What is the Purpose of Your Life?

What is the Purpose of Your Life?

Not long after my transformation, a man I respected very much asked me a question that I have never forgotten: “What is the purpose of your life?”

I answered that I would like to become a nuclear scientist who would find a cure for the effects of nuclear scientist who would find a cure for the effects of nuclear weapons.

Obviously, I knew little of nuclear weapons. But I had become determined to fulfill this goal when I read a newspaper report of the first detonation of a hydrogen bomb. I was only fourteen years old at that time. The newspaper reporter explained all the possible havoc that could result from nuclear explosions. I was determined in my young mind to develop a cure for the harmful effects of terrible destructive weapons.

Later, my interest as a budding research scientist was to invent some kind of tablet that one could take to nullify the effects of nuclear weapons. I thought, most sincerely, that people who took my preventive medicine would be able to walk through the radiation and fallout.

The man who had questioned me, considered my answer thoughtfully. Then he said, “George, the purpose of our life is to glorify God.” I looked at him in surprise as he explained that we should seek, above all, to glorify God by a life that is utterly devoted to serving Him.

I remember thinking, “I’m already doing that. I am praying regularly, worshipping God and glorifying Him.

This dear man then asked me questions about my work. I told him I was a student and that my work was studying. He then asked me whether I was glorifying God by my studies. I told him that I was scoring good marks for every test and remarked: “What more can one do for God’s glory?”

“Are you studying merely for good grades or studying for God?” he asked. I knew I was studying for good grades. I knew how to select the questions that were likely to be asked and then study their answers instead of learning the entire book. I got good grades using this method, but I didn’t realize that I was cheating myself and God. This man helped me to learn that I wasn’t glorifying God by my studies.

I have never forgotten that conversation. It became the turning point in my attitude toward work and studies.