Why On Earth Are We Here For?

It seems like we human beings have this infinitely huge vacuum in our hearts and we try
our best to fill it up with things, money, gadgets, sex, music, success, English Premier
League football, religion, you name it… but it leaves us empty as before. And in some
cases we see the symptoms manifested as boredom, addiction (i.e. workaholic, alcoholic
or drug abuse), a sense of despair or even suicidal tendencies. More than a thousand years
ago, Saint Augustine wrote that our hearts are restless until they find rest or fulfillment or
satisfaction in God.

Humanism: Since we’re all going to die anyway, then let’s make this world a better
place.

Hedonism: “Since we’re all going to die, let’s seize the day! (Carpe diem) Let’s party,
eat, drink and be merry for life is short.”

Existentialism: “Yes, life is meaningless and absurd. But I refuse to accept it and live as
if there’s meaning. I will choose to be compassionate and kind. That’s authentic life.”

Well, so far so good. But let’s do a thought experiment here… If there is no God, then we
are nothing but the accidental, by-product of nature. We came from matter plus time plus
chance. We hit the lottery so we were born. We are a random collision of carbon based
molecules. No soul, no spirit in us. There is no reason or no purpose for our existence.
Our ultimate destiny is death and nothingness.

So in a million years from now, it doesn’t ultimately matter what you did to improve the
world or how many sunsets you have enjoyed. We all come to the end of our lives as
naked and empty-handed as on the day we were born. We can’t take anything with us. In
the long run, it’s just chasing after the wind. Nothing means anything. Because our lives
are not connected to something bigger than ourselves… if there is no God.

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But with God, everything changes. Yes, you can work to make this world a better place.
Heal the sick. Fight injustice and relieve suffering. And that only makes sense because
people are created in the image of God. The choices we make today will echo through
eternity. One day, we will be raised back to life and so how we live today has enormous
significance. For the Christian, these pleasures of life are good gifts from God that we
can enjoy. They are clues, hints that point us to the Creator who is the ultimate source of
all joys.

So the funny thing is this: we can have the courage to make the world a better place and
enjoy the good things in life only because God makes all these things meaningful and
beautiful. Everything is full of purpose. But without God, life is absurd, full of sound
and fury, signifying nothing.

But all religious worldviews teach us to do good and if I live a better life, a less selfish
life, I’d find the purpose of my life, rite?

The Christian worldview is much more radical than that. The problem is not that we don’t
know stealing, lust, hatred, attachment to worldly things, selfishness, cruelty is wrong or
sinful. The problem is we already know it but we still do it.

The Christian view of humanity: Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde

If you define the purpose of your existence in terms of performance, you do good deeds
motivated by self-interest (in order to get to heaven, escape from hell or to feel good
about yourself, to meet expectation of others). In the end, the ultimate motive is still
‘yourself”. If you achieve it, you end up with self righteousness and pride. If you fail to
achieve it, you will end up with despair and fear.

Other worldviews: “Do good, obey the rules – then I will be accepted by God”.
The Good News: “I am accepted by God because of what Jesus has done – therefore I
obey”.

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God’s unconditional love releases you from fear and the crushing need to earn his love
through performance. Instead it gives you a new motivation to perform i.e. because you
are loved and want to please your father.

For the Christian, the purpose of life is LOVE – “ To love God with all our heart, soul,
mind and strength, and to love our neighbor as ourselves”. That’s why we obey God.
Not out of fear, but out of love. So the Purpose of life is not an abstract principle, a
theorem, a set of rules and regulations you can find in a book. The Purpose of life is a
Person. You can have relationship with this person, to love and be loved by God. The
good news is Christ loves us more than we ever dare imagine even though we are
more sinful than we’d ever dreamed of!

Not only that, on Easter Sunday he was resurrected from the grave! Jesus is the only
Person to have conquered death itself. Death will not be the last word. It is not the end of
everything. Because what God has done in Christ He will one day do for us and the rest
of creation! Our physical bodies will be transformed to glory. The heavens and the earth
will be renewed and purified. And this project has already started like a mustard seed in
the world, ever growing and swelling and spreading.

In the meantime, we are called to be the ambassadors of God’s kingdom on earth – in our
lives, in our studies, in our worship, in our work, in our relationships to reflect God’s love
to the world.