Life Purpose, and the Mid-Life Crisis of Profession as Life Purpose
Every man will be destroyed if he does not redeem the time wisely that the Lord has given to him, and shape his time and life around the Lordship of Jesus Christ, basing every thought around the scripture and its infallible patterns of truth. This is our starting point as Christians when thinking through the issue of how we shape our paths and live out the proper roles that we have been given on this earth.
As a young man, I have been required, (just as every young man is), to think about the issue of “What am I going to do with my life?”, and how am I going to structure my time and ultimately my entire life as it relates to the work that I have been called to fulfill on this earth.
I am thankful and grateful to say that as I continually seek the truth of God’s word, and listen to the guidance of my father and several mentors that the Lord has placed in my path, this question has been answered in my life in its broad reaching scope. Although many of the details are still being revealed and will continue to be for the entirety of my life, I do have a broader sense of purpose and mission as to the goals and foundational principles that will guide how I live my time, what skills I will continue to develop, and how I will apply those in the context of my unique circumstances. I am grateful to the Lord for His grace in allowing this continued process to take place in my heart and life. I am most grateful to the Lord because I realize that this pattern is not the cultural norm today, as our culture has embraced the many false philosophies pertaining to the roles of manhood. Men that understand their life purpose filtered through the grid of scripture are few-and-far between, and because this is not a cultural norm, men that are seeking to honor the holy scriptures as to their life purpose are often mocked and ridiculed for their unique decisions as to how they live out their time. Yet, regardless of what others may think, and regardless of the cultural uniqueness of the decisions a man makes pertaining to his life purpose, the question of life purpose is, without a doubt, one of the most profound questions that a man will ask himself and his creator. Ultimately, depending on how a man answers this question, his life will either result in great victory or great tragedy.
The victory comes in Christ and living a life set apart to obedience in Christ when a man understands his roles on this earth and lives for a calling of facilitating dominion to every area of life. This begins with choices as a young man as to how a life is shaped regarding the books, training, jobs, and relationships that a young man chooses to engage himself in. This manifests itself in a mid-life spent with twenty, thirty, or forty plus years of wise training and preparation to take dominion on this earth for the Lord Jesus Christ, and will be fulfilled in the unique callings and gifts that have been cultivated toward the kingdom work. As a biblical life purpose is fulfilled, a man will bless his family by providing them with true purpose as they carry forward what has been laid as a foundation through years spent educating and training to fulfill a biblical life purpose. Sons will honor their fathers by walking in unity with them as they have an equal understanding as to the life calling that has been given as a legacy to them. This ultimately ends in a man looking back on his life with great fulfillment as he sees the next generation carrying forward what God set in motion and begins to realize that the entire encapsulation of life was the fulfillment of his life purpose – from new beginnings, the wonderful years of dominion battle in between, and the ultimate twilight of life and passing to the next generation. The results? A life-time of faithfulness and peace.
The tragedy comes when a man views his life purpose in terms of his chosen profession and makes his chief end the cultivation of that profession. Men train to become a profession, this profession becomes their life purpose, their families lives center around their choices in this life purpose, and their economic dependence also centers around what they have been trained to view as their purpose in life. All aspects of life center on this false life purpose. It starts at a young age when a man decides how he is going shape his life regarding the books, training, jobs, and relationships that a he chooses to engage himself in. Even as the tragedy begins at a young age, it manifests itself when a man begins the mid-portion of his life, when reality begins to set in that there is no fulfillment in what he has spent the last twenty, thirty, or forty plus years living in as his life purpose, and that his choices have caught up with him to a point that he will be overwhelmed with bondage and may never, (accept by the grace of almighty God), be free of the false notion of life purpose that he bought into in years prior. The greatest tragedy is that if a man accepts this false understanding of life purpose, he will not be able, (Again, accept by the grace of almighty God), to pass on a biblical example to his sons of what it is to be a faithful man in a life purpose. He can point his sons in the right direction, tell them of his mistakes, but because of the choices of the past, he will become so entrenched in a life-time spent with false purpose that he will be unable to escape his slavery to a point of oneness with his sons and their futures. Additionally, the entire education process of the home becomes something he is unable to grasp in true Biblical terms because more than half of his life has been spent focusing on shaping his own education and life purpose around his profession. The burden then falls strictly on the shoulders of the mother, thus negating the father’s role as leader in the training and education of the children and defying what the scriptures instruct fathers to fulfill. (Deuteronomy 4:9) This is assuming that the family is educating their children at home and not in unbiblical state educational institutions. (This is another conversation for another time.)
And what is the ultimate result of a life-time of having a profession as a life purpose? Tragedy through retirement. Retirement is not a biblical concept and it is the logical conclusion to a life-time spent in making a profession a ultimate purpose. Retirement is frivolity and ultimate waste to the end of a life. Taking the twilight of a life and spending it for personal pleasure rather than godly discipleship to the next generation. Yet, it is the ultimate conclusion to a life purpose that centers on a profession. After a life-time given to the life purpose of profession, a man then looks back on his life with no fulfillment in his profession. He then retires to a life of ease and is left with no sense of true purpose for having lived it, and without the intervention of the providential hand of God, his children have no sense or understanding as to what they have carried forward and will focus on their own false sense of life purpose. The results? multi-generational tragedy and regret.
These harsh realities plague the body of Christ today, and they should sober our minds and make us cry out to God for mercy and grace as we seek to honor him in answering the important question “What am I going to do with my life?”.
We serve a God that is greater than our sinful mistakes and can restore the years that the “locust hath eaten” (Joel 2:25). With Christ all things are possible. We must not be afraid to face the truth and see the tragic choices that so many Christians have made in our day and age, and we must fix our hearts on the Lord and pray for the grace to continue to walk the straight and narrow path of truth. May God be glorified as we seek His word to fulfill our life purpose on this earth.
