Deep inside each person there is a great need to know their purpose and act in accordance with it. If this is not the case, then a person’s life loses all meaning and becomes colorless. Joy leaves, and only one inner emptiness remains, which cannot be filled with anything, no activity, no entertainment and pleasure. In other words, every person needs to know what the meaning of life is.
Until a person finds the meaning of his life, he does not really live.
The following is the story of how I managed to find the meaning of life. The same story is given on another page of this site, as this topic is one of the main topics that this site is dedicated to.
After leaving school, in adolescence, at the beginning of an independent life, I faced questions about what to devote my life to, what is the main thing in life. In another way, this question can be asked like this: what is the meaning of life?
But they could not give me answers to the most important questions of life. Therefore, starting from adolescence, I had to look for answers to these questions myself.
I needed to find a starting point in the life coordinate system, to find a solid foundation for building my life.
I didn’t want to waste my life on trifles, I wanted to devote it immediately and entirely to a really big and main life goal.
Therefore, already studying at a higher educational institution, I began to devote time to thinking about what is most important in life.
To answer this question, I needed to understand who a human being is, what kind of creature he is, his origin.
I’ve found that everything I’ve learned so far doesn’t answer these questions for me.
I started looking for answers on my own.
But, the more I thought about these topics, the more and more I got confused.
In the end I gave up and realized that by thinking I could not find and formulate a goal for what to live or what is the meaning of life.
Therefore, I decided to turn to the sacred books. I decided to start with the Bible. At that time, in our formerly atheistic country, various religious literature, including the Bible, only began to appear on the open market.
Soon after I decided to buy a Bible, my fellow students and I met a one-time job that helped me buy a Bible. My student scholarship was of a symbolic value and did not allow purchasing a Bible at the then existing prices.
I started reading this book from the very beginning, trying to find answers to the questions that tormented me.
At first it seemed to me that what I read in the Bible was very far from the topics that worried me, but I, almost every day, continued to delve into the Bible in search of answers.
My expectations for a quick answer from the Bible were not met – I realized that I needed to be patient.
The Invisible Interlocutor, who spoke to me through the text of the Bible, was in no hurry and talked to me about things that seemed to have no direct relation to the questions that tormented me. But with each passing day, an inner confidence grew in me that I was looking for answers in the right place. Sometimes despair came over me, it seemed to me that I would never be able to find answers to my questions.
After a while, I became convinced that the invisible Interlocutor who spoke to me through the text of the Bible is the Creator of everything.
This was already some kind of achievement: instead of an inner emptiness, there was a hope that the Creator would help me get answers.
I already began to address the Creator in a simple conversation (later I learned that this is essentially a prayer). I felt completely free in communication with the God of the Bible, because for me He was at that time more an assumption than a fact.
Gradually I began to feel and understand that the God of the Bible offers me a life filled with meaning and significance, the condition of which is close communication with Him and acceptance of the way of life described in the Bible.
I began to try to get closer to Him in my daily life: I tried to move away from evil and do good, tried to fast for several days, began to treat my parents with respect and do other similar things.
And then I discovered that there is a barrier between me and the life I was striving for.
I did everything right, tried to live a life, the image of which was shown in the Bible, but inside I still remained a state of emptiness and meaninglessness. I felt separated from a meaningful life dedicated to a great purpose.
Finally, I realized that God expects from me some step, some weighty proof that I really want to get this kind of life.
I felt that I needed to leave the old way of life in order to start a new life. Biblically speaking, I needed to complete the Exodus. But what exactly I needed to do, I did not understand.
For a long time I gathered my courage, but then I decided to take radical steps: I decided to leave the city and get a job related to physical labor outside the city in our region.
I had several months left before graduation, but I came to the dean’s office and formalized the completion of my studies, thereby depriving myself of a diploma of education – I wanted to show God how much I want to have a life filled with meaning and dedicated to a really significant goal.
After that, I tried to find a job in our region. On the way to the state employment center, I suddenly realized inside myself that I did not need to go there. I remembered that the day before I saw a homemade ad written in watercolors on the wall, in which the main idea sounded like this: “Bad people get together to do evil deeds, why can’t good people get together to do good deeds.” The address was written at the bottom of the ad.
I decided to go to this address, since doing good deeds is what I was striving for.
So I got to a meeting of a young Protestant church. After the meeting, I approached the pastor of the church and asked him to help me find a place where I could help people in need with good deeds. The pastor said that he would try to find out through acquaintances contacts of social services, where I could be useful.
After that, in the course of further communication, the pastor, having explained to me the essence of the gospel message, and thereby answered all the questions that tormented me!
