31 Jul Three Components of a Meaningful Life
THREE PIECES OF LIFE’S PUZZLE FOR PURPOSE AND MEANING
All truth is God’s truth. So “truth” is true, regardless of where it is found.
Victor Frankl was not a Christian as far as we know, but he was an astute observer of the human heart. A survivor of the Holocaust, he went on to have an historic impact as a neurologist and psychiatrist.
His book, Man’s Search for Meaning, is listed by the Library of Congress as one of the 10 most influential books in the United States, and has sold well over 10 million copies in 24 different languages.
Suffering physical torture as well as the psychological meaninglessness of life in a concentration camp, Frankl survived by believing that life has meaning under all circumstances, even the most miserable ones.
His teachings have been popularized and summarized as suggesting that there are three essential components to a life of meaning:
- Meaningful work
- A redemptive perspective on suffering
- Community
While Frankl’s perspective is not “gleaned from” the Bible, these three adaptations of his teaching have strong support in Scripture, as we will see. And, it is in living according to God’s truth that gives meaning to life here on earth, regardless of circumstances.
- Meaningful Work
God works. Jesus worked (John 5:17). We are created in His image (Genesis 1:27). Therefore, we work, and work is good. In fact, one of our purposes on earth is to work as God’s stewards to exercise dominion over creation (Genesis 1:26-28).
Certainly we work to make a living, but beyond that, we work as stewards under God to help make the world a good place to live. Whether it is ministry or vocation, our work has meaning to God and should have meaning for us.
Ephesians 2:10 says, “We are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.” Before we were ever created, God planned a lifetime of good works for us to do, including our jobs.
This meaning does not come from having a dream job. Rather, our meaning comes from serving God by doing the work He prepared for us. Even the work of a slave had meaning. A slave could serve Christ by serving his master (Colossians 3:22-24).
So, the first component in a life of meaning is “meaningful work.” While the work itself may not have great inherent meaning (a slave, for example), it is invested with meaning when we realize that we serve God by doing the work He prepared for us to do.
- Redemptive perspective on suffering.
The one thing that most conspicuously interferes with our natural definition of a meaningful life is suffering. Whether it is the challenge of mind-numbing work (repetitious assembly line work in “sweat shop” conditions) or a life-altering accident or disease, the single most common challenge to a sense of meaning in life is circumstances that make us feel that God has neglected us, forgotten us, or is even out to get us.
Yet, the Bible teaches that, not only is suffering not a sign of God’s rejection… but quite the opposite, it can be the avenue to His richest blessings. Trials are the avenue for becoming more like Christ, and the more like Christ we become, the more we can experience His love, joy and peace.
As James said, “Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing” (1:2-4).
When we cultivate an eternal perspective on our trials, grasping that they are the source of rich, eternal blessings that we cannot lose – compared to temporal blessings that we cannot keep – we begin to accept them for their eternal benefit rather than resenting them for their temporal liability.
“Easy for you to say!” you might think. “You don’t have to suffer the things that I have to suffer.” And, indeed, I might not. But I am going on Scripture plus the testimony of Christians who have suffered egregiously, but have also reached heights of spiritual experience not possible without the trials.
- Merrill Womack was burned mercilessly in a plane crash as a young man and his face and hands were grossly disfigured as a result. Yet, in a movie made about his life, he said that he was actually glad for the accident because of the blessings of God from the suffering.
- Joni Erickson-Tada broke her neck in a swimming accident as a teenager. Yet many decades later, she gives eloquent testimony of the surpassing grace of God in her life in the ensuing years.
- Chuck Colson went from the heights of political power in the Nixon administration to the depths of prison for obstruction of justice, losing power, prestige and wealth. He emerged a broken man, circumstantially. But spiritually the Lord transformed his life and made him one of the greatest Christian leaders of the 20thcentury in America. Colson often testified of his gratitude for God’s “severe mercy,” bringing blessings that were much greater than his losses.
These individuals not only give credence to the biblical teaching on God’s sufficient grace in the face of suffering, but also provide great examples of Frankl’s contention that the ultimate freedom of humans – a freedom which cannot be taken away – is their ability to choose how they will respond to bad circumstances.
With a redemptive perspective on our suffering, what I’ve often called an “eternal perspective”, we add the second component of a meaningful life. But we also sense a need for a third component to a meaningful life.
- Community
We are created by God to live in meaningful harmony with others. We are intended to be “Three Musketeers,” not “Lone Rangers.”
Because God lives in community, the Trinity, and since we are created in His image, we can only be completely fulfilled as we live in satisfying relationship with others.
God is love (1 John 4:8). We are created in His image. Our highest calling is to love God and our neighbor (Matthew 22:37-39). It is as Benjamin Disraeli said, “We are born for love. It is the principle of existence and its only end.”
To love God places us in community with Him. This makes it possible for us to also live in community with other Christians (John 17:22-23). This is why Jesus instructed us to “love one another” (John 13:34). In this, we achieve our highest pleasure in life.
We see the glory of “community” even in common situations:
- Weddings, in which two join together to become one.
- Celebrations of athletic contests in which teammates rejoice with one another over their victory.
- Successful military operations in which soldiers bond deeply with their fellow soldiers in life-and-death situations.
Even the world recognizes true community, the third of Frankl’s components of a meaningful life, as one of the richest life experiences possible.
Conclusion
Though Victor Frankl was not known as a Christian, his keen perception into the human heart, his ability to “observe God’s truth” and apply principles supported by Scripture, even in the midst of the horrifying experiences in a Holocaust concentration camp, and his ability to articulate and write about his observations in such a profound way have influenced millions and helped them gain greater meaning in life.
While these three components of Frankl’s may give anyone a more meaningful life here on this earth, God does not intend for that to be all there is. For the most part, I understand that I am writing to Christians in this blog, but it’s important for everyone to know that these principles will only take you so far… they will not take you to a relationship with God, which is where ultimate meaning is found. God has created us for Himself, and we will only find our ultimate meaning in Him.
As believers take to heart the biblical truths of (1) meaningful work, (2) a redemptive perspective on suffering and (3) the value of community, we can enter into the richness of life that God intends for us here on earth. But it is only for those who have entered into a relationship with Him through Christ that the hardships of this earth are not wasted and the blessings of God won’t end when life on this earth ends.
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