117. The Purpose of Life — Aneel Aranha  

Hello and welcome to The Hope Podcast. I’m Aneel Aranha. Today, we will talk about how one important day in our lives is when we are born; another is when we discover why.

Mark Twain once said: The two most important days in your life are the day you are born, and the day you find out why. Although we celebrate the first every year, many of us never celebrate the second because we have yet to discover our purpose on this earth. We wander through life aimlessly, knowing there should be more than leading a mundane existence, but we can't figure out what it might be. So, how do we discover it?

Let us follow this logically. If we believe that God created us — surely we do — then he did so for a reason. How would he reveal this reason to us? Well, by speaking to us. In the past, God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days, he has spoken to us by his Son (Hebrews 1:1).

Who better to tell us the plans and purpose of God than his Son — Jesus — who walked upon the earth about two thousand years ago? We weren't around then, but we have what he said recorded in Scripture. As we read it, we would hear Jesus speaking these words to us: "Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you" (Matthew 28:19-20).

It is the one command that all the gospel writers echo in one form or another, suggesting its importance, and there we have one of our purposes in life: to make disciples of all nations. Of course, we cannot make disciples of anybody without being disciples ourselves, and as we set about this task, we will discover more of the beautiful plans and purposes God has for our lives. In fulfilling them, we cooperate with God's plan of salvation, helping to guide a lost humankind home even as we become more and more in his image and likeness. 

In the process, we will discover our identity — that we are not ordinary people but children of God and citizens of heaven, created to be a light in a dark world and provide flavor to a tasteless earth. And life will suddenly take on more meaning than we can imagine! So, would you like to get started today, or do you want to continue to lead a life without meaning?
 
God bless you.