After communicating with the pastor, I understood why I felt a barrier between myself and the fullness of God’s life, which could not be overcome by any of my ‘righteous’ efforts and efforts.
I understood the reason for the inner emptiness and sense of the meaninglessness of life.
And, I understood the most important thing at that moment for me, what needs to be done in order to receive the fullness of God’s life, filled with meaning.
Below are links to sites that conveniently set out this major Christian message:
As time passed, I realized that the meaning of life cannot be formulated in the form of a phrase like this: “You need to live for …”.
The meaning of life cannot be a dry verbal phrase. The meaning of life can only be something living, but eternal. Someone said that the emptiness inside a person has the form of God.
The meaning of life appears only in a relationship with the perfect person of Jesus Christ. The fact is that He not only once lived a bright life on earth, but He rose from the dead and right now He is alive to give His life to people who have accepted Him as their Savior and King.
He was resurrected and is now alive, therefore “… He is able to save completely those who come to God through Him, because He always lives to intercede for them”!
Each person not only can know about God, but can have his own personal dialogue with Him, communicating directly with Him, coming to Him in prayer through Jesus Christ.
Each person can enter into their own unique, intimate relationship with God in order to have a life filled with God’s meaning, of which Jesus Christ is the source.
I understood the essence of what Jesus Christ accomplished for every person through His death and resurrection. Therefore, after pondering all this for several days, I made the most important decision in my life – to accept justification before God through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, to invite Him into my life as Lord and thereby gain access to a life filled with meaning, life In abundance.
I, being at home alone with God, performed a prayer of repentance, and completely relied on the truth of His word recorded in the Bible: “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness”. I believed that now my sins were forgiven, the obstacle between me and God was removed, and I received abundant life.
The next day, believing that a new happy era in my life had begun, I began to expect that now God will help me in all matters.
But on that autumn day, it was as if luck had turned away from me. I didn’t succeed and I didn’t have time anywhere.
By the end of the day, I was depressed. I completely relied on God, and everything looked as if He did not exist at all. I put everything on one card, and she turned out to be a bat!
I closed the door to my room and fell to my knees in prayer to God, full of despair and frustration.
And at that moment I suddenly found myself inside a stream of light, which instantly filled me with Fatherly love. I felt like a little child in Father’s arms. Tears flowed instantly. It was not a physical phenomenon, but it was more real than my physical environment.
This went on for a moment. I couldn’t take any more. But in that instant, the greatest change in my life took place – I found more than I was looking for.
The first words that appeared on my lips after this event were: “How He loves us all !!!” I only touched the edge of His love. And this was enough for the former self to be completely melted.
Instantly, I was abandoned by a state of emptiness, meaninglessness and inner orphanhood. The gap between me and God’s life has been bridged. Later, I learned that this became possible only because 2,000 years ago, Jesus Christ, having died on the cross, paid with His Blood for the sins of all people, including my sins.
Everything fell into place. I have an unshakable foundation for my life, a starting point, an origin of my life.
Although it seemed almost impossible in the beginning, I managed to find what I was looking for!
People who find the true meaning of their lives become a blessing to society. For example, a businessman who views his business primarily as a means of serving people, and only then as a means of making a profit, will never sell low-quality or, worse, harmful goods to people.
Recently I learned a story about a very interesting person – Clair Patterson (source # 1, source # 2, source # 3). He was a geochemist. He was engaged in measuring the age of the Earth, and was an expert in measuring even an insignificant amount of lead in nature. In the course of his research, he discovered a tremendous increase in the level of lead pollution of the atmosphere, land and the world’s oceans, which has occurred since 1937, after tetraethyl lead was added to the fuel to increase the octane number.
Patterson was still able to convince everyone that the use of tetraethyl lead as a fuel additive is extremely dangerous for humanity. This oily liquid, already at 0 ° (degrees Celsius), turns into a vaporous state and easily enters the lungs of a person when inhaled. Easily penetrates the body even through intact skin. Like lead itself, it is inherently a poison, a neurotoxin, acting on the nervous system and the brain.
After a difficult and long struggle with the largest petrochemical corporations, he managed to defeat for the good of all people. Tetraethyl lead has been banned in the United States since 1976. This happened much later in the world. EU countries started to introduce the ban in the 90s, the general ubiquitous ban in the EU only in the 2000s. Russia introduced a ban on the production of such gasoline only from the end of 2002.
ВThis is how the battle and perseverance of one person were able to save a large number of lives, generations of people.
For me, Clair Patterson is an example of a person who has found his destiny. I have not found any mention of whether he is a believer or not, but the fact that he was motivated by his conscience, and through following it became a blessing for all people, is beyond doubt.
Dear friend, I really hope that this article will help you in your search for the meaning and purpose of life!
