1. The Universe is no Accident
“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” Genesis 1:1
We have to approach this whole idea of purpose and true potential from a perspective that such things as purpose and truth exist in the universe. If the universe and everything in it is nothing more than a cosmic accident, then purpose and truth don’t exist and our existence here is meaningless.
If the universe is the result of a random explosion and earth is the result of atoms blindly coalescing into solid matter and man is the result of a chance lightning strike onto a pond of warm scum (I’m not kidding, this is the current scientific viewpoint of our origins) then the universe and everything in it is an accident; that includes you and me. There is no meaning, no purpose in an accident. There is no reason to believe in ideas such as truth, or right and wrong. These concepts don’t exist in an accident. Under this scenario, you have as much meaning and purpose as a mushroom, or a caterpillar, or Mount Kilimanjaro, or Pluto. In an accidental cosmos everything it contains is accident as well.
The first thing we have to realize is that the universe isn’t an accident. There was something or Someone behind its creation. What philosophers call a “first cause.” What a lot of us call “God.” What some scientist don’t like to call anything at all.
Scientists who study the origins of the universe admit that time and space had to have a beginning and both had to begin at the same time; what they call the Big Bang. They can’t admit that God literally “spoke” time and space into existence. But they will admit that at the moment of the Big Bang, time didn’t exist and all matter was infinitesimally small and infinitely dense.
This beginning moment poses a real problem for the scientists. They believe that the universe had a beginning and that they can trace that beginning down to a specific point. They postulate that the universe (time and space) came into existence at a certain moment and that the place where the stuff to make up the universe was stored was so tiny and so dense as to be immeasurable (those who don’t believe that God could “speak” something into existence, hold that everything comes from something; nothing gets created out of nothing).
In order for this theory to work, all the matter in the universe today had to be to compressed into space that’s so small that it couldn’t be measured or observed. Of course science says that something exists only in that it can be measured or observed. This is why God, according to these scientists, can’t exist; He can’t be measured or observed. However, they insist, the universe, at its beginning point was infinitesimally small and infinitely dense; it couldn’t be measured or observed. If you ask what happened before that beginning moment or where the infinitesimally small and infinitely dense stuff of the universe was stored, their reply is, “Since time and space can’t be measured or observed before the Big Bang, it’s irrelevant, so we need not think about it.” Go figure.
Somehow it’s easier to swallow this ridiculous rationalization than to consider that God “spoke” the universe into existence.
Another way we know that our existence isn’t just the result of a cosmic accident and that some power greater than we can measure or observe exists, is that we know. We know. The belief is hardwired in us. From the beginning of man’s history, he has known that something greater than himself exists. He has always known that God exists. If man were only a biological accident, the result of millions of years of blind evolution, he wouldn’t have a need for God or an inborn sense of morality. These concepts wouldn’t exist in the mind of man if he were a biological accident.
The first step in understanding our true potential is to know who we are and who God is. We are the creation of an infinitely purposeful and powerful God. When He spoke the universe into existence he had a purpose for it. He knew the beginning, the ending and everything in-between in advance. He accounted for every detail of creation in His purpose. You and I are in the details. What’s more important, He created man in His own image. He patterned man after Himself, after His example. God who is ultimately purposeful, made man to be purposeful. He included man as an integral part of His plan and purpose for the universe.
2. You’re Part of a Much Bigger Plan
The Lord has made everything for its purpose, even the wicked for the day of trouble. Proverbs16:4 ESV
God’s plan and purpose for the universe includes His plan and purpose for you and me personally. As individuals, you and I play our unique roles, our specific purpose in part of a much, much larger plan.
To illustrate how each of us has a unique purpose that is really part of a single great purpose, let’s use the modern integrated circuit as an analogy.
Your home or office computer’s “brain” is an integrated circuit called the Central Processing Unit (CPU). It’s about the size of a matchbook and contains hundreds of millions of individual circuits. The quantity of individual components working in concert in the confines of a processor the size of a matchbook is mind boggling. But it works.
It works because those who created it planned the placement of and orchestrated the purpose of each individual circuit. They had a purpose in mind for the finished CPU and they had a purpose for each component in the CPU. There isn’t a single circuit in those hundreds of millions of circuits of which its designers say, “Boy, I really don’t know what that one’s for. It must have just popped up; it has no real purpose.”
The people who designed the CPU had a purpose in mind when they planned the placement of each component. They had a purpose in mind when they assembled the CPU. More importantly, they had a purpose in mind for the CPU after it was assembled.
The purpose of a particular circuit, its specific function, even though it may be different from the circuit next to it, plays a role in fulfilling the purpose of the CPU. Its specific function may only make up 1/100 millionth of the CPU’s function, but it is integral. Without the function of that individual circuit, the CPU ceases to operate in the way its designers intended.
Your purpose in the universe is like the purpose of that single circuit inside the CPU, but much, much more profound. It’s not just profound in that God thought enough of you to give you a specific purpose, God thought enough of you to include you as an integral part in His purpose for all Creation. He placed you in the world, in your particular time and place to fulfill a specific purpose. That specific purpose is an integral part of a much greater purpose; one that won’t be accomplished as planned unless your specific purpose is accomplished as planned. You are integral to God’s purpose for Creation. …Wow.
Your purpose isn’t yours because you found it or chose it. It was already chosen for you; by the One who designed you and the universe around you. It’s your purpose because you were created to fulfill it; it’s His purpose because He designed it and created you to fulfill it.
That’s why you already instinctively know your purpose, you were created with it; it’s why you were inserted in the place and time you’re in now. That’s also why you can never realize your true potential if you don’t fulfill that purpose; it’s the thing you were designed to do. You weren’t created for anything else. It’s also why you absolutely can’t loose; you’re part of a much bigger plan - an integral part.
Don’t Miss Next Week!
Whatever else happens, don’t miss next week. There’s a part of this plan I haven’t explained yet. It’s the Key; nothing works without it. The CPU in our analogy is an incredible piece of engineering; hundred of millions of individual circuits all working in concert under a single purpose. But the CPU and all of its component parts are useless if the machine isn’t plugged in. The key is connecting the machine to the power. No power no function.
There is a single Key to our function as well; one thing that makes our purpose, the fulfilling of our true potential possible
