WHAT ON EARTH AM I HERE FOR?

A life devoted to things is a dead life, a

stump; a God-shaped life is a flourishing
tree. -Proverbs 11:28 (MSG)
Malalantang tila dahon ang nagtitiwala
sa kanyang yaman, ngunit ang matuwid
ay giginhawa, tulad ng sariwang
halaman. –Kawikaan 11:28 (MBB)
 “Blessed are those who trust in the
Lord... They are like trees planted
along a riverbank, with roots that
reach deep into the water. Such trees
are not bothered by the heat or
worried by long months of drought.
Their leaves stay green, and they go
right on producing delicious fruit.”
Jeremiah 17:7-8 (NLT)
 “Mapalad ang mga taong nagtitiwala kay
Yahweh, pagpapalain ang umaasa sa kanya.
Katulad niya’y isang punongkahoy na
nakatanim sa tabi ng batisan; ang mga ugat ay
patungo sa tubig; hindi ito manganganib kahit
dumating ang tag-init, sapagkat mananatiling
luntian ang mga dahon nito, kahit hindi umulan
ay wala itong aalalahanin; patuloy pa rin itong
mamumunga. –Jeremias 17:7-8 (MBB)
 LESSON 1: IT ALL STARTS WITH GOD
For everything, absolutely everything, above
and below, visible and invisible,... everything
got started in Him and finds its purpose in
Him. -Colossians 1:16 (MSG)
Sapagkat sa pamamagitan Niya ay nilikha
ang lahat ng nasa langit at nasa lupa,
nakikita man o hindi,... Ang lahat ay nilikha
ng Diyos sa pamamagitan Niya at para sa
Kanya. -Colosas 1:16 (MBB)
 “Unless you assume a God,
the question of life’s purpose
is meaningless.”
-Bertrand Russell, Atheist
 IT’S NOT ABOUT YOU.
The purpose of your life is far greater than your
own personal fulfillment, your peace of mind,
or even your happiness. It’s far greater than your
family, your career, or even your wildest dreams
and ambitions. If you want to know why you were
placed on this planet, you must begin with God.
You were born by His purpose and for His
purpose.
 The search for the purpose of life has puzzled
people for thousands of years. That’s because
we typically begin at the wrong starting point-
ourselves. We ask self-centered questions like
“What do I want to be? What should I do with
my life? What are my goals, my ambitions,
my dreams for my future?” But focusing on
ourselves will never reveal our life’s purpose.
The Bible says, “It is God who directs the lives
of his creatures; everyone’s life is in his power”
 Contrary to what many popular books,
movies, and seminars tell you, you won’t
discover your life’s meaning by looking within
yourself. You’ve probably tried that already.
You didn’t create yourself, so there is no way
you can tell yourself what you were created
for! If I handed you an invention you had
never seen before, you wouldn’t know its
purpose, and the invention itself wouldn’t be
able to tell you either. Only the creator or the
owner’s manual could reveal its purpose.
 I once got lost in the mountains. When I stopped to
ask for directions to the campsite, I was told, “You
can’t get there from here. You must start from the
other side of the mountain!” In the same way, you
cannot arrive at your life’s purpose by starting with
a focus on yourself. You must begin with God, your
Creator. You exist only because God wills that you
exist. You were made by God and for God-and until
you understand that, life will never make sense. It
is only in God that we discover our origin, our
identity, our meaning, our purpose, our significance,
and our destiny. Every other path leads to a dead
end.
Many people try to use God for their own
self-actualization, but that is a reversal
of nature and is doomed to failure. You
were made for God, not vice versa, and
life is about letting God use you for his
purposes, not your using him for your
own purpose. The Bible says, “Obsession
with self in these matters is a dead end;
attention to God leads us out into the
open, into a spacious, free life.”
I have read many books that suggest ways to
discover the purpose of my life. All of them
could be classified as “self-help” books
because they approach the subject from a
self-centered viewpoint. Self-help books, even
Christian ones, usually offer the same
predictable steps to finding your life’s
purpose: Consider your dreams. Clarify your
values. Set some goals. Figure out what you
are good at. Aim high. Go for it! Be
disciplined. Believe you can achieve your
goals. Involve others. Never give up.
