Knowing Why

“For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world—to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.”  John 18:37b  ESV

This purpose – “When a person can’t find a deep sense of meaning, they distract themselves with pleasure.” – Victor E. Frankl.

With Frankl’s citation in mind, you might want to review our previous examination of this particular verse (CLICK HERE) .  We looked at the implied idea of a lifetime purpose; implied because the Greek text doesn’t actually include the English “purpose,” but we know that this is what’s meant.  And that fact, that Yeshua could summarize the objective of his entire life in just a single thought, makes most of us uncomfortable.  We have a hard time summarizing what we’re all about, what is the one thing that makes us who we are.  Victor Frankl’s insight is an apt description.  Pleasure substitutes for purpose in order to cover up pain.  I’d rather not think about it.

Perhaps it’s a matter of age.  Yeshua was about 30.  Full of purpose.  Destined for something great.  Maybe we all experience that sense of conviction and dedication when we haven’t yet lived a lifetime.  But wait another decade or two or three.  Things are different at 60.  Very different at 80.  Perhaps we’re more like Abraham than Yeshua.  He started out well.  Obedient.  Steadfast.  Resolved when the call came.  Off he went, trusting YHVH.  Until life got in the way.  A famine changed his commitment.  A child altered his allegiance.  And decades went by.  Decades of routines, of family conflict, of doing his best to make it through the night.  Until the next call—the final call—the one that put everything back into perspective.  “Please take now your son, your only son, whom you love, Isaac, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I will tell you” (You’ll noticed I’ve added the necessary “please” to this translation.  See THIS).  And Abraham responds—immediately.  We’re back to the beginning, to that one moment when total commitment removes all the other distractions.  Abraham embraces the pain because, at last, life has direction again.  He just had to wait eighty years.

Maybe that’s the secret.  Wait!  For years—decades—a lifetime.  If you aren’t lucky enough to die at the height of your early purpose, then maybe it will come around again.  “Sometimes a man can meet his destiny on the road he took to avoid it.”  Yes, sometimes.  But in the meanwhile, we need Luzzatto.  Discipline.  The recognition that pleasure might be distraction may be enough to keep us vigilant, looking for the call that re-centers our existence.  If you’ve passed the half-century mark, Frankl’s citation  becomes even more important.  A deep sense of meaning is what’s missing.  Once we thought we knew what it was—and when we got there we realized it had to be more.  We’re waiting for God’s “Please . . .”

Topical Index: purpose, please, distraction, pleasure, John 18:37b