hard for, and you still feel empty. Or maybe your life feels like it is falling apart, and you honestly wonder what the point is.
The good news is that God has not left you to guess. The purpose of your life is to be with Jesus and to share Jesus with other people.
That might sound too simple, but it comes straight from Jesus. I preached a message from the book of Acts about that purpose, called Propelled Into Purpose.
Only the One who made you can tell you what you were made for.
Imagine you only ever used your phone as a bookmark in your Bible. That would be weird. Why? Because that is not what a phone is for. It would be a waste.
Or imagine using it as a spoon for your cereal every morning. Now you are not just wasting your phone. You are ruining it.
It is the same with your life. When you step outside the purpose God designed you for, you are not only wasting your life. You are ruining your life.
The problem is that the world confuses us about our purpose. A lot of people think the purpose of life is to feel good, look good, or have the goods. None of those things are the purpose of your life. When you live for them, your life starts to feel meaningless, and sometimes it falls apart.
So who gets to say what your life is for? Only the creator of an object has the authority to define the object they created. Think about it like this. I cannot rename the iPhone to the joshPhone because I didn't create it. Steve Jobs did.
God is your Creator. That means you don't invent your purpose. You discover it from the One who made you.
You were made to know God and be loved by Him.
First and foremost, God made you for a relationship with Him: to be loved by Him and then to learn to love Him back.
That means the best thing God could ever give you is not something from Him. It is Him!
Maybe you are reading this and thinking, "I'm not even sure I know God." That is okay. Your first step is not sharing Jesus. Your first step is knowing Jesus. It is knowing that He loves you and that He died for you. If you are ready for that step, here is how to become a Christian.
And if you already know Jesus, being with Him starts today, not someday in heaven. Prayer is how you connect with God in a personal way, so prayer is essential to living out your purpose.
You are still here so other people can know Him too.
Paul, an early church leader, wrote these words from prison: "For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain" (Philippians 1:21, NIV). Paul knew death would bring him face to face with Jesus, but while he lived, his life was about Jesus.
You might ask, "If being with Jesus is the goal, why doesn't God just take me to heaven the moment I trust Him?" Here is why: the purpose of your life is not just to know Jesus, but to show His love to a world that needs it.
There are three things you can do on earth that you can't do in heaven. You can sin, suffer, and share Jesus. Sin is not your purpose. Suffering is not your purpose either. It breaks God's heart.
So which of those three does God want you to do here? Share Jesus. You cannot share Jesus in heaven, because everyone there already knows Him. But plenty of people here don't. That is why Paul told his friends, "it is more necessary for you that I remain in the body" (Philippians 1:24, NIV).
Jesus gave His first followers this same purpose. Right before He went back to heaven, He promised them the Holy Spirit's power and said, "you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth" (Acts 1:8, NIV).
Notice the word "witnesses." A witness doesn't just talk about something. They can talk about it because they saw it and experienced it. So being a witness means two things: first, you experience Jesus and His love for yourself, and second, you share Him with other people.
So here is God's purpose for your life: become a follower of Jesus, and then show others who He is. That is why our church's mission is knowing and showing the love of Jesus in the Bay Area and beyond. If you are still wondering about Jesus, start with who He really is and why He matters to you.
The question is not whether God has a plan for your life. The question is whether you are living in it.
God can use your pain to propel you into your purpose.
Maybe you are thinking, "My life doesn't feel like it has a purpose right now. It just hurts."
I want you to know that God doesn't like it when you are in pain. He did not design this world for pain. Sin broke it. But God can take your pain and use it to propel you into your purpose.
After Jesus went back to heaven, the first Christians stayed in Jerusalem. Then "a great persecution broke out against the church in Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria" (Acts 8:1, NIV). Those were the very places Jesus had named.
It was not a plan that got them out of their comfort zone. It was pain. And look at what they did with it: "Those who had been scattered preached the word wherever they went" (Acts 8:4, NIV).
When you go through pain, you can let it push you away from God, or you can let it bring you closer to Him. You can ask God why this happened, and He can handle that. But you can also ask Him what He wants to teach you through it. Your greatest power to help other people does not come from your strengths. It comes from your pain.
If your pain feels too heavy to carry right now, you can call or text 988, the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, any time. Please don't carry it alone. You can also send us a prayer request, and we would love to pray for you.
The more you experience God's grace, the more you will want to share it.
I must admit, when I read about everything Paul went through to tell people about Jesus, I feel guilty, because I do not have nearly the same passion. His passion came from a personal encounter with God's love.
Before Paul followed Jesus, he hunted down Christians. But Jesus appeared to Paul not to judge him, but to accept, change, and use him. The good news is that the same love can reach you.
On the cross, Jesus took your place and paid for all of your sins. It was His life for yours. Then He rose again! When you receive that kind of grace, gratitude wells up in your heart. If He gave it all for you, you will want to give it all back to Him.
Because Jesus really rose from the dead, your whole life should be fully devoted to Him. That is the purpose for which you were created.
In Acts 8, God sent a believer named Philip down a desert road to meet just one man, an official from Ethiopia. Philip "told him the good news about Jesus" (Acts 8:35, NIV), and the man was baptized that same day. God doesn't just love crowds. He loves every single person, and sometimes He sends you into one person's life to show them His love.
I have two questions for you. Firstly, on a scale of one to ten, how passionate are you about sharing Jesus with others? Secondly, who is one person God wants you to share Him with?
Today, you can not only know the love of Jesus personally, but show the love of Jesus to the people God has placed in your life.
Daily Practice: Set a timer for five minutes and talk to God. Thank Him for making you on purpose. Then ask Him to put one person on your heart who needs His love, and write down that name. This week, reach out to that person and ask how you can pray for them.