Finding Meaning in Life

Peter unlocked the door of his childhood home and pushed it open. Dusty sheets draped the furniture, exactly as he had left it six years ago when his mother died. He walked slowly to the middle of the room. He inhaled the old, familiar scent of childhood, hoping to feel something comforting.

Instead, he felt the same emptiness that had followed him for months. 

It was a dark sense of sorrow that no amount of partying, drinking, medication, or sleep could chase away. The numbness haunted him in his fast-paced city life, and it followed him on the long road back to his childhood home in the rural countryside. He’d thought coming home would bring back happy memories, but it wasn’t the same anymore. 

“What’s the point?” Peter asked out loud. “You’re born, you work from sunup to sundown, you watch your family die, and then you die too. Is that all we get from life?” 

Frustrated, he went outside and sat down. Such a long trip for nothing! he thought. Why should I even bother with living? 

Strange Feelings

He put his head in his hands and thought for a long time about life. When he finally looked up, the sun had lowered toward the horizon. Brilliant streaks of red and orange painted the sky. For a moment, the scene caught Peter’s attention. The sky’s flaming beauty caused his heart to squeeze in a strange way. It felt as though beauty and goodness still existed somewhere “out there,” somewhere beyond his grasp.

He stayed outside until the last rays of color faded and the stars emerged. Out in the countryside, so far from the city, the stars glowed vividly against a velvet black sky. Peter felt small and insignificant. Suddenly, while gazing upward, he felt an invisible, unexplainable presence, as if he wasn’t alone. He looked around but saw no one.

“God, do you exist?” he asked the sky. Strange feelings stirred in his chest.

Peter, like most of the young people in his country, was not particularly religious. He often celebrated religious holidays with older relatives, but the busyness of his career left little time to think about spiritual questions. And yet, he knew that it wasn’t easy to rule out the possibility that a creator existed.

Systematic Laws and Design

Peter had studied biology in school and had often been surprised by the order and sophisticated design displayed by living organisms. If the incredible natural world had been intelligently designed, then maybe there was meaning and significance for his own life too.

He thought about the systematic laws and regularities of nature. As a lover of science, he knew that he could understand and learn about nature because its rules were always the same. The mass of an electron was the same everywhere; the speed of light was constant; and gravitational force remained the same without any random changes. Science would never be possible if there were no scientific law, Peter thought. And yet, laws have lawgivers, don’t they?

Peter thought of how the need for a “lawgiver” also applied to the problem of the origin of life. No laboratory in the world had ever figured out how to create life from non-life. Where had the first living organism come from? Could it really be that life had been the result of a chemical accident? Perhaps there was also a life-giver.

The universe seemed too accurate, too balanced, to be the result of chance. Peter felt impressed that his life was not trivial. The world that was at times so hostile was also a place where life could grow and thrive. He had experienced loss and grief, but also kindness, comfort, and love.

Finding Purpose in Life

As the moon rose high in the night sky, Peter returned inside, hoping to get some sleep. But as he lay in the dark bedroom, he couldn’t seem to quiet his mind. He yearned to know that his life had some sort of purpose. 

He pulled out his smartphone and began searching online for the idea of intelligent design. “All around us, nature reveals the fingerprints of God,” one website declared. He felt his heart strangely warmed.

He clicked on another link and found himself reading a passage from the Christian Scriptures—the Bible.

“Worship Him,” it said, “who made heaven and earth, the sea and springs of waters” (Revelation 14:7).

The idea filled his heart with a calm, peaceful feeling that he hadn’t felt in a long time. If God—an intelligent designer—existed, it would make sense to worship Him.

Peter didn’t know exactly what that ought to look like, but he decided to be honest. “God,” he spoke into the darkness, “I have a lot of questions, but I’m willing to consider the possibility that You exist. And if You do, I want to worship You. Because if You made me, that means my life is not an accident.”

As he spoke quietly into the room, he felt the same presence again, but more powerfully. It was as if he was being wrapped in a warm, comforting blanket, like a hug. 

“God, I’m going to search for You,” Peter promised, and it felt like a puzzle piece clicking into place. He didn’t yet know what he would discover, but for now, it was enough. 

If you would like to learn more about the Creator and His purposes for your life, please contact us at the information on the back of this paper.