What is the Purpose of Life?
Through out history many individuals have asked questions such as what is the purpose of life? Or why do we exist? Many people have asked these questions and many have tried to answer these questions through different mediums of thought such as philosophy and science.
But just like any question about life and our purpose the answers to these questions can only come from the source of all truth—a Supreme Being or in other words from God.
To understand our purpose we must first understand God’s purpose which is found in the Book of Moses:
“For behold, this is my work and my glory—to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man” (Moses 1:39).
Everything God does and says is meant for our benefit not just in this life, but in the life after our life here on earth or in other words life on into the eternities. Knowing that about God then begs the question that is the topic of this blog post—what is our purpose in life? In the Doctrine and Covenants we learn this about our purpose:
“Behold , this is your work to keep my commandments, yea, with all your might, mind and strength” (Doctrine and Convenants 11:20).
Following the commandments given to us from God acts as a path or a guide that aids us in returning back to Him. Before we lived here on earth we lived with God. We learn in the Old Testament that God knew Jeremiah the prophet before he was born:
“Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations” (Jeremiah 1:5).
Like Jeremiah, God knew us because we lived with him before being born into this life on earth. When we were born we were born into a life that was in a fallen state because of the Fall. The Fall occurred when Adam and Eve partook of the fruit God forbade them to eat. As a result they were cast out of the Garden of Eden away from the presence of God where they faced the trials of a mortal life (Genesis 3).
The very trials that all human kind face because of the Fall are to test us to see if we will keep the commandments that God has given us. God also knew, even before the Fall occurred, that we would fall short in keeping His commandments and so He provided a way back to Him by sending His Son Jesus Christ to give his life as a ransom for us all.
Jesus Christ
Jesus Christ was born in the meridian of time as the literal Son of God. He came because:
“…God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16).
In a book of modern day scripture called the Book of Mormon, an ancient prophet named Alma teaches about what is termed as the Atonement:
“…he will take upon him death, that he may loose the bands of death which bind his people; and he will take upon him their infirmities, that his bowels may be filled with mercy… the Son of God suffereth according to the flesh that he might blot out their trangression…” (The Book of Mormon, Alma 7:12,13).
If we will place our faith in Jesus Christ and repent the Atonement can become active in our lives and we can become reconciled to God and return to live with Him again.
In essence the purpose of life is to do what God wants us to do, which is to keep His commandments. When we do this we contribute to God’s purpose by making correct choices. When our choices fall short of what God wants us to do, then
"Whosever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst..." (John 4:14)
there is a way to reconcile ourselves with God through the Atonement. The Atonement becomes active in our lives when we change our behavior that goes against God or in other words when we repent. Repentance takes faith in Jesus Christ. “Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1). At the beginning, we may not have full knowledge of the outcome when we put our faith in Christ and repent, but Christ has promised us that “…whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life” (John 4:14).