Everybody wants to have a life that’s meaningful, one that transcends just the everyday run-of-the-mill, in-the-trenches, survival existence. We want to have something that transcends that going on in our lives.
Even people who are not Christians, I think, find themselves with that same kind of desire. Henry David Thoreau wrote, “The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation.”
They’re just going to work, earning money, paying the bills, and year-by-year life just goes on. There’s nothing that gives them any real deep satisfaction and meaning. Those who earn a lot of money eventually realize, “I’ve spent my life trying to be the richest man in the graveyard,” and it doesn’t really make any sense at all.
The Meaning and Significance Of Being God’s Child
Well, Christians should not have this problem of searching for significance. Because, as those who have repented of our sins and believed in Jesus Christ and who are now adopted into the family of God and are spiritually children of God, we have a God-given significance—that other people don’t have—to our lives.
That is, we are rightly related, first of all, to God. Then, secondly, we’re living to please Him and to do His will.
That’s what gives our lives meaning and significance. And eternal significance, because this goes beyond death, praise God! But the very most important thing, of course, to have significance in your life and true meaning in your life is to be rightly related to God.
Being Rightly Related to God
If you saw a fish lying on a sidewalk, flapping there, and that fish looked up at you and said, “I hate my life.” You would say, “Well, of course you hate your life, you’re a fish! You’re not supposed to be on the sidewalk, you’re supposed to be swimming in a stream, or a lake, or the ocean somewhere. You’re out of your element. You’re not in the place that you were created to be.”
It’s the same thing with all human beings. We’re created with the intention of God to be His children, and to be in His family, and to be knowing Him, and enjoying Him, and serving Him. Enjoying being a part of all the others who believe in Him, and who serve Him, part of His big family. If you have never repented and believed in Jesus, you are like the fish out of water. You haven’t reached step number one yet, really.
You’ve got to get rightly related to God. Then, once you are, and you’re His child, Scripture says that He is prepared good works from the foundation of the world that we should walk in them (see Ephesians 2:10).
A Divine Destiny Prepared for Each of Us
We have a divine destiny that God has prepared for each one of us, and it involves good works. Now, obviously, those good works are going to involve serving other people.
You can’t be a hermit and do too many good works. I guess you could pray for other people. That certainly is a wonderful work! But I think that the works that God has prepared for us have something to do with serving other people beyond just prayer.
If we look at Scripture, we, of course, know that this is true. People, not even believers—again, created in the image of God, created to serve God, created to serve others—a lot of them tap into this, to a degree. And they do find significance in serving other people. They choose professions based upon that inward desire to find significance and to know that they’re bringing value to other people in their lives because of their knowledge, or their skills, or their talents.
Finding Satisfaction in Serving Others
Let’s face it, there’s nothing wrong with this at all. There’s good reason to find a lot of deep satisfaction in what you do, as it serves in the greater, bigger picture of serving other people.
If someone’s paying you to do a job, guess what. You’re worth it! You bring value to your job, and it’s helping other people.
So there’s nothing wrong with finding satisfaction in what you do. You don’t have to be a doctor or a nurse, to be serving other people. There isn’t really any job, generally speaking, that doesn’t have some value in serving other people. That’s why they pay you!
Serving God in the Ordinary
But you don’t have to do something great. You don’t have to find the cure to cancer to feel significance. You want to just find it in serving God and in serving other people.
Let’s say that you’re a stay-at-home mom. Oh my goodness, does your life ever have significance that you should be thrilled about! Taking care of children and raising them and giving them that love and care and attention that they need is so valuable. You should see yourself as having a very significant life.
That’s a hard, difficult job. It takes years and years of devotion and diligence. People ought to feel good who are investing their lives in their children.
It All Revolves Around Serving Others
But it all revolves around serving others, because others need what you have. God has created us in that way. That we are dependent upon one another.
Within the church, of course, it’s also true. We’re told that we’re the body of Christ and we all have different parts to play, so we all need each other.
My hand and my foot, they’re separate, but they need each other. Because when I stub my toe, it needs my hand! My toe needs my hand to rub it. If my hand wants to go and get something, it needs the feet to walk across the room in order to get it.
We really do need each other.
Finding What God Made You Specifically For
Find what God has made you, specifically, for. What He’s given to you that maybe not everybody else has. Then use that and find significance in that. Do it as unto the Lord.
Paul said that, whatever you do—talking about your job, or your daily life—do it as unto the Lord (see Colossians 3:23). He said that it’s the Lord Christ whom we all serve, ultimately, in what we’re doing.
There’s no reason for anybody to not find some deeper meaning and significance in their lives. Because there are just unlimited opportunities to use what God has given you for the benefit of others who will value your service.
Okay, I hope that’s a little bit of an encouragement to you today. God bless!
