Growing up, I lived in great fear of my abusive father. I was neglected, beaten, and abused. His treatment convinced me that I was unwanted—a burden hardly worth being tolerated.
By age 15, this led me to become very embittered and depressed. I felt rejected, and covered up my incredible loneliness and pain with an angry protective mask.
Void of love and acceptance, I often questioned why I was alive, and whether my life even mattered. Somewhere deep inside, there was a part of me that longed to know that there was more to life than the hard, angry world that surrounded me.
As long as these questions about purpose remained unanswered, the emptiness I experienced persisted in a deep way.
But when I found the answer to why I existed, there came a change so radical, things haven’t been the same since.
The Dead, Lonely End the World Led Me To
As I grasped for purpose, my natural inclination was to turn towards what the world offered. So I sought my identity through sports and girls. I chased fulfillment through alcohol and drugs, and found temporary escape through music.
I looked to bottles of vodka for peace, and another high from drugs to give me relief from my pain.
Of course, the relief never lasted long. I kept trying to convince myself that these worldly pursuits would help me, when in fact, they left me feeling more confused about my purpose in life — endlessly caught in a dangerous cycle of addiction that only left me empty.
At the End of Myself, I Finally Looked to God
Through years of building up anger and bitterness against God and everyone, I had ignored the efforts of those who tried to share the Good News with me. But I eventually found myself desperate for something — anything — that could help me make sense of my life. And that desperation led me to reconsider the gospel I had distanced myself from.
I had tried nearly everything else, and knew how deeply these things had failed to give me meaning.
Christ was my only hope. From a point of despair, I was drawn to the rich promise Jesus makes, of a life of fulfillment and complete satisfaction in Him.
I longed to experience that in my own life—to have a taste of the water that wells up to eternal life (John 4:12-14).
Finally, at age 16, I received Christ into my life and began a life-long process of learning how Jesus is the source of life and the answer to my quest for purpose.
A New Creation in the Same Circumstances
However, once I accepted Jesus, my circumstances remained the same. Drugs and alcohol still beckoned me. My father was still abusive, and offered nothing resembling love or acceptance. Yet, while my circumstances remained unchanged, things couldn’t have been more different on the inside.
The difference lay in the reality that I no longer felt imprisoned by the situation I was in. Since Jesus had saved me from the confines of sin, He welcomed me as an adopted child, offering the unconditional love and acceptance that I had been so desperate for (1 John 3:1).
Through redemption, He gave me hope for a life outside the traps of fear and cycles of addiction.
Though accepting Christ wasn’t a quick fix for all of my problems, it cut to the core of many of the deep struggles I had about identity and purpose.
God taught me how to overcome the lures of the things of the world, and instead, to look to His Word to understand that I was made for Him (Colossians 1:16), and His purposes!
How God is Still Helping Me Understand My Purpose
As I continue my journey as a Christian, God is constantly exposing ways that I rely on things apart from Him to understand my place in this world. Recently, I’ve had to work through the temptation to look to the applause of men for affirmation of the work I do in church. Instead of looking to others, I remind myself that in trying to make sense of who I am, or what I do, I must look to Christ.
Because Christ is the reason I am. He is the one who sacrificed His own life — to offer us a way to come back into relationship with the very One who created us.
When we get caught up in the busyness of life, there are a thousand ways to lose sight of this. In order to carefully re-center my thoughts when I find myself straying, I’ve started a practice of pausing and praying. I ask God to silence the loud noise of my surroundings, which only offers loud, false hope.
I ask Him to help me listen to His still, small voice that calls me to Him. In these moments, I’m reminded that God is all I have ever needed or longed for. Even if briefly, I can be still and rest in knowing that He is God (Psalm 16:10).
And this helps me remember one of the freedoms we have in Christ—freedom from the pursuit of seeking satisfaction from the things of this earth, from being failed by jobs and relationships, or whatever else we are tempted to define ourselves by.
I have found peace in knowing that true eternal satisfaction is found in praising and worshiping God.
It’s my hope that I can encourage others to find hope in the freedom Christ offers—freedom which allows us to turn from self-indulgent pursuits, and to worship God freely with grateful hearts and satisfied souls.
Well said and a fairly common theme of many of us who have struggled with attempting to please others and gain our “worth” through things we do in this world. But, once Christ opens our eyes and hearts to Him, we receive the peace and recognition we were so desperately seeking, without fruition, from other humans. We learn that even the small things done for others, in love for others, are treasured by a Holy God who loves us. And we can please Him.