Welcome to Anchored by Truth brought to you by Crystal Sea Books. In John 14:6, Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” The goal of Anchored by Truth is to encourage everyone to grow in the Christian faith by anchoring themselves to the secure truth found in the inspired, inerrant, and infallible word of God.

Script:

However, you are chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, people who belong to God. You were chosen to tell about the excellent qualities of God, who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.

1 Peter, chapter 2, verse 9, God’s Word Translation

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VK: Hello! I’m Victoria K. Welcome to Anchored by Truth brought to you by Crystal Sea Books. We want to thank you for joining us as we continue a series we began a few weeks ago on Anchored by Truth. We’ve entitled this series “Why am I here?” We wanted to do this series because there has probably never been a time in history in our culture when so many people seem to wonder whether their lives have meaning. One of our listeners recently told us, “So many people, especially younger people, are asking this question either out loud or in their malaise and lack of direction in life.” We agree. So, to help us to continue to see what the Bible has to say about this very important topic, we have RD Fierro back in the studio. RD is an author and the founder of Crystal Sea Books. RD, you entitled this series “Why Am I here?” Before we get too far along would you like to comment on how you believe the widespread belief in evolution has contributed to what our listener called this “malaise and lack of direction in life?”

RD: Well, before I comment on that I would like to add to your thanks to the listeners for tuning in today – whether they’re listening on the broadcast or podcast. We know that people in today’s world have a lot of demands on their time so we’re grateful for anyone who devotes part of their day or week with us. Well, as we’ve mentioned a couple of times during this series anyone who believes in what is often termed the general theory of evolution believes that all life originated with the random collision of some atoms and molecules in some corner of the world eons ago. Charles Darwin talked about “a warm little pond.” Today, evolutionists are more likely to refer to “deep ocean vents” or some other place more exotic. But regardless of where they envision the first life began they are united in the belief that there was no intelligence or design that created life. As such anyone who starts with this foundational premise believes, as Dr. Jonathan Sarfati puts it, we’re all the result of “goo to you via the zoo.”

VK: In other words if all life began as the result of blind, random chance all subsequent life must be the product of a series of blind, random chances. It may be an incredibly long series of such chances but we’re all products of chance.

RD: Right. And there is no way to coherently extract a meaningful purpose for a life that is just the result of a series of blind, random collisions of inanimate particles.

VK: In other words for the question “why am I here” to have any real meaning we must first embrace the fact that we live in a created order that was established by a God who is not only able to create but also interested in the ongoing operation of His creation. This is exactly the kind of God that the Bible tells us about. That’s why we have been so careful during this series to always reiterate three fundamental points about our search for meaning in our lives. First, we must acknowledge the reality that we live in a universe that was created by an intelligent, purposeful, and moral Being. Second, the created order suffered a dramatic change when some of the creatures within that universe misused their free will and chose to rebel against their Creator. Therefore, we now live in a fallen creation. And third, we live in a somewhat unique historical period because we live in between the first and second comings of the Lord of Creation, Christ Jesus.

RD: As we contemplate the question of why we are here we are inevitably searching for a meaning to our lives. That’s not only a natural question, but I believe it reflects a part of God’s intentional design for the only earthly creature who is described as having been made in God’s own image. Part of the way we bear God’s image is by possessing certain attributes that He communicated to us. God is purposive. We have a desire (well, most of us anyway) to live purposeful lives but how can we do that if we do not know what purpose we are designed to fulfill? The question, why am I here, is part of God’s design to make us turn to Him. As it’s sometimes said, if something is broken the best place to turn is the designer and builder.

VK: And we are all broken to some extent. That’s the bad news. The good news is that we don’t have to stay that way. In the Gospel of John, chapter 10, verse 10 Jesus says “I came that they may have life, and may have it abundantly.” That’s from the Berean Literal Bible. The “they” Jesus came to give life to is us. And He doesn’t want us to just have life but have it “abundantly.” The New Living Translation puts it this way: “My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life.”

RD: Exactly. Jesus wants us to have “rich and satisfying lives.” Certainly, one aspect of having a satisfying life is to know that we are fulfilling God’s purpose for our life.