Of course, these recommendations often lead
to great success. You can usually succeed in
reaching a goal if you put your mind to it. But
being successful and fulfilling your life's
purpose are not at all the same issue! You
could reach all your personal goals, becoming
a raving success by the world's standard, and
still miss the purposes for which God created
you. You need more than self-help advice. The
Bible says, “Self-help is no help at all. Self-
sacrifice is the way, my way, to finding
yourself, your true self.”
This is not a self-help lesson. It is not about finding
the right career, achieving your dreams, or planning
your life. It is not about how to cram more activities
into an overloaded schedule. Actually, it will teach
you how to do less in life-by focusing on what
matters most. It is about becoming what God
created you to be.
How, then, do you discover the purpose you were
created for? You have only two options. Your first
option is speculation. This is what most people
choose. They conjecture, they guess, they theorize.
When people say, “I’ve always thought life is...,”
they mean, “This is the best guess I can come up
with.”
 For thousands of years, brilliant philosophers have
discussed and speculated about the meaning of life.
Philosophy is an important subject and has its uses, but
when it comes to determining the purpose of life, even the
wisest philosophers are just guessing.
Dr. Hugh Moorhead, a philosophy professor at Northeastern
Illinois University, once wrote to 250 of the best-known
philosophers, scientists, writers, and intellectuals in the
world, asking them, “What is the meaning of life?” He then
published their responses in a book. Some offered their best
guesses, some admitted that they just made up a purpose
for life, and others were honest enough to say they were
clueless. In fact, a number of famous intellectuals asked
Professor Moorhead to write back and tell them if he
discovered the purpose of life!
Fortunately, there is an alternative to speculation about the
meaning and purpose of life. It’s revelation. We can turn to
what God has revealed about life in his Word. The easiest
way to discover the purpose of an invention is to ask the
creator of it. The same is true for discovering your life’s
purpose: Ask God.
God has not left us in the dark to wonder and guess. He has
clearly revealed his five purposes for our lives through the
Bible. It is our Owner’s Manual, explaining why we are alive,
how life works, what to avoid, and what to expect in the
future. It explains what no self-help or philosophy book
could know. The Bible says, “God’s wisdom ... goes deep into
the interior of his purposes.... It’s not the latest message,
but more like the oldest-what
 God determined as the way to bring out His best in
us.” God is not just the starting point of your life; he
is the source of it. To discover your purpose in life
you must turn to God’s Word, not the world’s
wisdom.
You must build your life on eternal truths, not pop
psychology, success-motivation, or inspirational
stories. The Bible says, “It’s in Christ that we find
out who we are and what we are living for long
before we first heard of Christ and got our hopes
up, he had his eye on us, had designs on us for
glorious living, part of the overall purpose he is
working out in everything and everyone.” This verse
gives us three insights into your purpose.
 1. You discover your identity and purpose through a
relationship with Jesus Christ. If you don't have such a
relationship, I will later explain how to begin one.
2. God was thinking of you long before you ever thought
about Him. His purpose for your life predates your
conception. He planned it before you existed, without
your input! You may choose your career, your spouse,
your hobbies, and many other parts of your life, but you
don’t get to choose your purpose.
3. The purpose of your life fits into a much larger, cosmic
purpose that God has designed for eternity. That’s what
this lesson is about.
 Andrei Bitov, a Russian novelist, grew up under an
atheistic Communist regime. But God got his attention
one dreary day. He recalls, “In my twenty-seventh year,
while riding the metro in Leningrad (now St. Petersburg) I
was overcome with a despair so great that life seemed to
stop at once, preempting the future entirely, let alone any
meaning. Suddenly, all by itself, a phrase appeared:
Without God life makes no sense. Repeating it in
astonishment, I rode the phrase up like a moving
staircase, got out of the metro and walked into God’s
light. “You may have felt in the dark about your purpose
in life. Congratulations, you’re about to walk into the
light.
 LESSON ONE: IT ALL STARTS WITH GOD
THINKING ABOUT MY PURPOSE
Point to Ponder: It’s not about me.
Verse to Remember: “Everything got started in Him
and finds its purpose in Him.” Colossians 1: 16b
(MSG)
Question to Consider: In spite of all the advertising
around me, how can I remind myself that life is
really about living for God, not myself?