Why Do I Exist?

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Jokes aside, Calvin asks a great question. "What do you think we are put on earth to do? What's our purpose in life? Why are we here?"

I believe I have been created by God for a purpose. I believe the Bible is clear about why God has created me.

1) I have been created to enter into a relationship with God as my Father, and, consequently, with others who are also part of God’s family and are therefore my brothers and sisters.

John 1:12: But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name.

1 John 3:1: See how great a love the Father has bestowed on us, that we would be called children of God; and such we are.

Since God has adopted me into His family as His son, I have also become related to others in God’s family, who have now become my brothers and sisters.

2) I have been created to display God’s divine nature to the world around me.

Romans 8:29: For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren.

2 Peter 1:4: For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust.

Just as children become more and more like their parents, I, too, should be becoming more and more like my heavenly Father.

3) I have been created to perform a specific task that only I can accomplish.

Ephesians 2:10: For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.

Recently, I was very happy to hear Dr Santhosh Mathew share these same truths at a meeting. He expressed it more poetically, like this:

We have been created to:
i) Belong to God (by entering into a relationship with Him)
ii) Become like God (by becoming transformed into His likeness)
iii) Build God’s Kingdom (by fulfilling the good works that God has already planned for me)

Let me commend the EHA motto as an easy tool we could use to remember why we exist. The Emmanuel Hospital Association motto is "Fellowship for Transformation through Caring"

We exist to be a Fellowship (because of our relationship with God and each other)
We exist to be Transformed (individually and collectively into His likeness)
We exist to Care (by performing the specific task God has planned for us)

This is crucial stuff! If we have been created for this, but spend our lives accomplishing so much else, we may find when it is our time for assessment at the Judgement Day, that our life has been wasted.