I’ve come across a loaded question lately that I think needs addressing in my own life: “Isn’t a man entitled to live his own life and find his own meaning and purpose?”

That is a loaded question if ever there is one.

I look around and clearly see that mankind, as a whole, has tried this theory of self-centered purpose and it has failed him. The purpose of life has to be constant throughout all lives or it is no purpose at all, but rather a selfish distraction.

Speaking form within the restraints of my own experience; the Christian life has purpose, and it’s purpose is threefold. I’d like to discuss this here.

First, and most importantly, a Christian’s purpose it to worship.

William Temple, the great Anglican theologian, said, “Worship is the submission of all our nature to God. It is the quickening of conscience by his holiness; the nourishment of mind with his truth; the purifying of imagination by his beauty; the opening of the heart to his love; the surrender of will to his purpose”.

Worship is no longer something that I take part in for an hour every Sunday morning, but is evolving into an integrated practice of my lifestyle. I am finding that when worship encompasses even my most mundane and boring activities in my life, it draws purpose out of even them and casts in me a sense of wonder about God, what He is doing, and how He is doing it.

I have also began to notice that the more I allow my heart to cry out in worship, the smaller my problems become, and the easier it is for me to let go of the burdens that I’ve held onto for so long.

I will not go into specific details in such a public setting, but I want to be completely honest with myself and whoever may be reading this: For many years starting back from when I was 16, up until even now, I have harbored and hidden from those around me, a very troubled soul.

I cannot count the nights over these year I have laid awake in bed wrestling with my thoughts and my doubts about life. I have lost track of all the books, and essays, and articles I’ve read throughout the years written on religions and philosophies trying to find meaning out of what I perceived to be meaninglessness. I cannot count that times that seemingly out of nowhere, I will begin beating myself up over decisions made (both wrong and right) years ago that I shouldn’t even still remember. I have fought, and still fight sometimes on a daily basis, with depression. I have had addictions to things and behaviors I never should have touched in the first place. I’ve carried it all with me. I could go on and on I but I just want to point out that my burdens are there, they are real, and just like yours: they demand a resolution.

No amount of positive thinking, looking to the future, or trying to simply “let go” of these thoughts has even given my soul a moment of peace. They might have distracted me for a while, but they have never settled an issue. It is only very recently, I would say even within the past year, where I have begun to truly let worship into my life and felt it chipping away at my burdens. I would be lying if I said it is happening instantly, that it is happening all at once, or even that it is an easy process for me. But rather; slowing, and sometimes in quite an emotionally painful way, through my worship of God, he is bringing each issue into the light, dealing with me about it, and putting it to rest. And he is accomplishing this through the quickening of my conscience by his holiness; the nourishment of my mind with his truth; the purifying of my imagination by his beauty; the opening of the my heart to his love; and the surrendering of my will to his purpose.

The second purpose of the Christian is to serve.
By enlisting yourself into the ranks of Christianity, you are essentially signing up to be God’s hands and feet.

In his book Disappointment with God, Phillip Yancy takes on some of the more difficult question associated with Christianity. Most notably, “Where is God during the suffering of the world?” I am going to do his writing an injustice by summing it up in one sentence, but his answer in short was to rephrase the question to: Where are the Christians during suffering of the world? More times than not, they are right there in the midst of that suffering doing the best they can to work through problem and communicate God’s love.

I don’t want to ever forget this point: When God wants to take action, he calls his followers to action. The next time I’m inclined to say where was God during such and such, I want to also ask, where was his church? This puts a charge on my life to be reading and willing to go when-ever and where-ever He would call me to serve, acting on his behalf.

The third purpose as a Christian is to grow.
To grow, or as I would better like to call it, to be a willing canvas.
I was brought up in the church. I sung the songs, I prayed the prayers but my idea of God was wrong. This is a loose analogy, but it’s the best one I feel I can make so bare with me: I used to think of God as as a cosmic slot machine. I would place my prayer as a coin in that machine, pull the handle, and if I hit the jackpot wonderful, and if I hit nothing, shrug my shoulders and walk-off assuming no prize was going to be awarded to me.

Maybe a better illustration would be that of God as a cauldron in which to make a magic potion. Assuming I would pray the right prayers before each meal and bed time, sings the write songs, say the things expected of a young man brought up the church to say, and attend church every Sunday, I could pour all these actions into God and stir him up and He would output my expected results.

My presuppositions were wrong.

I now have come to see God as an artist, and I must be willing to be His canvas, and time is going to be his brush. He carefully plans each stroke onto my life, never giving me more than I can handle at one time, allowing me to learn and grow through time.

I mention time as his brush because more often than not His ways are not instant or automatic, but rather meticulous so that when he steps back outside of time and space and views what he had made, he would see it is good.

For me personally a huge step in my growth with God was putting to rest the notion, and really the arrogance, that said I was entitled to understand each stroke he makes immediately after he makes it. I understand that even in my life now, things have happened to me that have made me grow but I still don’t understand why they needed to happen in the first place. I probably won’t this side of eternity.

I have personally seen in my own life, in the very short time span of just these past three years, that when you open up your life in this manner, you can’t help but grow. You can’t help but change. Last year am not the man I was three years ago. Today I’m not the man I was last year. My purpose in this way has been clearly defined, and I get excited to think what I will become in the coming years. I look forward to what God is going to do with me and through me.

To give an answer to the thoughts I first wrote, my purpose is set. It is given to me. My purpose is to worship God in spirit and in truth. It is to be sensitive to the needs that other may have, and be willing to meet them. It is to continually grow and change and learn.