I find it interesting that while our postmodern culture encourages us to create our own purpose, we continue to be obsessed with what others think about it. We are intrigued by television shows that judge the talents of those who believe they were born to be the next American Idol but then cringe as their dreams are aborted by judges who consider them defective. We encourage others to create their own meaning but then turn around and place them on the world stage for third-party validation. Our problem is that we have set the bar for human meaning in the physical world when in reality it is found in the heavens. The search for worldly significance will always be short-lived because it is a moving cultural target. Thankfully, the heavenly bar is set at the same height for everyone, and those who find their meaning in Christ get a Jesus ladder to help them over the top. 

Why do we have an audience in mind when we think about our purpose? Are we performing for a father or mother who felt we never lived up to our potential, peers who mocked us as a child, a boss who never gave us that promotion, or co-workers who couldn’t understand how we got hired in the first place? The Good News is that we only need to please an audience of One and not a fickle audience of millions. The One who wrote our role in His story is the only One qualified to judge our performance; pleasing Him is actually quite simple, requiring only that we be who He uniquely created us to be. If we improvise for the viewing public our performance will be harshly critiqued and soon forgotten, but if we stay in character, we are promised a personal audience with the Scriptwriter at a cast party that never ends. I suspect you would prefer that your life ended up a rolling credit in an eternal salvation story rather than an old headline in a newspaper lining a birdcage.

Animals are content when their needs are satisfied; man insists, not only on being satisfied but also on being able to satisfy, on being a need not only on having needs. Personal needs come and go, but one anxiety remains: Am I needed? There is no man who has not been moved by that anxiety.

(Abraham Joshua Heschel)

Photograph by Michelle Jimenez – Unsplash