What’s the Purpose of Life Anyway

Life is Painful

We will bury a young man today. It has been painful. He was injured by a doctor who refused to recognize him as a person before his first breath. In her estimation, she had one patient, even though he was a normally developed baby at full term. Her experience as an abortion vendor apparently impacted her ability to recognize the baby as a person. The doctor’s reason for not performing an intervening cesarean section was that she didn’t want the mother to have a scar.

The scar of that day will never go away. The pain of watching her son suffer for over 23 years and the loss of income, mobility, educational and business pursuits were set aside in order to care for him. Her other children’s opportunities were impacted. His father also gave up career advancements and provided care for their severely disabled son.

Though, throughout his life he did suffer, he also brought joy and his personality came through. He is a person with a history and a legacy.

Life is Unpredictable

The pregnancy had been a bit troublesome for his mom, but the baby was fine until delivery day. His cord had been compromised and his brain starved for oxygen. The monitors were on and indicated the problem, but the doctor ignored them and the pleas for a C-section.

We cannot always anticipate how things will go, but we can determine to do our best in every situation. The young man’s parents were steadfast in their faithful care for him every day for his entire life. He required 24/7 care. Sometimes the nurses would come, sometimes they wouldn’t. Often, he would be able to interact with grunts and noises and sometimes he couldn’t let his needs be known. Many times one or more of his four older siblings needed extra assistance, a ride, accompaniment, care.

For almost 24 years, life revolved around Jarrod. Now, he is in heaven with God. The wreckage in the wake of his injury will not soon be handled. It will take time for the family to recover health and home.

Life has Purpose

Jarrod’s pure determination to live taught many people much about tenacity and perseverance. Pain is part of life, but so too is joy and though sacrifice is necessary, the reward of establishing loving relationships and strong bonds between people help support through the hard times and ride out the storms of life to awaken the sunrise.

We all need each other. The cross of Christ is the clear demonstration of the purpose of life. We are given the example to remember that our relationship with God lifts us up on the vertical and the relationships with others beside us on the horizontal are important too.

The ultimate purpose of life is to glorify God and bring others into relationship with Him. Jarrod did that. His family did too, but Jarrod played a special role in that his life literally drew people in that would otherwise not have been. There were a number of nurses who had received the Good News while in the home and other who came back into relationship with God because of their time in the home taking care of him.

Life will always be Temporary

We were all created with a purpose by a loving creator. We live in a fallen world full of pain and suffering, but even through all of it, there are times of peace and joy. We are not promised a smooth life, in fact we are told that there will be trouble.

It’s kind of like getting placed into a plane or on a boat and being told that it will crash, but that if you wear a life vest you will be safe. It’s uncomfortable and cumbersome. It gets in the way and hinders you from enjoying part of the trip, but you know you will need at the end and you have no idea exactly when that will be.

No one on earth decided to be created.

Interesting thought, right? There isn’t a person on the earth today that chose to be here. Whether born to a loving family in so-called perfect condition or conceived by assault or in a petri dish, it was not your choice.

However, we choose how we will live. Life or death, blessing or cursing is up to us. Choose well, my friends. In everything, everywhere everyday, choose to seek truth, to be kind, to gain knowledge and wisdom, to serve other people and love God.

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