According to a recent Harvard Business Review article, “purpose” has become a victim of its own success. Corporations are increasingly expected – by their customers and employees – to be able to articulate their contribution to society… beyond simply “making money.”

Patagonia’s “in business to save our home planet” and Tesla’s “to accelerate the world’s transition to sustainable energy” sound grand and principled. Disney’s “create happiness through magical experiences” sounds fun (and expensive).

The Challenge

The challenge with declaring your purpose is that people expect you to do it. Nestle initially promoted itself as “the world’s leading nutrition, health and wellness company.” When it was pointed out that 75% of its earnings were from snacks and confectionaries, they changed their purpose to “good food, good life.”

Everyone wants to have a “good life.” And everyone needs to understand their true purpose. Tyler VanderWeele, Director of the Human Flourishing Program at Harvard University, recently pointed out the significant mental and physical benefits to possessing a sense of purpose.

For younger adults, having a sense of purpose improved flourishing in life satisfaction, self-esteem, emotional well-being, and volunteering. Older adults with the highest sense of purpose had a 43% reduced risk of depression, a 35% reduced risk of loneliness, and a 46% lower risk of dying over the course of a 4-year study.

Understand Your Purpose

Human flourishing includes understanding your purpose in life and believing that the things you do matter. From the Christian perspective, flourishing is living life as God intended. It’s only in God that we discover our origin, identity, meaning, purpose, significance, and destiny.

In 2002, Rick Warren wrote The Purpose Driven Life, which sold over 50 million copies in 85 languages. According to Warren (and the Bible), “You were made by God and for God – and until you understand that, life will never make sense.”

Everything Begins With God

Everything begins with God. God created it all and he’s in charge of it all. If you want to know what life is about, you must turn to God and his Word.

“It’s in Christ that we find out who we are and what we are living for. Long before we first heard of Christ and got our hopes up, he had his eye on us, had designs on us for glorious living, part of the over-all purpose he is working out in everything and everyone.” Ephesians 1:11

“For everything comes from him and exists by his power and is intended for his glory. All glory to him forever! Amen.” Romans 11:36