VK: But we can’t know what that purpose is if we don’t acknowledge the reality that confronts all of us as we make our way through this world. We must acknowledge that God is our Creator to even begin a meaningful search. We must acknowledge that we live in a creation marred by sin to know that we need help to deal with the effects of sin. And we must understand that once sin entered the created order God began a plan of redemption that included His Son coming to earth twice. The first time God’s son, Jesus, came to act as the Messiah who would take sin’s consequences onto Himself. He came as the lamb to be slain. The second time Jesus comes will be as a conquering lion. He will end the redemptive phase of history and begin the eternity where people will receive the rewards or punishments they earned while on this earth.

RD: Right. To have a complete understanding of that reality we must come to a place where we’re very familiar with the content of the Bible. The Bible is the only book that gives us a complete revelation of God’s character, His creative activity, and the plan of redemption. These are the points we covered in our first couple of episodes in this series. And in our second episode we also noted that once we understand these basics we could start to take a close look at what the Bible has to say about why we are here. And one of the first things that we noticed was that the Bible tells us that one of the reasons God has put us on this earth is to develop godly characters, holy characters. This is a very important part of us being God’s image bearers. We should reflect God’s holy character in our own lives.

VK: And we noted that the Bible is very clear about God’s desire for us to develop holy characters. Leviticus, chapter 19, verse 2 says, “Be holy because I, the LORD your God, am holy.” That’s from the God’s Word Translation.

RD: Exactly. So, to be more explicit when it comes to discovering what the Bible has to say about why we are here we should definitely become aware of three distinct areas of our lives: our character, our careers, and our calling.

VK: Well, to use an old philosophical adage those areas may be distinguished but they cannot be separated. Our character is certainly going to influence our careers and callings. Similarly, what we choose for a career is certainly going to influence how our character develops. Without wanting to be too negative there are some career choices that would do nothing beneficial for our characters but we’re not going to name them because those kind of influences get enough play in the media and on the internet as it is.

RD: That’s a very important note. But it is helpful to at least think about the distinction between those parts of our lives because it helps us to understand what choices are open to us and how those choices affect our purposes in this life. And maybe that’s something we need to also need to say explicitly. Sometimes we people ask the question “why am I here” they are looking for someone – a parent, friend, or even an angel or God – to give them an answer. But they may not realize that our own choices affect our purposes in life. In other words the search for a purpose to our lives is not a one-time, one way business where we ask and someone else answers and that’s the end of it.

VK: What you’re saying is that there are certain parts of the answer to the question “why am I here” that are common to all of us. We can say with confidence that we’re all here because God made us in His image, has a plan and purpose for our lives, and wants us to develop holy characters. But as our lives move along our choices at one point are going to influence our purpose for the rest of our lives. Sometimes those choices will be positive ones. Someone who chooses to go to medical school and become a doctor will have a wide variety of career choices that will not be open to other people. But, sadly, all too often those choices may be negative ones. I know of a young woman who made the choice to drive drunk after having two previous DUI’s. But on this occasion she drove drunk and ran into another car injuring a mother and killing a child. That choice obviously will affect her for the rest of her life. Now part of her purpose is going to have to be to successfully complete a long prison sentence and then begin to rebuild her life. That purpose would have been completely unnecessary if she had made a different choice.

RD: Yes. For most people a search for the answer to the question “why am I here” will likely be a recurring one. When we are young we may strongly believe we are here to follow a particular career but regardless of whether that choice pans out it’s not uncommon for us to discover other reasons we are here as we pass through our adult lives. That’s one reason it’s a good idea to distinguish between our careers and what I’m labeling as our callings. Our careers and our callings may be closely linked or they may have very little to do with one another.

VK: Why don’t you give us an example of what you’re thinking about?

RD: Well, let’s return to your earlier comment about choices. A young man or woman who decides to attend medical school and become a doctor will most likely find their career in the medicine but that may or may not be where they find their calling. I’m thinking of Dr. Gregg Alexander who is a frequent guest on Anchored by Truth. He spent over 40 years practicing medicine. He set up the emergency room at one of our local hospitals and later became a very successful orthopedic surgeon. He was a very good doctor. But he has also taught an adult Sunday school class for over 25 years and he is a very gifted student of the Bible and class leader. So, at least part of Dr. Alexander’s calling was to help other people know the Bible better and develop spiritually. That’s a calling he could have pursued if he had chosen a different profession but he would tell you his skills a teacher were influenced by the practice of his profession.

VK: That’s a good example of how careers and callings may be distinguished but cannot be separated. I know of an attorney who is very successful as a trial attorney but who has been on numerous medical missions to some very remote places. He may not practice medicine on those missions but the support he provides to his medical team members is invaluable. And this observation about careers and callings is by no means limited to doctors and attorneys. There are countless plumbers leading youth groups, mechanics serving as church elders, and sales people teaching religious education classes.

