Why Am I Here?
Why Are We Here? Discovering Purpose in a World That Offers None
The question echoes through the centuries, whispered in ancient texts and shouted in modern therapy offices: Why am I here? It's the existential crisis that haunted philosophers like Friedrich Nietzsche and Søren Kierkegaard, and it continues to haunt us today—perhaps more than ever. In our age of self-focus and diminishing community, the search for meaning has become increasingly desperate.
Yet the answer, when we finally grasp it, is surprisingly simple.
The Secular Search for Meaning
Existential therapy focuses on free will, self-determination, and the search for meaning. It emphasizes our capacity to make rational choices and develop our maximum potential. Nietzsche taught us about amor fati—the love of fate—encouraging us to embrace everything that happens in life, both good and bad. We're either victims or victors, he argued. The victim remains perpetually stuck; the victor learns and grows from every circumstance.
There's wisdom here. The Apostle Paul echoed this sentiment centuries earlier: "We rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame" (Romans 5:3-5). Both perspectives recognize that hardship isn't something to resist but to embrace as necessary for growth.
Nietzsche spoke of the "will to power" and the concept of the "overman"—humanity's potential to transcend conventional limitations, overcome nihilism, and create our own values. Through self-mastery, he believed, we could affirm our purpose in life.
But here's where the secular philosophy stumbles: it fails to recognize the core human problem. We are flawed and broken by nature. History proves we cannot overcome our weaknesses through willpower alone. If anything, humanity seems to be regressing rather than progressing toward this ideal "overman."
The Christian Perspective on Existence
Enter Kierkegaard, the Christian philosopher who approached the same questions from a different foundation. He described three stages of human existence: the aesthetic, the ethical, and the religious.
The aesthetic stage pursues pleasure above all else. But this proves unsustainable. When we're not experiencing peak pleasure, we're left with boredom, despair, and emptiness. Recognizing this, we move to the ethical stage, where life becomes about moral responsibility and self-discipline. This sounds more purposeful, but it too has limitations.
Anyone who's tried to be a "good Christian" knows the frustration of the ethical stage. Paul himself confessed in Romans 7:15, "I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate." If the greatest evangelist in history struggled with this, what hope do any of us have?
This brings us to the religious stage—marked by deep dependence on God. Our existence can only be defined and fulfilled through relationship with the Divine. Only when we realize our complete dependence on God can we begin to see our true purpose.
The Answer Hidden in Plain Sight
Jesus spoke clearly about this in John 15:16-17: "You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you. These things I command you so that you will love one another."
Notice what Jesus doesn't say. He doesn't tell us to figure out why we're here. Instead, He tells us: You ARE here because I chose you. Now here's what you're supposed to do.
The question isn't "Why am I here?" but rather "What will I do since I am here?"
Throughout Scripture, we don't find people sitting around pondering their existential purpose. Instead, we find people saying, "I am here, so God, how will you use me?"
When asked about the greatest commandment, Jesus responded simply: Love God with all your heart, soul, and mind, and love others as yourself. All the law and prophets hinge on this (Matthew 22:37-40).
You could write this purpose on a small sticky note: Love God and love His people.
This isn't some empty platitude like "all you need is love." This is a call to live out the purpose for which we were created—to love others with meaning and value that points them to Christ.
Living With Eternal Purpose
From a purely secular perspective, nothing we do on earth ultimately matters. The sun will burn out in a billion years, and everything we've accomplished will vanish. But from a heavenly perspective, all the work we do that bears fruit is productive for eternity.
The souls we affect, the people we show God's love to, the lives we help turn toward Christ—these have eternal implications that outlast the universe itself.
Micah 6:8 makes it clear: "He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?"
Isaiah 1:16-17 echoes this: "Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your deeds from before my eyes; cease to do evil, learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow's case."
James 1:27 summarizes: "Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world."
The message is consistent: Stop living for the world and start living to serve others for the glory of God.
Love in Action
The story of Father Arseny illustrates what this love looks like in practice. Imprisoned in a Soviet gulag, surrounded by violence and despair, he chose to live above his circumstances. When a brutal fight erupted between political prisoners and hardened criminals over stolen rations, Father Arseny didn't cower or join the violence.
He ran into the midst of the heated battle, raised his arms, and declared, "In the name of God, I order you, stop this." He blessed them with the sign of the cross and then retreated to his bunk to pray.
The fighting ceased. The dead were carried out. The wounded were tended. And Sazakov, the most feared criminal in the camp, approached Father Arseny afterward and said, "Forgive me, Father. I doubted your God. I see now that he exists."
This is Christian love—not merely feeling compassion but acting with courage, living above circumstances because of the hope we have in Christ. Father Arseny didn't ask why he was in the gulag. He simply asked what he could do since he was there.
The New Creation
You are not here to be your old broken self, wondering about your purpose. You have been made a new creation, redeemed by Christ for the specific purpose of bearing fruit. The new you knows your purpose. The new you understands how clear Scripture is about this calling.
Life is not about asking "Why am I here?" It's about declaring "What can I do since I am here?"
The answer to the age-old existential question isn't found in self-mastery or philosophical contemplation. It's found in dependence on God and obedience to His clear command: Love one another as Christ has loved you.
In that simple truth lies all the meaning and purpose we've been searching for.
