Faith Foundations: Living for What Matters MostSample

Enjoy and Exalt

I’m pretty sure you want your life to count for what matters most. I’m assuming you don’t want to get to the end of your life, look back, and realize, I missed the point. But if we’re not careful, that’s exactly what will happen. Overlooking the purpose of our existence is a risk we all face – Christians and non-Christians alike. If that sounds pretty harsh, please know my intention isn’t to offend you, but to challenge you. I want you to see that if you don’t grasp the purpose of your life, you’ve got to make some significant changes. So, this reading plan isn’t a soapbox for my personal views on life’s purpose. I just want to do all I can to reveal God’s purpose for your life. Please check what I write here against his Word, and keep asking yourself: Does my life really align with God’s intended purpose?

If you’re not a follower of Jesus, the answer to that question is probably going to be no. I hope you’ll come to see that a relationship with God is possible through Jesus, and that this defines your purpose. Miss this, and you miss life’s point. If you are a follower of Jesus, you may just be missing the point too. None of us is above overlooking – even intentionally ignoring – some core biblical truths and succumbing to a diluted or counterfeit Christianity. In the United States, where I’m from, we’re tempted to settle for a subtly yet dangerously Americanized version of the gospel that puts a comfortable Christian spin on the American dream, when in reality we’ve been created for a much bigger, much better dream. I want to show you that dream from Scripture, a dream that transcends countries and cultures, and invite you to live for it. Once this dream captivates you, you won’t want to live for anything less. And once that happens, you’ll come to the end of your days and conclude by God’s grace, my life counted for what mattered most.

Since Genesis 1, God’s been making it clear: he made us to enjoy and exalt him. The highest purpose of your life is to experience the pleasure of a loving relationship with your Creator. When Jesus was asked what the greatest commandment was, he answered, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment” (Matthew 22:37–38). It’s breathtaking that God, the holiest and most magnificent Being in the universe, created you and me to experience life in relationship with him. This is why Jesus later prays to his Father, “And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.” (John 17:3)

Over the coming days, we’ll see more about the life that Jesus came to bring. Jesus, the Son of God come in the flesh, sacrificed himself to reconcile us to the Father. We’ll see that the gospel doesn’t merely revolve around me, for God so loved the world (John 3:16). Jesus commanded us to love God and neighbor, he and emphasized that God’s love spreads through us to others. Finally, the vision in Revelation 7:9–10 unveils humanity’s ultimate purpose: a global multitude exalting God. Let’s align ourselves with this purpose and discover what it means to live for what matters most.