Our Purpose in Life  

by Bob Gaudi

“For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and acknowledgment of God rather than burnt offerings.” –Hosea 6:6

Spoiler alert! How was I to know that Pastor Sean would craft a Sunday message that addressed some key points I had prepared in the following devotional? Perhaps God planned it that way. After all, He’s still in charge. We both centered on knowing God and eternal life and the way we crafted our thoughts is eerily similar. What follows are my thoughts about our purpose in life.  

Have you ever sat down and thought about your purpose in life? Have you ever said to yourself “Why are we here?” I have, and just recently I read a devotion by the late Dr. Charles Stanley that prompted me to seriously contemplate the question even further. I know God wants us here, but why? What does He want us to do? After some basic thoughts, I turned to the Bible to see what God’s Word teaches us in regard to our purpose. The following is what I discovered.

The answer is simple, yet complex. The reason we exist (our purpose) is to know God and bring Him glory. Again, the statement is simple but the complexity lies in parsing the meaning of knowing God and bringing, or giving Him glory. Hosea says it well: “For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and acknowledgment of God rather than burnt offerings.” (He said it so well that Jesus quoted him in Matthew 9:13 and 12:7.) Mercy here means right conduct to others or loyalty to God, or both. Truly acknowledging God brings Him glory. To acknowledge Him means to realize and fully understand and appreciate who He is—our creator and sovereign Lord—and to respond to Him as such while acting accordingly. That response must be one of faith, love, obedience, worship, honor, and adoration. To acknowledge God is to know Him intimately and to humble ourselves before Him while living for Him and totally giving our lives to Him. We must strive to be like His son Jesus, and to know Jesus is to know the Father. “I and the Father are one” (John 10:30).

Just as Pastor Sean pointed out in his message on October 27, Jesus tells us how knowing God and eternal life go hand-in-hand: “Father, the time has come. Glorify Your son, that Your son may glorify You. For You granted Him authority over all people that He might give eternal life to those You have given Him. Now this is eternal life: that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent” (John 17:13). Knowing God, eternal life, and bringing God glory are all nicely bundled together in this prayer of Jesus. Knowing God brings Him glory and brings us eternal life. Quite a good deal for God and for us.

Knowing Jesus means eternal life. Without Jesus in our lives, we miss out on finding the true peace that comes from knowing Him. Apart from Jesus there is no true peace or satisfaction in life—none. Jesus quenches our thirst because He is THE Living Water and with Him we’ll never thirst (John 4:14). Without Jesus and our Triune God in our lives, we miss out on eternal life. Don’t miss out. The best is yet to come and Jesus brings it. Paul spells this out in Philippians 3:7-8.

We can know God and bring Him glory by establishing a relationship with Him; an intimate relationship fostered by faith, love, and obedience. Love Him above all things. Love Him with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength (Mark 12:30). This is knowing God. Lastly, live FOR Him! Give glory to God! That’s why we are here.

“This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit showing yourselves to be my disciples.” –John 15:8

In the end the glory of our redeeming God will be revealed in Jesus the Christ and all mankind will see it –Isaiah 40:5

Heavenly Father, strengthen and empower us so that we may truly know, love, honor, and obey You always in a never-ending work of love to bring You glory. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.