Why Am I…?

By Rachel Ang, 21, Singapore

When I was first told about ymiblogging.org, I was not aware that YMI stood for Youth Ministry Initiative. I simply thought it was a really clever way of writing “Why Am I Blogging.”

Indeed, what is our reason for blogging, in studying or working, or in having relationships with people? Why do we do anything at all? Every person needs a purpose in life. But I’ve come to realize that it is not easy to find a goal that will give constant motivation as well as lasting satisfaction.

How many times have we found ourselves going around in circles while striving to obtain things like money, clothes, good grades, popularity and fame? Where does it end, and what happens after? Or if there is no finish line, why do we even bother when it’s simply futile?

The writer of Ecclesiastes experimented pursuing different things. He chased after wisdom, pleasure, work, politics and wealth, and concluded that in and of themselves, these things all ended in purposelessness.

So I came to hate life because everything done here under the sun is so troubling.
Everything is meaningless—like chasing the wind.
Ecclesiastes 2:17

How then should we live life if everything is doomed to end in such meaninglessness? Solomon found the solution when he put God into the equation.

Then I realized that these pleasures are from the hand of God.
For who can eat or enjoy anything apart from Him?
Ecclesiastes 2:24b-25

God made us to function the way we do. We were designed to live life to the fullest, and to enjoy the things that God has created. The problem arises when we pursue after things to glorify ourselves and not God. Jesus asked in Luke 9:25, “And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but are yourself lost or destroyed?” Essentially, Christ is telling us that gaining the whole world is infinitely less valuable than our eternal destiny in relation to God. A self-centered life focused on this present passing world will not find or grasp the beauty of eternal life with God.

We who believe in Christ have been saved from such arbitrary existence. We have been redeemed from such a doomed life through Christ’s work on the cross. Through Him, our intended purpose in life of having a right relationship with God is restored. Unlike the transient achievements that many sought after, the glory of God will never pass away, even when we physically die. This is a great assurance that we can cling on to: that we will one day see God and live to glorify and enjoy Him forever.

And this world is fading away, along with everything that people crave.
But anyone who does what pleases God will live forever.
1 John 2:17

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