Finding Meaning in Life

By Khen Lim



Image source: ronitbaras.com

The other day, I was thinking about some of my friends. I’d come to the question, “What things are we most afraid of?” and almost immediately I thought of my close friend of many decades who lives on his own, basically in fear and depression. He is depressed because he has fears. He is afraid because he is depressed. He’s frightened of getting things wrong with his life, of wasting the years, of making wrong decisions and having to start all over. By himself. He once put it to me, “I don’t want to set myself up for a menopausal nightmare where I’d say, “What have I really done with my life so far?” 

It is a fear I have come across because all of us want to live a meaningful life. It’s essentially the cry of the human heart, to live fruitfully, purposefully and meaningfully. The sad part with him is that he doesn’t know Jesus because if he did, he could follow Him and lead a most satisfying life, one that is pleasing to God, fulfilling all that the Father expects. 

Because of Jesus, every one of us want to live the same kind of inspiring life. Think about it – He lived only 33 years of His life on earth but He completed all He was born to do. From just His encounter with the Samaritan woman (Jn 4:7), He has shown us three ways to finding meaning in life: (1) Live life knowing your purpose, (2) live with the right priorities, and (3) be driven by a passion to fulfil God’s will.

1. Live life knowing your purpose

Jesus and His disciples were en route to Judea from Galilee when He decided to cut through Samaria (v.4). No doubt He understood His purpose that is, to bring God’s love to the Samaritans. While the Samaritan woman was at the well for water, Jesus offered living water. His purpose was clear – He was offering eternal life.

Knowing the Father’s will is crucial for our purpose in life begins with Him. What we want to achieve in life is centred on the One who is greater than our families, careers and ambitions. Some of us will want to know Him more through greater devotion, prayer, worship or Sunday School. For some others among us, we want to make God known in our homes, schools or workplaces.

With a purpose in meaningfulness, God accomplishes His will through us. He works through us. He brings love to our loved ones through us. He restores the grieving and the hurt through us. By our purposes, we become the “light of the world” and “salt of the earth” (Mt 5).

2. Live with the right priorities

In Australia, people used to say, “live right.” I guess when Jn 4:34 quoted Jesus as saying, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to finish His work,” that’s exactly what He meant by doing right. It didn’t mean He didn’t want to eat. In fact everyone was famished at that time, which was why His disciples went to get food from the nearest village but Jesus knew His priority then was not His physical needs but to meet up with this woman and to do His Father’s will. This meant not missing the chance to talk to her. It wasn’t just her that Jesus wanted to offer eternal life to. And so He ended up staying two further days for the chance to meet more of others so they could also become believers (v.41).

People today seem to have a million things to do to keep themselves busy. So the question is how do you get anything done? There’s work everywhere – at home, in the garden, at work, in church, wherever. Where do you get the sense of knowing what to start with? How do you ascertain your priorities? Some do everything at once and nothing gets done. Some do them one by one and wait till eternity for everything to finish. If we care to learn from Jesus, He’ll tell you exactly how to do it:

Firstly, seek wise counsel from above. Seek the kingdom first and everything will be sorted out (Mt 6:33). Pray and then seek advice from your family and you will understand your priorities. 

Secondly, plan and prioritise. If you plan ahead, you won’t fail. If you wish to fail, don’t plan ahead. Jesus didn’t just choose to hop along with His disciples; He grabbed hold of a quiet place and sought a one-to-one with the Samaritan woman. He had a plan – He began by talking about the water because that was what she was there for but in the end, He gave her THE water, the living water.

3. Be driven by a passion for God

In other words, live your life with a Godly passion. When the disciples tried coaxing Jesus to eat (Jn 4:31), His reply was, “I have food to eat that you know nothing about.” Jesus would have been quite hungry and weary by now but He was driven by a passion to save souls and this opportunity likely gave Him the adrenalin to forget at a moment’s notice, His own hunger. His disciples were all for eating while Jesus was all about the love to save lost souls. To Him, the water of everlasting life must be made available to save men and women who want to be saved.

Jesus did not talk about physical yummy food; He was into spiritual food. You might notice this is the second time Jesus switched meanings. When the Samaritan woman was wanting water from the well, Jesus turned it into talking about the living water. When the disciples were concerned about food for the body, Jesus spoke about food for the soul – spiritual food – the food that does the will of God.

Driven by a passion for God means feeling the love and desire of His will in us but it’s also more than that.

In Jn 4:35, Jesus said to His disciples, “Do you not say, ‘Four months more and then the harvest? I tell you open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest.”

We need to be passionate because we don’t have much time left anymore. This is indeed the right time to reap now. If we don’t develop this passion for the work of God, when then? If we keep leaving it till tomorrow, or “when we have free time,” we will never do it.

Do it now or you will never get that chance again. Make your life count. Give it the meaning it deserves. Remember, live life knowing your purpose, live it with the right priorities and be driven by a passion of God.

Meanwhile my old friend languishes alone, fighting the demons of his past and struggling to find out what he must do next. His depression is eating him up and he doesn’t want me to tell him about Jesus.

One of the meaningful things in my life to do, therefore, is to pray for him. What about yours?