What On Earth Am I Here For?

Why am I here?

Sooner or later, every thoughtful person asks that question.

We may phrase it differently. Where did I come from? Does my life matter? Is there a purpose for my existence? But behind each question is the same longing—to know that our lives have meaning.

Unfortunately, many people search for answers in the wrong places.

The poet Lord Byron lamented that “the flowers and the fruits of life are gone.” Henry David Thoreau famously observed that “most men live lives of quiet desperation.” Even brilliant philosophers and writers have wrestled with life’s deepest questions and often confessed they found no satisfying answers.

The problem is not that life has no meaning. The problem is that many people search for meaning apart from the One who created life.

The prophet Jeremiah discovered the answer. In Jeremiah 1, God addressed three questions that still matter today.

First, why are you alive?

God’s answer was simple: “Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you” (Jeremiah 1:5).

Notice what God did not say. He didn’t say, “After you accomplished something,” or “After you proved yourself valuable.” Before Jeremiah ever took his first breath, God knew him.

The same truth applies to us.  You are not an accident. You are not merely the product of chance. You were created by an all-wise, all-powerful God who made you in His image. As Paul reminded the Athenians, “In Him we live and move and have our being” (Acts 17:28).

Your existence has meaning because it begins with God.

Second, does your life matter?

Jeremiah wasn’t so sure.

“Ah, Lord God! Behold, I do not know how to speak, for I am only a youth” (Jeremiah 1:6).

He felt too young, too inexperienced, and too inadequate.

How often do we feel the same way?  We compare ourselves to others. We focus on our weaknesses. We convince ourselves that we have little to offer.

But God doesn’t measure our worth by our accomplishments. Our value comes from the God who created us.

Throughout Scripture, God repeatedly used ordinary people to accomplish extraordinary things.

Joseph was young. David was a shepherd. Timothy was inexperienced. Moses was eighty years old. Caleb was eighty-five. Peter failed. Paul had persecuted Christians.

Age wasn’t the issue. Background wasn’t the issue. Ability wasn’t the issue.

The question was whether they would allow God to use them.

Your life matters because God values you.

Finally, what is your purpose in life?

God told Jeremiah, “You shall go to all to whom I send you, and whatever I command you, you shall speak.”

Jeremiah had a purpose.

So do we.

The Bible reveals that God has designed every Christian for a life of purpose.

• We were created to worship God because He delights in His people (Psalm 149:4).
• We were adopted into God’s family to enjoy fellowship with Him and with one another (Ephesians 1:5).
• We are being transformed into the likeness of Christ as we grow in discipleship (Philippians 2:5).
• We are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, serving others with the gifts He has given us (Ephesians 2:10).
• And we have been entrusted with the wonderful mission of sharing the good news with a world searching for hope.

God never intended for us merely to exist—to eat, breathe, work, retire, and die. He created us to know Him, love Him, serve Him, and point others to Him.

Acts 13:36 provides a fitting summary of David’s life: “For David, after he had served the purpose of God in his own generation, fell asleep.”

What a wonderful epitaph.  David served God’s purpose in his generation. You and I have been placed in this generation for the same reason.

So what on earth are you here for?

You are alive because God formed you.

You matter because God values you.

You have purpose because God calls you.

Live each day serving His purpose until your work on earth is done.

–Ken Weliever, The Preacherman

(Note:  This blog post is based on a sermon I recently preached at the West Citrus Church in Crystal River, FL.  To listen to the 29-minute lesson, click “What On Earth Am I Here For?