RD: And we need to be clear that even though the examples we’ve been giving have been primarily about church or religious activities they don’t have to be. People who work with the homeless, the hurting, and the hungry aren’t always going to be doing so in connection with a church or parachurch ministry and they don’t have to be to please God. In his epistle to the Galatians the Apostle Paul said, “Whenever we have the opportunity, we have to do what is good for everyone, especially for the family of believers.” That’s Galatians, chapter 6, verse 10 from the God’s Word Translation. Notice that Paul tells us to do what is good for “everyone” – that is people both inside the church and outside. Now Paul emphasizes that we should do good “especially” for believers but that is by way of emphasis that if we have a duty to do good for everyone we certainly should be doing so for those in the church.

VK: So, there are some important points that we have been going over here. First, as we think about “why we are here” – what our purpose is in this life – there are Biblical instructions that apply to all people all the time. We are all directed to develop holy characters.

RD: And we can add to that that we are all directed to develop other spiritual attributes as well. Back to the book of Galatians – in Galatians, chapter 5, verses 22 and 23 Paul says, “But the spiritual nature produces love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.” Those attributes are sometimes referred to as the “fruits of the Spirit.” In other words we should all strive as a part of developing a character pleasing to God to allow the Holy Spirit to work within us to develop love, peace, patience, kindness, etc.

VK: So, part of why we are here is to develop holy characters – and a holy character isn’t just defined as someone who thinks of themselves as being pious or spiritual. That’s certainly part of being holy but someone who thinks of themselves is as likely to be sanctimonious as they are truly spiritual. Holy people do their best to avoid sin but they don’t stop there. They cultivate attributes that make them blessings to their fellow believers and to the world in general – like being patient, kind, and loving. We are all directed to develop holy characters. That’s a general instruction for all people for all times. But as we probe our individual answers to the unique purposes for our individual lives we run into the questions of careers and callings.

RD: Right. And in our last episode of Anchored by Truth we spent some time on the question of careers – in essence a question of work and vocations. And we saw by looking at the Bible that there are a wide variety of careers that people can choose and still be effective servants of the Lord. Sometimes people might think that they have to choose to work in a ministry or religious vocation for God to use them but that’s not true at all. Robert Letourneau’s name is well known in the construction field because even though he dropped out of school in the 7th grade he held over 300 patents in the field of earthmoving. Letourneau’s sister challenged him at an early age to get serious about serving God. He thought it meant he should be a preacher or a missionary. But after praying with his pastor about it his pastor told him “God needs businessmen too.” So, Letourneau became what he called “God’s business partner.”

VK: And Letourneau [LEH-TOUR-KNOW] was a very successful business partner for God, wasn’t he? Letourneau eventually gave away 90% of what he earned to charitable projects all over the world. He once said, “I shovel money out and God shovels it back, but God has a bigger shovel.” Letourneau is just one example of someone who fulfilled a calling to serve God through amazing giving even though his career was designing and building earth moving equipment.

RD: Right. Letourneau’s career and calling could be distinguished but they were never separated. And we see that example in the Bible repeatedly from all up and down the economic and social spectrum. Amos was called to be a prophet but for his occupation he was a shepherd and tender of sycamore figs. Those were considered humble occupations. Nehemiah was called to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem but before he did that he was the cupbearer to the Persian emperor – a very exalted position.

VK: Moses started out living in the palace of the most powerful ruler of his time, the Egyptian Pharaoh. But Moses had to leave the palace and at the time he was called to be Israel’s deliverer he had been a shepherd on the backside of the desert for 4 decades. Then he went from being a shepherd to leading a nation of over 2 million people for the next 40 years. So, Moses case was high to low to high – talk about someone who had his ups and downs.

RD: Yes. During His ministry Jesus commended the faith of Roman soldiers, tax collectors, fishermen, and housewives. So, one thing that is clear by looking at scripture is that God can choose people from just about any career field to serve Him and His kingdom. And God may choose to leave us in our career field as we fulfill our calling as He did with Robert Letourneau – or God may call us to change our career as He did with Peter, James, and John.

VK: Well, how can we know what God is calling us to do – either in our careers or in our kingdom calling? I suppose one thing we might want to examine is the timing of when that may happen. A quick glance at scripture will tell you that we may be in a career for years before we receive a call from God to begin to serve Him in a particular area.

