Growing up, I lived in great fear of my abusive father. His treatment convinced me that I was unwanted, that I was a burden hardly worth being tolerated. By age 15, this led me to become very embittered and depressed. I felt rejected and covered up my loneliness and pain with a protective mask of anger.
Void of love and acceptance, I often questioned why I was alive, and whether my life even mattered. Somewhere deep inside, I longed to know that there was more to life than the hard, angry world that surrounded me. When I found the answer to these questions, I was radically and forever changed.
The dead, lonely end of the world led me to …
As I grasped for purpose, my natural inclination was to turn towards what the world offered. So I sought my identity through sports and girls. I chased fulfillment through alcohol and drugs and found a temporary escape through music. Of course, the relief never lasted long. I kept trying to convince myself that these worldly pursuits would help me, when in fact they left me feeling more confused about my purpose in life—endlessly caught in a dangerous cycle of addiction that only left me empty.
At the end of myself, I finally looked to God
For years, as I nursed my anger and bitterness against God and other people, I ignored the efforts of those who tried to share the Good News with me. But I eventually found myself desperate for something—anything—that could help me make sense of my life. And that desperation led me to reconsider the gospel I had distanced myself from.
From a point of despair, I was drawn to the rich promise Jesus makes, of a life of fulfillment and complete satisfaction in Him. I longed to experience that in my own life—to have a taste of the water that wells up to eternal life (John 4:12-14). Finally, at age 16, I received Christ into my life and began a life-long process of learning how Jesus is the source of life and the answer to my quest for purpose.
A new creation in the same circumstances
However, once I accepted Jesus, my circumstances remained the same. Drugs and alcohol still beckoned me. My father was still abusive and offered nothing resembling love or acceptance. Yet, while my circumstances remained unchanged, things couldn’t have been more different on the inside.
The difference lay in the reality that I no longer felt imprisoned by the situation I was in. Since Jesus had saved me from the confines of sin, He welcomed me as an adopted child, offering the unconditional love and acceptance that I had been so desperate for (1 John 3:1). Through redemption, He gave me hope for a life outside the traps of fear and cycles of addiction.
Though accepting Christ wasn’t a quick fix for all my problems, it cut to the core of many of the deep struggles I had about identity and purpose. God taught me how to overcome the lures of temptation and how to find Him and His purpose for me in His Word (Colossians 1:16), and His purposes!
How God is still helping me understand my purpose
As I continue my journey as a Christian, God is constantly exposing ways that I rely on things apart from Him to understand my place in this world. Recently, I’ve had to work through the temptation to look to the applause of men for affirmation of the work I do in church. Instead of looking to others, I remind myself that in trying to make sense of who I am, or what I do, I must look to Christ. Because Christ is the reason I am. He is the one who sacrificed His own life—to offer us a way to come back into a relationship with the very One who created us.
When we get caught up in the busyness of life, there are a thousand ways to lose sight of this. To carefully re-center my thoughts when I find myself straying, I’ve started a practice of pausing and praying. I ask God to silence the loud noise of my surroundings, which only offers loud, false hope. I ask Him to help me listen to His still, small voice that calls me to Him. In these moments, I’m reminded that God is all I have ever needed or longed for. Even if briefly, I can be still and rest in knowing that He is God (Psalm 16:10).
And this helps me remember one of the freedoms we have in Christ—freedom from the pursuit of seeking satisfaction from the things of this earth, from being failed by jobs and relationships, or whatever else we are tempted to define ourselves by. I have found peace in knowing that true eternal satisfaction is found in praising and worshiping God.
It’s my hope that I can encourage others to find hope in the freedom Christ offers—freedom that allows us to turn from self-indulgent pursuits, and to worship God freely with grateful hearts and satisfied souls.