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Weimar University

Don Mackintosh

Happiness is the Pursuit of Purpose in Our Lives

I was reading a book this week that said happiness is the pursuit of purpose in our lives.

Father in heaven, bless us today as we talk about individual collective purpose in Christ's name.

So happiness is a pursuit of purpose in our lives.

If we've lived with moral purpose, even death becomes less painful.

You know, King Nebuchadnezzar asked those 3 that would not bow down to his statue, said you know who's gonna deliver you?

You know don't you know I can throw you in?

He says look we know we know our God is able to deliver us, but if not, we will not worship your idol which you've set up, right?

In other words, we have a higher purpose, and even dying will not take us away from that purpose.

They had this collective sense of purpose and this is what kind of you know led them forward you know Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself.

Victor Frankl who's a guy that went through the Holocaust a long time ago, said, Woe to him who saw no more sense in his life, no aim, no purpose, and therefore no point in carrying on.

Here he is in the concentration camp, And he was watching people die all around him.

And he said the reason that what killed them was not the guards, not the cruelty, but they ended up not having any more purpose.

So no purpose, therefore, nor point of carrying on.

We had to learn ourselves and furthermore we had to teach despairing man that it did not really matter what we expected from life but rather what life expected from us.

He goes, my purpose in this concentration camp is to tell people how to get through concentration camps with purpose.

My purpose is to use everything that happens to write about how keeping My meaning central is the central thing.

According to a 14-year longitudinal study from the University of Charlton in Canada, those reporting strong purpose in life at the onset of the study were 15% more likely to be alive at the end of the study than those that are not.

And this statistic is held true for every single age group.

So this whole idea of having a sense of purpose.

How does it relate to healing a hurting world?

How does it relate to leading someone to eternal life?

This last Sabbath, we had a guy who was a nuclear physicist, and did he find a way to share science in a purposeful way?

Maybe not an understandable way, but a purposeful way.

I mean, I asked my son James, he's the youngest child there, I said, what do you think, he goes, I don't know, that guy was very confusing to me.

I said, well, what do you think, bottom line?

There's some kind of balloons or little polonium things in them.

And that just shows that they're created instantly.

But I don't know all the stuff he said, I don't know.

Man, you could have given that talk a lot quicker than he did, but he liked it.

Sense of meaning, sense of purpose, right?

Now I got a, I was looking at a post from 1 of my friends who's dying of stage 4 cancer, well, hoping not to die, but really struggling.

And I thought I'd read this to you because here this person is finding purpose while it looks like they're dying.

And Here I am, she writes, exhausted but still alive, after enduring some of the most wretched days I've ever experienced since my last update, I became extremely sick with esophagitis brought on by the chemo.

I was so sick I couldn't keep food down for 4 days.

Now I want you to think about this when you're thinking of complaining about your lot.

I mean, already know this is a lot better than what I'm, this is a lot worse than what I'm going through, right?

During the last 2 days of that time, I was unable to even keep down sips of water.

1 night this week, I was in bed feeling very ill, and it was a struggle just to swallow the saliva in my mouth without gagging and retching.

I was determined that I must get control of this horrible process.

The saliva collects into my mouth, and I would pray, God, please help me, asking for strength to swallow the saliva.

My esophagus would go into spasms, make me feel even sicker, and I would plead with God to help me.

God, give me strength, I'd pray, and I'd swallow again.

I leaned back and propped up high on pillows, trying to keep the pressure off my esophagus.

As this went on, I suddenly realized that I was totally and completely dependent on God for every swallow if I didn't want to vomit.

There was no time to focus on anything else, Just the next prayer followed by the next swallow.

Life doesn't get much more moment by moment than this, I thought, depending totally on God and helpless to handle it myself.

Like the life of the Christian should be, total dependence, total trust, walking with God every moment, unable to survive without his constant grace and strength.

This will be especially true if troubles increase in the future of my life, I thought.

Quietly a thought formed in my mind, almost as if someone spoke, This is what you always prayed for.

For years I'd asked God to prepare me for heaven, to transform my character, to help me be faithful in all things, to make me like Jesus.

This is how God is answering your prayer, came the strong impression.

My eyes opened wide and I stared into the darkness.

This cancer, this dark path I've been traveling, the fear, the uncertainty that has forced me to cling to God and learn lessons of submission, dependence, and trust that I never thought possible, and now this intense sickness from esophagitis that has tormented me so.

All of it has been permitted by God to purify and refine my character to prepare me for heaven.

I'm having the opportunity to practice a life of total dependence on God right now.

That was what she thought her purpose was.

I don't know, when I first read this, I was crying.

I felt humbled as I thought of my dissatisfaction of my complaints and my questionings that have often been the part of my reaction to this cancer journey.

Who am I to complain of God's methods of answering my prayers?

I prayed then and again, surrendered my life, my future, my all, into his hands and asked to be filled with the Holy Spirit so he can do what he wants done in my life.

And then I asked, please God, send the Holy Spirit to fill this room.

And like Jonathan's prayer, send the angels.

At that moment, lying in bed, I sensed their presence in the room.

Beside my bed, at the foot of my bed, All around the room, I closed my eyes and had such a feeling of security that comes from knowing that I'm being watched over.

I couldn't see them, but I could sense their presence.

I continued pondering precious thoughts of God, His love, the sacrifice of Jesus for us, the beauty of His way, heaven, and such things.

I thought of what it would be like to meet Jesus someday.

He's been with me every step of my earthly journey.

He understands all I've been through because he's borne all my griefs and carried all my sorrows.

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Happiness is the Pursuit of Purpose in Our Lives

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