Your “Raison D’être”

What is your “raison d’être,” your “reason or justification for being or existence”? What is the meaning and purpose of life? These are very important questions to ponder. Since civilization began, humans have contemplated questions about life’s meaning. If you search the Internet for “why we exist” you will get answers like the following:

• “We are here to evolve, adapt, and grow, exploring the evolutionary process and our own experience.”
• “To find our happiness, be self-fulfilled, and enjoy life.”
• “To share life with those you love.”
• “We are just a cosmic accident, and there is no single, correct answer to the purpose of life.”

Many philosophers and religious teachers have shared their own independent ideas about why we exist. Philosophers, ancient and present, spoke about seeking knowledge, using reason, practicing virtues, and seeking harmony, inner peace, and self-improvement. Many modern ideas see no purpose to human life beyond a physical existence of seeking pleasure and living for the moment.

There are many religions in the world, each one with its own tenets and object or objects of devotion. Some believe in reincarnation, polygamy, or magic. Some practice ritual purification, self-denial, asceticism, fasting, and even self-flagellation, and may have sacred days or encourage pilgrimage to holy places.

There are a few values that are shared by various religions, including seeking peace and harmony and treating others with respect. But some have sought to dominate or convert the world. Some seek spiritual enlightenment and fulfillment, paradise, or eternal life.

Mankind’s “collective wisdom” tends to value certain virtues that encompass moral and social dimensions, and these ideas may contribute to individual and collective well-being. But they do not answer the existential question about the meaning and purpose of human existence.

Humans seek meaning and will continue to concoct their own ideas in lieu of the facts that only come from the Creator God’s revelation. But human reason is totally incapable of finding out the full and true purpose of human existence on its own, as seen in the diversity of teachings and philosophies mentioned above. Only divine revelation can show mankind the real purpose of our existence.

God has revealed the reason for our existence, but man does not know it for two reasons.

First, since the beginning, mankind rejected God’s rule over him: “Although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man….  And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind” (Romans 1:20–23, 28).

The second reason is that Satan has deceived the whole world by blinding mankind (Revelation 12:9). The Apostle Paul wrote that “even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them” (2 Corinthians 4:3–4).

We all want to know and need to know why we exist—and what truly is God’s purpose for creating us. There is a “raison d’être” for our existence, and you can know the awesome meaning and purpose of life.

To discover the exciting and awesome reason you exist and what your “raison d’être” should be, we invite you to read our free study guide What Is the Meaning of Life? and to watch the Tomorrow’s World telecast “Your True Purpose,” right here at TomorrowsWorld.org.