{"id":441,"date":"2015-09-22T06:43:59","date_gmt":"2015-09-22T11:43:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thedisciplemaker.org\/?p=441"},"modified":"2015-09-22T06:43:59","modified_gmt":"2015-09-22T11:43:59","slug":"the-second-most-important-question-for-living-a-life-of-purpose","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/2015\/09\/the-second-most-important-question-for-living-a-life-of-purpose\/","title":{"rendered":"The Second Most Important Question for Living a Life of Purpose"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"bsf_rt_marker\"><\/div><p>By Fran Sciacca &#8211;<\/p>\n<h3>Is your curiosity keeping pace with your faith?<\/h3>\n<h3>So, what\u2019s the point?<\/h3>\n<p>Thirty centuries ago, a brilliant thinker and writer decided to tell God to take a long hike off a short pier. Well, not exactly, but in effect that\u2019s how it turned out. He was determined to find a formula for meaning and purpose that didn\u2019t include God in the equation. He was looking for an answer to the question, \u201cSo, what\u2019s the point?\u201d He followed his ideology down many predictable roads: hedonism, materialism, intellectualism, sensuality, and a few others. Fortunately for us, he kept a journal of sorts\u2014a kind of ancient blog, I suppose, as it ended up going viral. The salient quality of this journal\u2014known to Jews as Koheleth (the Preacher) and as Ecclesiastes to Christians\u2014is the centrality of questions. In the 222 verses of this poetic journal, there are 32 questions\u2014good questions on timeless topics such as the value of work, the nature of love, the purpose of life, the certainty of death and what to do between it and birth, wisdom and folly, and others. Wonderful, thoughtful exploration of the kinds of questions for which everyone should be seeking answers.<br \/>\nThough this journey was long and convoluted, his journal was short and linear, about eleven pages. The author\u2019s adventures are varied, yet his conclusions are not. Our existential explorer discovers that every avenue he travels seeking meaning and purpose leads him back down the same alley, and a dead-end alley at that. Thirty-seven times in his journal, our exasperated seeker makes the same lament about life: \u201cMeaningless, meaningless, all is meaningless.\u201d Not exactly a ringing chorus for a modern praise tune, or title for the next Christian best seller! This is the wrenching cry of an empty heart, the foul fruit of a fruitless quest.<br \/>\nKoheleth, looking for some abiding meaning to life \u201cunder the sun,\u201d found none. He kept a record of this quest to find a purpose (a \u201cpoint,\u201d if you will), and concluded that at the end of the day, there was none. No purpose. No meaning. No point. Instead of a glorious destination just over the rise of each new road, he found himself redundantly circling back to where he had started, alone with himself and his questions. And we\u2019ve already seen that being wrapped up in ourselves is a small package indeed.<br \/>\nHowever, though his conclusions were empty, his questions were full. They were not only valid, they were\u2014and continue to be\u2014profound.<br \/>\nKoheleth, the Preacher, lived thirty centuries ago, nearly a thousand years before Christ. Surely we\u2019ve made some progress in the quest for meaning since then? With over one trillion web pages catalogued by Google in 2008, for example, surely out there somewhere are the answers Koheleth sought? Unfortunately, the evidence is growing to suggest that although our modern search for meaning has the aid of search \u201cengines,\u201d and despite the increase in horsepower for the search, we\u2019ve not developed any lasting answers. Higher download speeds apparently don\u2019t correlate with reduced search times and increased \u201chits\u201d when it comes to meaning, purpose, and truth.<br \/>\n<strong>Start by answering the most important question.<\/strong><br \/>\nRemember when Jesus posed to Peter at Banias: \u201cWho do you say that I am?\u201d Without a sufficient answer to the question of Jesus\u2019 identity, in seeking to lay hold of a purpose of your own, you will find yourself walking down Koheleth\u2019s dead-end alley.<br \/>\n<strong>The identity question<\/strong><br \/>\nIn finding a purpose for your own life, we need to answer life\u2019s second-most important question: the principle of design applied to people. In its essence, it is Jesus\u2019 query to Peter, addressed to a mirror: \u201cWho do I say that I am?\u201d This is the question of identity\u2014who I believe I am as a person. Not to be confused with self-esteem (what I think about myself), identity is at the core of what I believe about myself. It is a crucial component in constructing a sense of purpose. Even if I have an adequate answer to life\u2019s most important question (regarding Jesus), if I lack an answer to this second question, I will find myself disillusioned with life, with Christianity, and ultimately with God Himself.<br \/>\nHave you looked in the mirror lately? Have you stoked your curiosity about Jesus and how you fit into His story? To unpack more on this topic, read, <em><a href=\"https:\/\/tyndale.leadpages.co\/sowhatsyourpoint\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">So, What\u2019s Your Point?<\/a><\/em>, by Fran Sciacca<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/tyndale.leadpages.co\/sowhatsyourpoint\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone  wp-image-557\" src=\"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/wp-content\/uploads\/So.-Whats-Your-Point-200x300.jpg\" alt=\"So. What's Your Point\" width=\"178\" height=\"267\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Fran Sciacca &#8211; Is your curiosity keeping pace with your faith? So, what\u2019s the point? Thirty centuries ago, a brilliant thinker and writer decided to tell God to take a long hike off a short pier. Well, not exactly, &#8230; <\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more-container\"><a title=\"The Second Most Important Question for Living a Life of Purpose\" class=\"read-more button\" href=\"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/2015\/09\/the-second-most-important-question-for-living-a-life-of-purpose\/#more-441\">Read more<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">The Second Most Important Question for Living a Life of Purpose<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":442,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","_FSMCFIC_featured_image_caption":"","_FSMCFIC_featured_image_nocaption":"","_FSMCFIC_featured_image_hide":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v20.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>The Second Most Important Question for Living a Life of Purpose - The Disciplemaker<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/2015\/09\/the-second-most-important-question-for-living-a-life-of-purpose\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Second Most Important Question for Living a Life of Purpose - The Disciplemaker\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Fran Sciacca &#8211; Is your curiosity keeping pace with your faith? 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