I lay on the cabin deck looking skyward at the trees and night sky while thinking, “What is this all about?” Though it happened decades ago, I still remember the burning questions about the world around me and my purpose. After four years of intensive engineering schooling, living in a commune full of relationship failures, and observing the world’s mess, I stared at the beauty of a simple night with this conclusion: I do not have answers to human purpose or why the world is the way it is. And it bothered me. The dissatisfaction was an important step that followed months later, when I became a Christian.
Now decades later, I often talk to young people. I find that many of them have the same questions I once had. The answers that I often see formulated show paths toward imagined pleasure or some sort of quest for success. For many without resources or in regions of conflict, the picture is more dismal as hopes are killed early and a path forward is more like stumbling forward to simply survive. It seems quite a large fraction of those I talk to, whether rich or poor, are depressed or injured. There is a common denominator in these highly divergent outlooks: the future is perceived as centered within a person.
In a biblical perspective, we are not built that way! With God’s image is planted in our being, which Genesis 1 and 2 tell us. His desire for us from the beginning was to be immersed in a relationship and purpose with Him, but our sin, stemming from what happened in Genesis 3, spoiled the intended relationship. While self-made goals for self-satisfaction may seem to work, they are ultimately empty because they are often separated from the very One who constructed and gave life to our human spirit.
Whether your future seems promising or foreboding, finding purpose that satisfies the heart involves knowing the One who knows you completely. For this reason, we share the good news of the Gospel. Scenes of people with the same questions about purpose and direction are presented in the Bible. Some find Christ. Many do not or do not want to. Nevertheless, Christ makes it clear, repenting or turning from our own ways to His ways, asking Him to come into the core of our being, is the path that will produce satisfaction that stems from the center of our being—not in an outward plan without Him. It also brings eternal life.
Would you consider His story and His claims? Read any of the four Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, or John) in the Bible. Discover how things began and what happened (the first eleven chapters of Genesis). Ask questions to those who believe and walk differently because of having a relationship with the One who knows them best.
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“Jesus said to him, I am the way, the truth, and the life.” John 14:6 (ESV)
“But seek first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” Matthew 6:33 (ESV)
Contact us if you have questions. See our website and downloadable courses for resources that speak of how things began, what happened, and why we need Christ in our hearts.
