What is the Purpose of Life?

Some people say there is no purpose to life, it is just what we make of it. The problem with this is that it is really impossible for any of us to live this way. We all live as though there is really is a purpose to life and we all want there to be a purpose to life. This is seen in how we strive to fill our lives with people, things, events that bring meaning to our lives. We even feel a moral obligation to do this and deride those who ‘waste’ their life.

C.S. Lewis said it well: “If the whole universe has no meaning, we should never have found out that it has no meaning: just as, if there were no light in the universe and therefore no creatures with eyes, we should never know it was dark. Dark would be without meaning.” (“Mere Christianity”). We live in a universe made for a purpose, and if this wasn’t so, we would never have figured it out!

The human race exists for an objective purpose assigned by God who created it with His reasons in mind. This purpose is true (in accordance with reality), regardless of how many people reject it or live contrary to it. As the human race lives according to its intended purpose, it flourishes mightily–this flourishing is displayed through the experience of deep joy, meaning, and freedom in lives and relationships and along with beauty. This is much like how an object used according to its intended purpose most fully experiences the triumphs for which it is made –like how we get the most out of a musical instrument through playing it rather than using it for a door-stopper. Thus, I believe that when we live in accordance to what we were truly placed here to do, we find a type of fulfillment and beauty which are not possible when we neglect or reject it.

So what is the purpose of life? Why are we here? Put simply, our purpose it is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever (a statement argued by Christians in the past through the Westminster Confession). To glorify a thing, is to make much of it. We were created to live for something even more wonderful than relationships, earthly love, careers, accomplishments, or temporary pleasures–things which all fade away in the end. We were made to make much of God; this what God has told us in His Word (the Bible). He is the potter and we are the clay, and His purposes are good and true. Thus, our purpose in life is to live for that which is supremely great, majestic, magnificent, pure, righteous, merciful, just, loving, and wonderful in all of existence, and that is God. What a wonderful purpose!