Struggles of the Spiritual Life and Introduction
If you have ever been through a spiritual wilderness season of life and you don’t know where you are going in the Christian life, trust me you are not alone. Many times, not understanding God’s will for our life can be exhausting and worrying not knowing what the future holds. But the best we can do is trust in God through our spiritual wilderness season.
Sometimes as Christian’s we may also go through a spiritual season where everything feels dry, monotonous, and like God will not hear our prayers no matter how much tears we shed and prayers we say in Jesus’ name.
In these seasons of spiritual life we often ask many questions. In the end sometimes we aren’t given an answer to the prayer and that’s okay. God doesn’t owe us an answer because God doesn’t owe us anything. After all, the only reason you have breath to this very moment is because God allows it. It is by the grace of God he allows us to keep living despite our multitude of sins against the cross of Christ.
Knowing this hard reality of the world, that we are sinners, and that god allows us to live on borrowed time you have probably asked what is the meaning of life for a Christian?
The simple answer to what the meaning of life is for Christian’s is simply put this way,
“The meaning of life is to serve Christ.”
In the following sections of this article, we will dive into the depths of why this is the meaning of life and the many reasons for it.
From Sorrow to Glory for people struggling with depression
Oftentimes as Christians when contemplating why we are still here, we can often fall into a pit of despair with no way out. Sometimes depression and loneliness take over, and we feel like we have run out of options with nowhere left to go.
But the thing we often forget is when we are at our lowest, God is at his closest. There have been numerous times in my own life where I just wanted to give up on life altogether and just end it all. But each of those times where I genuinely had nowhere to turn to besides Christ were always the times where God moved the most powerfully in my desperate situations.
God always seems to make a way in impossible situations. This is a recurring theme throughout the Bible as well.
There are several times in the Bible where God worked miracles in times when the only way out was to call on God.
God parted the Red Sea when the Israelites were trapped between a sea and an army with no place left to turn. God opened the womb of 90 year old Sarah to produce a child of the promise. God used Gideon’s 300 man army to take on thousands.
Even the time and place where Jesus came was an extremely difficult point in history for Christ to shine his light. In a time of multiple gods and oppressive pagan kings the mere fact Christianity became what it is today is a miracle. Despite the persecution and murder of the church, Christianity only got stronger.
Believe me, no matter how desperate your situation is, you can always call on Christ. Christ promises he will never leave us or forsake us. So, lean in on that promise and seek Jesus in your desperation.
Not only has God saved me from myself countless times at ropes end, but I’ve heard so many testimonies of Christ saving people who were on the brink of suicide. Christ always acts in impossible situations because in those situations he gets the most glory.
And if your situation isn’t that drastic where you are ready to give up, keep reading because there will be more included in this article that can help you as well.
The purpose of suffering in the Christian life
Suffering is a fact of life, whether you are Atheist, Buddhist, or a Christian you will suffer at one point or another in life. Unfortunately, for the rest of the world outside of Christendom, suffering must be escaped at all costs, and has no purpose or higher meaning.
Thankfully as Christians suffering has a much greater and higher purpose than it does for the rest of the world. As Christians suffering brings us closer to God by conforming us into the image of Jesus. Through suffering we are promised to produce godly character and fruit that will help us to glorify Christ.
As much as suffering may be painful in the moment, we should rejoice in the tribulation because we know that after we get out of that suffering we will have learned valuable lessons that can be used for the rest of our life towards serving Christ.
Take my depression for example, many days it has crippled me and caused me to want to give up. With no hope in sight Jesus has caused me to throw myself upon him in prayer constantly as we are commanded to do. I have seen God answer so many prayers in my despair that all I can respond to him anymore with is thankfulness and worship.
Through this depression I have seen so much fruit including, humility, faith, kindness, gentleness, love, patience, meekness, and even a healthy and vibrant prayer life.
As painful as my depression is at the moment, I thank God for it because without it would be extremely hard for my prideful self to humbly call upon Christ in need of help. It is through this depression God has helped me to realize my dependence on him from my financial needs, to needing his grace for the air I breathe each day. Because without God’s grace we can do nothing (John 15:5).
So, if you are suffering and are wondering what is the meaning of life for Christians, I beg you to call on Christ for him to mold you into a more faithful and fruitful servant. Then ask him for your needs because God is glorified in answering the prayers of his servants.
The Chief Meaning of Life as Christians
As Christians, God has redeemed us as a people for himself. The chief meaning of life for us as Christians is to glorify Christ.
Paul and many saints that have gone before us have lived out this purpose with every breath and fiber of their being.
They have been so focused on God that they constantly looked outside of themselves to help and serve others instead of themselves.
If I’m being truly honest, I struggle with the looking outside of myself part. Many times when we suffer it’s very hard to get out of self-focus and focus on God. The two best ways I have found to combat this is to worship and pray for others.
Through these two things you forcefully look outwards to love God and others well.
These things help the Christian be equipped to not look inwardly as all other religions teach, but to look outwardly at the creator who died on the cross for our sins.
Through worship, prayer, and serving others we as Christians will glorify our Father in heaven through our good works. It’s not that our works save us but that by the grace of God he gives us the ability to do good works to glorify himself.
So, if you are suffering and wondering what is the meaning of life as a Christian then look outwards towards Christ. Call on him and he will answer you in your time of distress.
In the book Gentle and Lowly by Dane Ortland he goes on to mention that when we suffer, Christ also suffers with us as if they were his own emotions.
Think about the story in scripture where Paul is on the road to Demascus and Jesus asks him why are you persecuting me. This shows that the believer is directly intertwined with Christ. There’s a reason biblically that all believers are described as a part of the body of Christ.
It is in those moments of suffering Christ feels the pain as if it was his own. So, I beg you if you are asking these questions as I have many times, call on Christ because he will be your greatest friend. He will be closer than a brother and more loving than your closest companion ever could be.
Seek Christ and focus on the cross above all else because he is our only hope in life and death.