The Purpose of Purpose : An Answer to Quarter Life Crisis

Have you come to a point in your adventure, when the walk becomes dreary, the air dry and the scene dull? And when you can't seem to remember what your daily routine is for or where it is supposed to take you. Have you ever experienced that after days of moving, weeks of pushing forward with your brow full of sweat, you find yourself lost, empty, and without a purpose?

Why don't we just eat, sleep, work and play until the day that we die? Why do we need to have a purpose? Won't our bodies end up in ashes anyway? Why do we have an innate longing to find and fulfill a purpose? Why do we feel horrible if we don't see a purpose?

A friend of mine said, "without purpose you're as good as dead." Once upon a time, I had a cellphone. It was a sleek black and grey slide Nokia phone. It was cute and compact. It had a camera, a radio and a sudoku game that never failed to entertain me. It allowed me to send text messages to groups and save important messages in folders I had created. Wherever I went, it went with me. I felt incapacitated without it. However, once upon a time, it fell from a great height of what seemed like the highest mountain. It landed with its insides torn to pieces. After that tragic incident, no word, no icon, no number could be seen. It wasn't able to call, to text to load the sudoku game anymore.

Although it is still cute and compact, it is now neglected and unused as it lies lifeless underneath piles of books in my cabinet. This made me realize that like the cellphone, if we do not fulfill our purpose, we are as good as dead. Each waking day is dreadful and boring, without life and vigor, such that you can't help but wish for the world to just envelop you into its core. Such that you hope to just wake up the next day finding yourself in heaven. Such that you want to sleep day in and day out. Such that you can't seem to say anything nice about your day except that work is meaningless and you are simply wasting your time. Do you get what I mean?

God once created us pure and clean to fulfill a purpose. But when sin crept into our system, instead of just forgetting the purpose altogether, God gave us an an innate longing to fill in the vacuum to settle the unrest. More often, we replace the original purpose with selfish goals and corrupt motives. We throw in money, love life, business, world peace, fight against global warming, etc into the vacuum. We busy ourselves and hope that this odd longing will just go away. Funny thing is, it doesn't go away. Instead it makes us feel empty and lifeless at the end of the day. You know why? Because unless we fulfill our original purpose, this desire will not be satiated.

I admire how God has created men with the innate desire for purpose. Without it, probably many will just run their own ways happily and guiltless. The desire to give meaning to life tugs the hearts of men to remind them that "Hey, go back to God, the maker of heaven and earth, the one who made you." And it's God's subtle way of saying, "Get to know me, get to know Jesus, because I am the only one who can give you life."

Last Sunday, Bro. Dan Cura of DZFE FM 98.7 shared with us what is the purpose of mankind. And I believe this is the original purpose of God for us as well. Better brace yourselves and get ready for the truth. If you really want to find your purpose, then read on.

The original purpose of God is to create a united and peaceful family where His love and glory will shine, a.k.a. the body of Christ. We are to build up the body of Christ "until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ." Some of us may lead, others may need to follow. Some may need to teach, others to preach and others to do the inviting. Each person has been given a gift "as Christ apportioned it" after He conquered death and ascended to heaven. Each of us has a designated part in God's family. If we do not want to be "joined and held together by every supporting ligament" in the body of Christ, then we will never fulfill our purpose.

The body of Christ may include the current and the future believers of Christ. So wherever you are, be intentional in your living. If you are really good in singing, by all means join ABS CBN and be a singer. There are plenty of lost souls there that you can introduce Jesus to. If you are good in drawing, draw Christian literature. If you are good in writing, write for the Lord! If you are good in teaching, study the Word and teach. Embrace and celebrate who God has made you to be!

From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work. ~ Ephesians 4:16