This week on 1Africa, we’re discussing one of life’s “big questions” every day. Today’s topic: Why am I here? Be sure to check in tomorrow for more big questions!
Why on earth am I here?
Everyone likes to feel useful. It’s one of the best feelings to know that you are contributing and fulfilling your part. But it’s very hard to do what you’re supposed to do if you don’t know what it is that you’re supposed to be doing.
Most of us, if we are honest, have at one time or the other asked ourselves about the purpose of the life we are living. What is the reason for us being here? What are we meant to do with our lives? To attempt to find an answer to these fundamental questions you really have to take a step back and look at the very beginning.
Accident or Design?
At the start of everything you either believe that there was a Creator or you don’t. If you don’t believe in a God who made us, and everything around us, then logically your view is possibly that there is no design, or intended function, for us being alive. There can’t be intention if there was not forethought, so therefore we have no real purpose. Whatever purpose we have is purely our choice and it’s up to us to live however we please, without any requirement to fulfil a role or need. In other words, we just are and the rest is up to us.
If, on the other hand, you believe that in the beginning God created, and part of His creation included mankind, He must have had a reason for making man in the first place. The next question then has to be, why were we made?
Grand design
In his book The Purpose Driven Life, Rick Warren looks at this question in detail. Using the Bible as a foundation Warren outlines five purposes that God intended all of humankind to fulfil. According to the Bible, God’s reasons for us being here on earth are:
1. To have a relationship with God
2. To have a relationship with others
3. To become like Jesus
4. To serve and help people
5. To show others how they can know who God is
First and foremost, if God made you, then your number one reason for being is to know Him, not just know about Him. Following your dreams or passions will only satisfy to a point, but without a relationship with Jesus, it doesn’t matter how many books you read or self help seminars you attend, you will never really experience the satisfaction that can be found in understanding the purpose God has for you to fulfil during your time on earth.
You are here because God wants you here. He has a role for you to play on this earth and He wants to be part of your life as you outlive the plan and purpose He intends for you to live.