The question echoes through the centuries, whispered in ancient texts and shouted in modern therapy offices: Why am I here? It's the existential crisis that haunted philosophers like Friedrich Nietzsche and Søren Kierkegaard, and it continues to haunt us today—perhaps more than ever. In our age of self-focus and diminishing community, the search for meaning has become increasingly desperate.
Yet the answer, when we finally grasp it, is surprisingly simple.
The Secular Search for Meaning
Existential therapy focuses on free will, self-determination, and the search for meaning. It emphasizes our capacity to make rational choices and develop our maximum potential. Nietzsche taught us about amor fati—the love of fate—encouraging us to embrace everything that happens in life, both good and bad. We're either victims or victors, he argued. The victim remains perpetually stuck; the victor learns and grows from every circumstance.
There's wisdom here. The Apostle Paul echoed this sentiment centuries earlier: "We rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame" (Romans 5:3-5). Both perspectives recognize that hardship isn't something to resist but to embrace as necessary for growth.
Nietzsche spoke of the "will to power" and the concept of the "overman"—humanity's potential to transcend conventional limitations, overcome nihilism, and create our own values. Through self-mastery, he believed, we could affirm our purpose in life.
But here's where the secular philosophy stumbles: it fails to recognize the core human problem. We are flawed and broken by nature. History proves we cannot overcome our weaknesses through willpower alone. If anything, humanity seems to be regressing rather than progressing toward this ideal "overman."
The Christian Perspective on Existence
Enter Kierkegaard, the Christian philosopher who approached the same questions from a different foundation. He described three stages of human existence: the aesthetic, the ethical, and the religious.
The aesthetic stage pursues pleasure above all else. But this proves unsustainable. When we're not experiencing peak pleasure, we're left with boredom, despair, and emptiness. Recognizing this, we move to the ethical stage, where life becomes about moral responsibility and self-discipline. This sounds more purposeful, but it too has limitations.
Anyone who's tried to be a "good Christian" knows the frustration of the ethical stage. Paul himself confessed in Romans 7:15, "I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate." If the greatest evangelist in history struggled with this, what hope do any of us have?
This brings us to the religious stage—marked by deep dependence on God. Our existence can only be defined and fulfilled through relationship with the Divine. Only when we realize our complete dependence on God can we begin to see our true purpose.
The Answer Hidden in Plain Sight
Jesus spoke clearly about this in John 15:16-17: "You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you. These things I command you so that you will love one another."
Notice what Jesus doesn't say. He doesn't tell us to figure out why we're here. Instead, He tells us: You ARE here because I chose you. Now here's what you're supposed to do.
The question isn't "Why am I here?" but rather "What will I do since I am here?"
Throughout Scripture, we don't find people sitting around pondering their existential purpose. Instead, we find people saying, "I am here, so God, how will you use me?"
When asked about the greatest commandment, Jesus responded simply: Love God with all your heart, soul, and mind, and love others as yourself. All the law and prophets hinge on this (Matthew 22:37-40).
You could write this purpose on a small sticky note: Love God and love His people.
This isn't some empty platitude like "all you need is love." This is a call to live out the purpose for which we were created—to love others with meaning and value that points them to Christ.
Living With Eternal Purpose
From a purely secular perspective, nothing we do on earth ultimately matters. The sun will burn out in a billion years, and everything we've accomplished will vanish. But from a heavenly perspective, all the work we do that bears fruit is productive for eternity.
The souls we affect, the people we show God's love to, the lives we help turn toward Christ—these have eternal implications that outlast the universe itself.
Micah 6:8 makes it clear: "He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?"
Isaiah 1:16-17 echoes this: "Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your deeds from before my eyes; cease to do evil, learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow's case."
James 1:27 summarizes: "Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world."
The message is consistent: Stop living for the world and start living to serve others for the glory of God.
Love in Action
The story of Father Arseny illustrates what this love looks like in practice. Imprisoned in a Soviet gulag, surrounded by violence and despair, he chose to live above his circumstances. When a brutal fight erupted between political prisoners and hardened criminals over stolen rations, Father Arseny didn't cower or join the violence.
He ran into the midst of the heated battle, raised his arms, and declared, "In the name of God, I order you, stop this." He blessed them with the sign of the cross and then retreated to his bunk to pray.
The fighting ceased. The dead were carried out. The wounded were tended. And Sazakov, the most feared criminal in the camp, approached Father Arseny afterward and said, "Forgive me, Father. I doubted your God. I see now that he exists."
This is Christian love—not merely feeling compassion but acting with courage, living above circumstances because of the hope we have in Christ. Father Arseny didn't ask why he was in the gulag. He simply asked what he could do since he was there.
The New Creation
You are not here to be your old broken self, wondering about your purpose. You have been made a new creation, redeemed by Christ for the specific purpose of bearing fruit. The new you knows your purpose. The new you understands how clear Scripture is about this calling.
Life is not about asking "Why am I here?" It's about declaring "What can I do since I am here?"
The answer to the age-old existential question isn't found in self-mastery or philosophical contemplation. It's found in dependence on God and obedience to His clear command: Love one another as Christ has loved you.
In that simple truth lies all the meaning and purpose we've been searching for.
Grace and peace,
Pastor Dave
Pastor Dave
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