Purpose of life

“In Christ we have also obtained an inheritance, having been destined according to the purpose of him who accomplishes all things according to his counsel and will, so that we, who were the first to set our hope on Christ, might live for the praise of his glory.” Ephesians 1:11-12 (NRSV)

We all are here on earth not by an accident but God have a plan for each one of us. we are sent to this earth with a purpose which we need to quest for. Our birth was not a mistake, and our life is not fluke of nature. Our parents may not have planned us, but God did. Before we were conceived by our parents we were in God’s mind because he had a plan for us. it is not by chance or fate that we are alive, we are alive and breathing because God wanted to create us. The Word of God says, “The Lord will fulfill his purpose for me.”

No matter where we were born, under what circumstances we were born. We might feel that we don’t have any hope in life. But, let us be remined that no matter what we are who we are God have a purpose for our lives. God created every person with a purpose in mind. God’s motive for creating was God’s love. as Bible says, “Long before he laid down earth’s foundations, he had us in mind, had settled on us as the focus of his love.” Since God created us with love. our first and foremost purpose is and should be love. Loving the Lord our God with all our heart, soul and mind, which is the first commandment given by our Lord Jesus and the second is, loving our neighbors as ourself. Now one question might strike, who is our neighbor? Our neighbor is not just someone who stays near to us. not someone who is like us, or who belongs to us. But our neighbor is someone who is indifferent to us, someone who is in need to love and acceptance. Our neighbor is someone who is marginalized and oppressed. Hence, we should make it our purpose to love someone indifferent than us. our purpose should be to reflect the love of Christ through our words and deeds.

In the contemporary time, when the world is full of injustices, oppression, discrimination in the name of caste, religion, gender or anything. If we look around us, we see many people struggling and crying for justice and acceptance. There are millions of people who are in poverty, millions of people fighting for their identity and equality. In mist of all these injustices, where do we stand? How far are we considering it as our vocation to fight with me and being in solidarity with them? It’s a question we need to ponder upon. Therefore, our calling should be to take their side and fight with them instead of being mere spectator. Our purpose of life should be to work for justice and liberation of people from various bondages, of sin, oppression, guilt and so on. There are plenty of people to put another person down and dehumanize them. There are many people who behaves and acts so harshly with other human beings. there are many to judge them and criticize them for the mistakes they do in their lives. but even in the midst of such situation our purpose should be to lift people up, our purpose in life should be to accept them and help them achieve the fulness of life.

The world is in need to love not hatred, so, our purpose in life should be to spread love and end hatred.

We might have been living a life in ourselves and searching for the purpose of our lives. Through this short reflection I want to encourage all of us to ponder upon the things that I have said above and work for the betterment of our people, church and society at large. Let us seek help from God to be an instrument to establish God’s reign here on earth.

Article by Elishiba Sunar