Nearly 3 in 5 young adults report feeling purposeless in their lives during the past month, according to a  2022 Harvard study. In 2023, another Gallup study found that between 43-49% of Gen Z say what they do each day doesn’t feel interesting, important, or motivating. To be fair, young adult life is hard. It’s filled with things like moving out for the first time and juggling classes, freedom, and an overloading of opinions. Or entering the workforce and suddenly having adult money and adult bills. Or being stuck between jobs for the first time wondering if the next opportunity will come. All of these different circumstances share a common ache: a lack of direction. Often this can result in the inevitable rising of an ancient question: “What does this all mean?”

The Modern Crisis of Meaninglessness

I’ve heard many students say: “I feel like I’m just going through the motions.” This is to say our actions feel as if they don’t matter and we lack meaning. We can write a paper on a subject we don’t care about wondering why we are putting in the effort. We can experience surface level friendships that seem unsatisfying and ask what they are for. We may scroll late at night and bed-rot in the morning feeling numb and empty. All of these examples expose a lack of meaning. But this lack of meaning isn’t the sole problem, it’s the first signal that something deeper is missing. This is because a lack of meaning is a symptom of a lack of purpose. Feeling purposeless is like walking through life without a compass, or losing cell service for your GPS. It’s like meandering through life with no clear direction or end goal. It’s disorienting, and you may not realize you lack it till you stop to look around.

There are many reasons someone may feel a sense of purposelessness, but I’ve found that one reason stands in prominence. Our modern society has tried to replace the age-old question of ‘what is the meaning of life’, with ‘how can we find meaning in life?’

The Problem with Creating ‘Small-m’ Meaning

Some have tried to shrink the question of our ultimate purpose to a more manageable size. To remove the spiritual aspect and transcendent objective purpose, the shift has led thinkers to ask: “What is meaningful in my life?” Finding the answer to this question places meaning in your hands. It’s to say that you can fulfill the itch of purpose by creating meaning in the small things of life. It’s to attempt to make your actions valuable through things that make us feel good or fulfilled such as hobbies, passions, relationships, or achievements.

Thus, you create your own goals, and pursue your own happiness, and if your actions help you on your journey, they are meaningful. The problem with this is meaning lasts so long as your good feelings last. When you attain what you are looking for, what’s next, and what if it does not satisfy like you thought it would? You are left wondering if any of it even mattered in the first place. The truth is, we long for more than our own created small-m meaning. We desire ultimate, big-M meaning.

Explore This Core Question

This tension between creating our own “small-m” meaning and receiving a “Big-M” purpose is the central question of our identity. To explore this idea further, see:

Do We Create or Discover Our Identity?

The Cure: Receiving the ‘Big-M’ Meaning of Life

The truth is there is a meaning of life. It’s not made by you, it is received. Scripture tells us what our true purpose is. It’s the cure to the meaning crisis. The bible does not give us abstract ideas to create our own interpretation, it reveals our identity and gives direction. Two things are revealed with clarity: who God is and who we are in light of Him.

We are created in God’s image for relationship and reflection.

Created for RelationshipCreated for Relationship: From the very beginning, our purpose was to be in relationship with God who is by his very nature relational.

Genesis 1:26 “Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness…”

Created for Love and Communion: We were created with a free will for the purpose of love. God is loving in his very nature, and he has created us to be self giving creatures to love Him and others.

Matthew 22:37-39 “And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

Created for Union with God: Our purpose is not merely to do things for God, but to be with God. It’s to know Christ. This gives meaning, which ultimately flows from a relationship with Him.

John 17:21-23 “that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me.”

Created for ReflectionCreated for Reflection: We are created to reflect God’s character and represent His goodness in creation.

Genesis 1:27 “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.”

What “Image of God” Truly Means

This identity as God’s image-bearers is the foundation of our purpose. To dive deeper into what this profound concept means, read:

Three Profound Truths About Being Made in the Image of God

Created for God’s Glory: God has created us to recognize his goodness and wisdom and power and reflect them in our lives.

Isaiah 43:7 “Everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made.”

We were created for good works: Our purpose is not to earn God’s favor by doing good works. It is to walk in the good which God has already prepared for us. This is discovered as we walk with God in an intimate relationship.

Ephesians 2:10 “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”

How True Purpose Changes Everything

When we know our true purpose, to be in relationship with God and reflect Him as image bearers, our lives fill with meaning. It’s almost like wandering lost through the desert to stumble upon a map to the nearest water source. Or driving in a rural area with no direction to gain cell service and a map loads. The direction of your life makes sense again. Then, even the smallest tasks gain significance. The paper you don’t care about may become a way to steward your mind and grow in wisdom and appreciation for how God has worked through history. A job you dislike may become a chance to serve others with excellence. A conversation becomes a sacred space to listen and love. When you live with your true purpose, nothing is meaningless anymore.

 

 

 

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