As a young man, I have been required, (just as every young man is), to think about the issue of “What am I going to do with my life?”, and how am I going to structure my time and ultimately my entire life as it relates to the work that I have been called to fulfill on this earth.
I am thankful and grateful to say that as I continually seek the truth of God’s word, and listen to the guidance of my father and several mentors that the Lord has placed in my path, this question has been answered in my life in its broad reaching scope. Although many of the details are still being revealed and will continue to be for the entirety of my life, I do have a broader sense of purpose and mission as to the goals and foundational principles that will guide how I live my time, what skills I will continue to develop, and how I will apply those in the context of my unique circumstances. I am grateful to the Lord for His grace in allowing this continued process to take place in my heart and life. I am most grateful to the Lord because I realize that this pattern is not the cultural norm today, as our culture has embraced the many false philosophies pertaining to the roles of manhood. Men that understand their life purpose filtered through the grid of scripture are few-and-far between, and because this is not a cultural norm, men that are seeking to honor the holy scriptures as to their life purpose are often mocked and ridiculed for their unique decisions as to how they live out their time. Yet, regardless of what others may think, and regardless of the cultural uniqueness of the decisions a man makes pertaining to his life purpose, the question of life purpose is, without a doubt, one of the most profound questions that a man will ask himself and his creator. Ultimately, depending on how a man answers this question, his life will either result in great victory or great tragedy.
The victory comes in Christ and living a life set apart to obedience in Christ when a man understands his roles on this earth and lives for a calling of facilitating dominion to every area of life. This begins with choices as a young man as to how a life is shaped regarding the books, training, jobs, and relationships that a young man chooses to engage himself in. This manifests itself in a mid-life spent with twenty, thirty, or forty plus years of wise training and preparation to take dominion on this earth for the Lord Jesus Christ, and will be fulfilled in the unique callings and gifts that have been cultivated toward the kingdom work. As a biblical life purpose is fulfilled, a man will bless his family by providing them with true purpose as they carry forward what has been laid as a foundation through years spent educating and training to fulfill a biblical life purpose. Sons will honor their fathers by walking in unity with them as they have an equal understanding as to the life calling that has been given as a legacy to them. This ultimately ends in a man looking back on his life with great fulfillment as he sees the next generation carrying forward what God set in motion and begins to realize that the entire encapsulation of life was the fulfillment of his life purpose – from new beginnings, the wonderful years of dominion battle in between, and the ultimate twilight of life and passing to the next generation. The results? A life-time of faithfulness and peace.
The tragedy comes when a man views his life purpose in terms of his chosen profession and makes his chief end the cultivation of that profession. Men train to become a profession, this profession becomes their life purpose, their families lives center around their choices in this life purpose, and their economic dependence also centers around what they have been trained to view as their purpose in life. All aspects of life center on this false life purpose. It starts at a young age when a man decides how he is going shape his life regarding the books, training, jobs, and relationships that a he chooses to engage himself in. Even as the tragedy begins at a young age, it manifests itself when a man begins the mid-portion of his life, when reality begins to set in that there is no fulfillment in what he has spent the last twenty, thirty, or forty plus years living in as his life purpose, and that his choices have caught up with him to a point that he will be overwhelmed with bondage and may never, (accept by the grace of almighty God), be free of the false notion of life purpose that he bought into in years prior. The greatest tragedy is that if a man accepts this false understanding of life purpose, he will not be able, (Again, accept by the grace of almighty God), to pass on a biblical example to his sons of what it is to be a faithful man in a life purpose. He can point his sons in the right direction, tell them of his mistakes, but because of the choices of the past, he will become so entrenched in a life-time spent with false purpose that he will be unable to escape his slavery to a point of oneness with his sons and their futures. Additionally, the entire education process of the home becomes something he is unable to grasp in true Biblical terms because more than half of his life has been spent focusing on shaping his own education and life purpose around his profession. The burden then falls strictly on the shoulders of the mother, thus negating the father’s role as leader in the training and education of the children and defying what the scriptures instruct fathers to fulfill. (Deuteronomy 4:9) This is assuming that the family is educating their children at home and not in unbiblical state educational institutions. (This is another conversation for another time.)
And what is the ultimate result of a life-time of having a profession as a life purpose? Tragedy through retirement. Retirement is not a biblical concept and it is the logical conclusion to a life-time spent in making a profession a ultimate purpose. Retirement is frivolity and ultimate waste to the end of a life. Taking the twilight of a life and spending it for personal pleasure rather than godly discipleship to the next generation. Yet, it is the ultimate conclusion to a life purpose that centers on a profession. After a life-time given to the life purpose of profession, a man then looks back on his life with no fulfillment in his profession. He then retires to a life of ease and is left with no sense of true purpose for having lived it, and without the intervention of the providential hand of God, his children have no sense or understanding as to what they have carried forward and will focus on their own false sense of life purpose. The results? multi-generational tragedy and regret.
These harsh realities plague the body of Christ today, and they should sober our minds and make us cry out to God for mercy and grace as we seek to honor him in answering the important question “What am I going to do with my life?”.
We serve a God that is greater than our sinful mistakes and can restore the years that the “locust hath eaten” (Joel 2:25). With Christ all things are possible. We must not be afraid to face the truth and see the tragic choices that so many Christians have made in our day and age, and we must fix our hearts on the Lord and pray for the grace to continue to walk the straight and narrow path of truth. May God be glorified as we seek His word to fulfill our life purpose on this earth.
