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Life. No one knows what it will bring, or where you will end up. You can have the best plan for how your life will unfold. You can take each step and follow your plan to the letter, and end up in a place you still never would have expected. There are so many variables that we can't control. But there are some that we can.

The first thing I always think about when someone asks me the purpose of life is Ecclesiastes 12:13 - This is the end of the matter; all has been heard: fear God, and keep his commandments; for this is the whole duty of man.

This was written by a man who had done it all. And he finds that everything in life is nothing except this. But is it enough? How do we really say that this is a blanket answer for everyone. What if my purpose is to kill the next "Hitler", or to raise a child who will become a great and powerful leader that will eventually lead us into peace? What if my purpose is to save children from burning buildings, or stop robberies and muggings in the street? What if my purpose is just to meet a great woman and settle down and have a few children and raise them in the way I know to be right?

What we are really asking for is answers to the things that shouldn't have answers. We want to know the future. We want to know if my relationship with Annie will work out. Or if taking this new job is the right thing to do. We want to know what we will be doing next year. Because we are under the assumption that if we just knew what was going on then we would be happy.
We are kind of stuck just putting all our trust and faith in ourselves, wanting to be a big player in the game of life. Sometimes I find that we all are wrapped up in our own self-importance. There is an old saying that - each man is the hero of his own story. We yearn for "hero" status. And if we just knew that life would work out, if we just knew about next year, and the year after that, and so on, then we would be moving forward with all confidence. But not knowing makes us nervous, weak, and vulnerable. So we ask, what is my purpose in life. And we get no answer.

Actually we do get an answer, but it isn't what we want to hear, so we don't listen.
It doesn't satisfy us, so we don't think it is enough. It can't be.

I just said it - the answer doesn't satisfy us. How high and mighty are we that if a good, honest answer (worked out by a wise man who had tried everything under the sun) is ignored because we don't like it? Are we really so arrogant that we start basing what's true by whether or not I like it? Does it satisfy me - no - well than it can't be true. Is that how it works?
It isn't worth trying unless I think it's worth trying.

What would happen if we followed the advice of Solomon in Ecclesiastes? What if we gave God the respect and admiration He deserved? What if we did put our lives in His control? Would it really do us damage to read and study the Bible to learn what it is that God wants us to learn?

Jesus said - if you love me, you'll keep my commandments.

Many people say they love God. Many people claim to love Jesus. But when you ask them what it is that we are instructed to do according to the Bible, they don't even know.

Wouldn't it just be so ironic, if following the advice given by Ecclesiastes would really get us in touch with our purpose in life, but we never get there, because we don't think it's all that important? We're too busy looking for what will satisfy us, and not the truth of the whole matter.

Learn more about this author, Daniel Tate.
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