RD: Moses is a great example of the time that can elapse in someone’s life between them choosing their work and their ultimate calling. It’s often said Moses spent 40 years in the house of Pharaoh, 40 years on the backside of the desert, and 40 years leading the children of Israel to the Promised Land.

VK: I’ve heard it phrased “Moses spent 40 years thinking he was somebody, 40 years finding out he was a nobody, and 40 years finding out what God can do with a nobody.”

RD: I’ve always loved that characterization of the life of Moses. And Moses was obviously a case where he received his call from God in a very dramatic fashion, although his choice to be a shepherd was far more mundane. He became a shepherd because after he fled Egypt he really didn’t have anywhere to go, but through God’s providence he wound up living with a family of nomadic shepherds. So, he became a shepherd out of simple necessity.

VK: And simple necessity is still a way many of us wind up performing the work we do – and that’s just fine. We don’t need to have every direction we take in life marked out by fire and flame. In fact, at our age, we are often grateful when we receive direction in simple and ordinary ways.

RD: Exactly. When it comes to receiving direction for our career or calling some people might be waiting, or even hoping, for a voice to speak out of the darkness or a flashing sign in the heavens that gives them a clear answer. Even mature believers might be hoping for God to send them a vision or appear in a dream. Well, we certainly believe that God can communicate to His people in any manner He chooses. But the truth is that God usually provides us direction in the most mundane ways. With Letourneau he received important guidance after a conversation with his pastor. That’s usually not a bad place to start. But we can also get good guidance from any mature Christian, especially those whose lives reflect a deep dependence on God and a reverence for His word.

VK: It has been said that God will give us guidance for our lives in 4 different ways. The primary way God gives us guidance is through His word in the Bible. A second way is through the counsel of mature believers. We’ve already alluded to those. But a third way that God gives us direction is through what the old-timers termed “providential circumstances.” Sometimes we want to go to a particular school but we don’t get accepted – at least not at first. That tells us for the time being we need to make a different choice. We may be hoping for a particular job but it’s not offered. Or we may have been thinking about one job and another one opens up unexpectedly. God routinely opens and closes doors in our life. That’s a third way God tells us which way He wants us to go.

RD: And the fourth way is by what may be termed “direct revelation” – not necessarily that God speaks audibly or through a vision – but God will give us strong impressions and leadings. Sometimes he will call our attention to things we had overlooked before or he may cause us to see something in scripture we hadn’t noticed. But I think it’s very important to note that there is no reason for God to use the 4th way, direct revelation, if we haven’t diligently pursued the first 3. God will speak to us but he’s very unlikely to give us a job for which we failed to submit an application.

VK: As I like to say, “God expects us to do our own homework.” God is not interested and will not reward passivity or laziness when we need to be in motion. In Luke chapter 5, verses 4 and 5, Jesus told Simon Peter, “Take the boat into deep water, and lower your nets to catch some fish." Simon answered, "Teacher, we worked hard all night and caught nothing. But if you say so, I'll lower the nets." After Simon Peter did as Jesus commanded they caught so many fish their nets were breaking. Jesus didn’t tell Simon Peter to row out to deep water and the fish would jump into the boat.

RD: So, before we close let’s take a look at where we are in answering our question. When we ask the question, “why am I here” we’re doing it because either because we want to be assured our lives have meaning or we are genuinely trying to figure out God’s will for our lives. To be assured that our lives have meaning we just have to remember that we have been created by an almighty God in His image. We have inherent worth and dignity because He is the ultimate font of worthiness and dignity. And we can be assured that God has a plan for our lives because His word plainly tells us that He does. As we noted earlier the New Living Translation of John 10:10 tells us that Jesus says: “My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life.”

VK: This sounds like a great time for a prayer. Today let’s listen to a prayer of adoration for the Father who cares so much for His children that He sent His only begotten Son to die for us – to give us life and give us a life that can be rich and satisfying.

---- PRAYER FOR ADORATION OF THE FATHER

VK: Before we close we’d like to remind our audience that a lot of our radio episodes are linked together in series of topics so if they missed any episodes in this series or if they just want to hear one again, all of these episodes are available on your favorite podcast app. To find them just search on “Anchored by Truth by Crystal Sea Books.”

If you’d like to hear more, try out crystalseabooks.com where “We’re not perfect but our Boss is!”

(Bible Quote from the God’s Word Translation)

Colossians, chapter 3, verse 23, God’s Word Translation