The Purpose Of Living

Illus: Even the hobo on skid row has a purpose for living. WHAT IS HIS PURPOSE FOR LIVING? Everyday his purpose for living is to DRINK ALL THE BOOZE HE CAN GET FOR THAT DAY! And when he wakes up the next day the process starts all over again.

Illus: One man had a goal in life. He was going to marry a rich young lady so that he would not have to work. This was his purpose for living each day. Every day, he did everything he could do to accomplish that goal. He finally got engaged to a rich girl, and she discovered he was after her money. She said to him, “The only reason you want to marry me is because my daddy left me a lot of money.” He said, “That’s not true. I didn’t care who left you the money!”

Some student’s goal in life is to make the very best grade they are capable of making. This is good! But sometimes that goal is not always achievable! There are obstacles that keep us from achieving that goal.

Illus: A young man had studied hard for a zoology test he had to take. He spent days and nights studying to make the best grade he could make.

When he showed up for the test he was surprised, because nothing he had studied was on the test. Instead, the professor had placed ten birdcages with birds in them before the class, and had them covered up, and all you could see was the bird’s legs. The test was for the students to look at the bird’s legs, and tell what kind of bird it was. He looked and he could not tell. He got so frustrated that he went to the professor and said very loudly, this is the stupidest test I have ever taken. He threw the test on his desk and walked out of the class. The class was large, and the professor did not know all the students by name. The professor said, “Young man what is your name?” He raised his trousers up and said, “You guess, buddy! You guess!”

As we look across a congregation of this size, you might be sitting close to someone that you do not know that well. But if you got to know them, you would soon find out what makes them tick!

That is, YOU WOULD DISCOVER WHAT THEIR PURPOSE FOR LIVING EACH DAY IS!

Every one of us has a purpose for living. I want to ask you something that is very important, “What is your purpose in life?” Every person has some purpose in life.

Today we will look at some of the purposes people live for each day. And before we close, I would like to show you from God’s Word WHAT OUR PURPOSE FOR LIVING IN LIFE SHOULD BE.

It is obvious today that many are living their lives for the wrong purposes. For example:

I. SOME PEOPLE LIVE FOR PLEASURE

I say SOME LIVE FOR PLEASURE, but it would more accurate to say that MANY wake up each morning with one thing on their mind - TO SEEK PLEASURE WHEREVER THEY CAN FIND IT.

Our society has been described as a hedonistic society. WHAT IS THAT? Hedonism is a way of life devoted to pleasure.

There is nothing wrong with seeking pleasure, but there is something wrong when all that a society cares about is PLEASURE! Let me give you an example.

Illus: Our precious young people have been brainwashed into believing that their every waking moment should be spent seeking pleasure.

They spend their lives seeking pleasures among their friends, and when they are alone they have got to be watching television, or listening to music.

Put them in a room without their friends, television, and without music and they would literally go berserk!

Their every waking moment has got to be FUN TIME.

Some might be saying, what is wrong with that?

There is a lot wrong with that. Life is not to be taken as one big giant party, life is a mixture of many things.

The Book of Ecclesiastes points out that in a balanced life, there is time for many things.

Look at Ecclesiastes 3:1-8. We read, “To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted; A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away; A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.”