Chapter 7: Live a Life of Purpose: Cracker Barrel, Radiohead, and a Life that Actually Matters (w/ Mike Sanchez)

In every one of us, there is a desire for more than just existing and getting by. We want to be alive. We want to live fully and chase after and achieve dreams. We have a need to feel like our life actually matters and we’re accomplishing something of value with the time we have. We want our lives to count. Some of us even spend time fantasizing about “being discovered”, being a hero, or being remembered for something.

Many of us as men wonder why we sometimes don't understand what we are here for. I think this happens when we fail to invest ourselves in what God has placed in our hearts. This happens often when we assume our purpose, but never take the time to truly seek it out. Until we rely on God to reveal our purpose to us in times of prayer, Bible reading, meditation on scripture, and Christian community to tell us what they see in us, we’ll get so consumed in the "want to's" and "have to's" in our life that we’ll never ask God to draw out our deeper purpose. We’ll never asked what we were made for.

If we never seek God's purpose for our life, the world will gladly sell us its purposes. As we give ourselves to the purposes of materialism and hedonism, we may find ourselves “fitter, happier, more productive” and “comfortable” in the short term. But when we give up God's purposes in life, it will eventually cost us something.

Jesus said in Matthew 16:26,

“For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?” (NKJV)