What does the Bible say about how to find purpose in life?

Think of it, as life's aim! To serve the living and true God! Is it not, from one point of view, as simple as A B C, doing the will of God, doing daily what He would have us do? And yet, although it is so simple, it is an idea that has not occurred to a great many persons; even some who are piously inclined fail to grasp the fact that the living and true God has a service for each one of us to do. There is a pathway through this world for you and me (for I am now addressing those who are converted) — there is a pathway through this world marked out for every one of us. We have our something to do. We have our words to speak. We have our works to perform. They are such that no one else can do for us. They are such that, if they are not done, the world, our companions, those around us, will be the worse because we fail to do them. God works through His servants, and His servants are men and women who have been saved from the wrath to come. They are those into whom He puts a new nature and His Holy Spirit, and places them here in this world for His praise and glory.

The Apostle Paul could say to Timothy, “Thou hast fully known my … purpose,” as well as teaching, conduct, and faith. Our blessed God has a “purpose;” He has called us according to that purpose. He makes all things work in view of it. Now right desires are not enough; there must be purpose, and purposefulness to say, “I will seek after,” and not only to say it, but to do it. Not as though we were to seek something which is difficult to find, for all is now revealed in our Lord Jesus Christ. There might be difficulty in the Psalmist’s day “to behold the beauty of the Lord,” but now it is all seen in its attractive perfection in our blessed Lord; and the Holy Spirit is here to give power to behold the beauty of the Lord. But there must be real purpose of heart.

Above all things the purpose of the Christian life is to do the will of God in the service of the Lord Jesus Christ that we should in life find motive in the constraining power of the love of Christ to live not unto ourselves but unto Him who died for us and rose again. The purpose of the Christian life is easily stated but oh how we pray for each other that it might be written in our hearts by the Holy Spirit afresh in the measure in which we know it already.

With the light of the revelation God has been pleased to give us the question should not be difficult to answer. But before we come to that revelation might we not wisely ask ourselves why the creature exists? Surely it is not that he should go out fresh from the hand of his Creator, forget all about Him, and live to please himself. Surely it is rather that man should serve his Maker, and bask in the sunshine of whatever light may have been given to him by the One to whom he owes his existence. Right through the whole revelation God has given to us runs this glorious truth, that the end that God has in view is that He may be known by His creature.

Our consumer oriented society needs a Copernican revolution in thinking in order to understand and appreciate the Biblical concept of the will of God. Instead of concentrating on myself, on my wishes, on my ideas, the focus of Scripture is on God and His desires. God has created man in such a way that he functions in an optimal way when the heart is centred on God and not on self. In this context, to sum it up briefly, we are: God-oriented as to the instructions we need from the Word for our motives and goal; others-oriented as to our service, to do God's will; self-oriented with regard to the need for self-judgment in order to be able to discern and practice God's will; Christ-oriented as to the right incentive and example for a life according to God's will.

The apostle Paul prayed that the saints at Colosse might be filled with the full knowledge of God's will, in all wisdom and spiritual understanding, for only thus can we carry out the mind of God for us. If this blessed knowledge is to fill heart and mind, other things will have to be displaced; nor shall we desire to carry out our own will, or the will of any but God. Diligent enquiry in the Scriptures will result in the acquisition of the knowledge of God's will; and this knowledge will have its proper place in the thoughts as it is held in communion with the Lord. The Lord Jesus was perfectly acquainted with God's will, and lived by every word of God. Our knowledge of God's will is very limited at best, for we are poorly instructed; and in our practical life, we live by few of God's words. Still, the whole scope of the truth is before us, and where there is desire, there will be spiritual increase. When upon earth, the Lord said, "If any man will to do His will, He shall know of the doctrine."

The Lord Jesus knew the will of God, but more than that, He did the will of God. We need therefore a word from His own lips, “If any man will do His (God's) will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God” (John 7:17). If we desire to know the will of God let us first seriously test ourselves as to why. Do we want to find out whether it is acceptable to us or not? Or do we really desire to practise God's will? Of course God knows our motives. When the remnant of Israel came to Jeremiah to ask him to enquire of God, they told him they would without fail obey God's Word when it was given them (Jer. 42:5-6); but God knew that they dissembled in their hearts (v. 20) and only intended to obey if it suited their thoughts. If we do not have the honest intention of doing the will of God, or at least of being willing to do it, then we shall never be given the firm conviction of the teaching of God's Word. If we desire to do His will we shall know of the doctrine, that is, the teaching: it will be vital and real to us.

God wishes to reveal His will to us regarding our life. And if we recognize and carry out His will, He will grant us the assurance that the way we are going, corresponds to His will. We shall see His face shining over our way. In Psalm 31 we find these two aspects: first David requests God’s guidance and leading ‘and, for thy name’s sake, thou wilt lead me and guide me’ (Ps. 31:3), then he expresses the wish: ‘Make thy face to shine upon thy servant’ (Ps. 31:16).

When God created man, stamping upon him His own image, He did it with a great purpose in view. His delights were with the sons of men and He had great things in store for them, but it seemed as though His purpose was to be frustrated since man, having refused God's claim, had ruined himself and was found lying under the power of death, a poor, disobedient, self-willed dupe of God's arch enemy. What was to be done? God was not baffled. He had eternal life for men who had brought themselves, by their sin, under the power of death — something greater than they had lost by their folly.

But how was that life to be reached? How was that life to be secured? The story is a wonderful one. From Godhead's fullest glory came our Lord. The only begotten Son which is in the bosom of the Father was found here in the manger at Bethlehem, a little babe. That blessed Person had come to show us the will of God; He had come to tread the path that our feet should tread; and He had come to be eternal life to us. There it was, the will of God manifest in Him; no other will moved Him, but God's will, and there is God's claim upheld by Him, for in Him was eternal life for us; everything that God could desire in Him; everything that we could need in Him — the only begotten, full of grace and truth. He showed forth the path of God's will. That is one reason why He said to men, "Follow Me." The path of life is the path of God's will, and if we would tread that path of life we must see it in Him and follow Him.

God has come down that we might know the whole story for ourselves in Christ. Love coming to us, and righteousness going to God. What we have to seek in everything is to glorify God - a thousand circumstances in life, but only one Object. The question is, whether we are living Christ in the ordinary circumstances of life - in honest toil and labour, in the calling in which we are (though if we cannot abide in the calling with God, we must leave it). Is it the one object of our lives to show forth Christ, to manifest Him in our mortal bodies, to realise more of Him by the power of the Spirit of God - is that where we are? And with thankfulness of heart that He became that Lamb of God, and has given us the Spirit to dwell in us.