“I am wasting my life. That was the hardest part for me about leaving my faith,” my declared agnostic Israli friend, Michael, told me. “I had to face a sense of purposelessness.” I had just enjoyed a “mana falafel” – a fresh, homemade pita stuffed with hot falafel, salad, and sauces. I was sipping on my strawberry-lulo juice (lulo is a local fruit) and chatting with the owner of the little restaurant that has become a favorite of mine since it opened.
We chatted for a long time, covering a wide range – chess strategies to peace in the Middle East. But they casual way with which he told me that he wasn’t really living for anything bigger than himself challenged my way of thinking.
I suppose that every person, at some moment in their lives, come to a point of hopelessness. It may be at the end of their lives when they realized what they’ve missed out on. It may be during a particularly difficult time. It’s the point at which a person begins to question what they have been living for.
We were created to live for something bigger than ourselves. Reaching the point of hopelessness, some may choose to settle for their own purposes and eventually find contentment in that. However, I would propose that there is no purpose one could choose greater than the expansion of the Kingdom.
The Kingdom – the earth and its inhabitants – belong to Him. He has called us to be a part of establishing that Kingdom on the earth. His Kingdom is established wherever His Word is obeyed and His lordship is recognized.
Expanding the Kingdom means living life with one goal: The advancement of His purpose.