Living with Spiritual Purpose

For many people, getting up in the morning and just going about the business of life—whether to work, to school, or to get treatments—is a struggle. The constant and often increasing pressures associated with a job, the growing responsibilities of life, the ongoing deadlines for various projects, and various health problems all have unique challenges that can quickly wear a person down to the point of giving up on a job, education, and sometimes even life. While most of us put on a happy face and trudge ever onwards, just putting one foot in front of another, we rarely admit to anyone else just how difficult our struggles might be. We can always find someone else who has it worse than we do, so we then add feeling guilty onto the growing list of inadequacies we have developed for ourselves. Sometimes we just want a break from life. Sometimes we are so tired of the struggles of this life that we reach a point where we wish we did not have to go on at all. But what we do when we grow tired, weak, and worn is ultimately what defines us.

Job lost almost everything. He lost his wealth. He lost his children. He lost his health. He did not lose his wife, but she certainly was not a help to him when he needed her the most. And as he grieved for these losses in the presence of his friends, he saw his very existence as a curse, so much so that he asked the haunting questions, “Why did I not die at birth? Why did I not perish when I came from the womb?” (Job 3:11). He did not understand the reason behind all that he suffered. He saw it as unfair and without purpose. It confused him because it challenged some of his previously held ideas. However, Job famously endured, and in this we see just how valuable his life was and how filled with purpose it proved to be. God was able to use Job to teach a much-needed lesson—not only to those present in the land of Uz but to all who have opportunity to read the inspired record. Job was a righteous and upright man before his suffering, but despite wishing he had never been born, he endured and so fulfilled an even greater spiritual purpose for God and ultimately enjoyed a great reward.

We do not tend to see ourselves in grand terms or consider our lives as epic struggles in the battle between good and evil, but we should. In fact, whatever our challenges in life, it is the determination to live for God and remain true to him that gives our life its greatest meaning and fills our lives with spiritual purpose. No one can predict the challenges you may face in life. I certainly never anticipated some of the trials I have experienced throughout the years. But you do not have to know what you will face. What matters is that you know the LORD who will be with you through whatever you face. When you focus on living for Him, regardless of the circumstances, then you are truly living with spiritual purpose.