A Reason for Living (Open Forum)
Tim Keller | February 27, 1994
Overview
Miguel de Cervantes, Albert Camus, Aldous Huxley, Tolstoy, Voltaire, Shakespeare, Jesus Christ–they all know the average person is so busy in both work and play that you go years and years without asking yourself, “What is my reason for doing all this? What is my reason for life? What’s my whole life about?” Put another way: “When all is said and done, what will I have really accomplished?”
Do you want freedom? The great thinkers will say that if you want absolute freedom to live your life the way you want, you have to admit the utter meaninglessness of life. If you want complete freedom, you must face utter meaninglessness. That’s the first point.
The second point is nobody can live that way. To really believe life is meaningless gets you into convolutions that are emotional, psychological, logical, philosophical. You can’t even live that way, because life does have meaning. Let me argue that both freedom and meaning are found in Jesus Christ.
Outline
John 1:1, 14
Understanding the concept of life’s purpose is really important, as it makes us think about why we’re here and what we’re doing. Some of the big names, like Miguel de Cervantes, Albert Camus, and even Jesus Christ, have pointed out that we often live without stopping to think about why we’re here, an idea that even Tolstoy wrestled with when he questioned the meaning of life. But, it’s suggested that real freedom and purpose can be discovered in Jesus Christ. Without Him, life can feel like a never-ending, meaningless battle.
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