According to Christ, the greatest commandment is to "love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength" (Mark 12:30).
How are we to love God? What exactly does that mean?
The apostle John tells us that love for God is to obey Him (1 John 5:3). Jesus is God in the flesh (John 1) and He informs us that if we love Him, we will obey His commands (John 14:23). Obedience to God is the demonstration of our love for Him.
However, the Bible tells us that there is no one who seeks after God (Rom 3:10-12). All of us have fallen short of God's mark of perfection (Rom 3:23). In so doing, we have made ourselves enemies of God. Fortunately, God demonstrated His love for us in that while we were His enemies, Christ died for us (Rom 5:8-10). The Bible says that while we all deserve death, God has offered us the gift of life through Christ Jesus (Rom 6:23).
If you haven't accepted God's forgiveness through His only Son, Jesus Christ, Jesus Himself claims that this is the only way to heaven (John 14:6). The Bible tells us that if you confess with your mouth that Jesus Christ is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved (Rom 10:9-10). God will then transform you, and you will then know how to truly love (1 John 4).
God bless you as you seek His will.
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The purpose of our existence as human beings is to serve our Lord and Creator in a manner which pleases Him. God (Allah) says in the Qur'an, "I did not create jinn and mankind except that they should worship Me." (51:56). Worship or service is understood as submission to God by sticking to His Commandments while doing so in the manner He prescribed and is pleased with.
This worship is the exclusive right of God, due to His bringing us into existence and providing our sustenance. God says in the Qur'an, "O mankind! Worship your Lord, Who created you and those who were before you so that you may become pious. Who has made the earth a resting place for you, and the sky as a canopy, and send down water (rain) from the sky and brought forth therewith fruits as a provision for you. Then do not set up rivals unto God(in worship) while you know (that He Alone has the right to be worshiped)." (2:21-22)
We as human beings are not here without any purpose, obligation or accountability. On the contrary, our lives have value and we will be held accountable to how we lived them in fulfillment of the purpose of our existence. God says in the Qur'an, "Did you think that We had created you in play (without any purpose), and that you would not be brought back to Us?" (23: 115).
As for why God did all this, He says in the Qur'an, "And your Lord creates whatever He wills and chooses." (28:68) and "And God does whatever He wills." (14:27). For further details, please read this article.
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Why is a BIG question and the yoga system gives a comprehensive answer to this perennial question for all people at all times. This is not a new question. It is the question that is in the mind and hearts of all sentient beings past, present and future.
Descartes said, 'I think, therefore I am' - another way of saying this is that I am aware and therefore I exist. In the Vedic world view three words describe the conscious state of being. These words are Sat, Chit and Ananda. Sat means eternal or the state of existence/permanance as opposed to non-existence/impermanance. Chit refers to the cognitive part of existence. If you are aware, you must exist. But the converse isn't necessarily true - something can exist but not be aware. The third descriptive word is Ananda - which means joy or bliss. If Happiness is there, then congnition must be present and existence as well. But awareness and congnition can exist without joy.
Getting to the BIG why question - we exist for joy - but that joy cannot be realized independently. Real joy requires relationship - love. To be succinct - we exist for God's/Krsna's joy. Visvam purnam sukayate - the world is an abode of joy. It and all that is in it exists for the joy and play of God.
So - the purpose becomes obvious - yoga means to 'link up' with God. What is that link - yes we are conscious - but do we love? Do we have a conscious loving relationship with our origin? Without such our purpose remains an unfulfilled potential. Our purpose is to love and we can only find the full expression of that love in relation to the Lord of Love. The Supreme Lover. In love we sacrifice of ourselves and we give ourselves - that is the natural expression of love. But where can we find the lover who can take from us unlimitedly? Whose capacity for reciprocation knows no bounds? It is that person who we should seek out and it is in relation to that person where we will find our inner hankerings fulfilled.
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Naturalists conclude that you are the accidental byproduct of an indifferent mechanical universe. But because of all these countless twists of fate, you have come to exist as a conscious, intelligent, value-assigning human being capable of knowing and inspiring happiness. For that very reason you have the power and the prerogative to assign purpose to your own life.
No one outside of you can define your purpose for you. In fact, that is logically impossible. Suppose a mad scientist created you (or a God, it's all the same thing) and told you "Your purpose is to fold napkins" or "Your purpose is to suffer eternal torment so your misery will scare some other people into being good." Would you be happy about that? Not really.
This scientist (or God) could only assign you a purpose that would satisfy you if you were already predisposed to desire that purpose and really like it a lot. Otherwise, any purpose assigned to you would be eternally disappointing, and ultimately a cruel torment. You would be a mere tool of some alien scheme which you would find no enjoyment or interest in serving.
Therefore, since the only way a worthwhile purpose could be assigned to you from outside is if you already like pursuing that end in life, it follows that you don't need that purpose assigned to you from outside: for you already have the desire to pursue that purpose yourself. Therefore, there is no possible answer to the question "What is my purpose?" that you would ever want to be true, except your own answer. What is it that you want most above all things? That is the question you must answer for yourself.
Naturalists have come to the following conclusion about this. Because of our nature as evolved, social animals in a particular material universe, there is nothing we want more than our own genuine happiness, which is not mere pleasure but an intellectual and emotional contentment with life.
This is easily demonstrated by the fact that you would never want an eternity of pleasure without intellectual and emotional contentment, but you would certainly prefer to that an eternity of intellectual and emotional contentment without pleasure. Of course, ideally we want both. But you must never lose sight of what by nature you will always want more: contentment.
Because we evolved to become social animals possessed of a consciousness which makes us aware of the feelings of others, intellectual and emotional contentment is only possible for us in a well-ordered society (or neighborhood or group) of mutual goodwill, compassion, and friendship. To approach any true contentment in life you will also have to become aware of others, which means you will find greater contentment in your own life when you make it possible for more people to seek greater contentment in their lives as well.
Therefore, as a consequence of our innate biology and psychology, which is ours by birth, Naturalists conclude that our highest purpose in life is to seek intellectual and emotional contentment, which entails living a good life as well as undertaking at least some effort to increase the number of others who can also achieve this, both in our lifetime, and after we are gone. All this entails that the only consistently satisfying life will be a self-examined life lived in pursuit of wisdom, contentment, health, and friendship, which also improves the world at least a little bit for others.
Naturalists believe this is our purpose for the simple reason that there is nothing we would ever want more out of life, if we examined everything and thought it all through. It is the only purpose that will ultimately satisfy us. And this would be true even if God existed and made us for some other purpose all his own. For that purpose would be incapable of satisfying us as conscious beings, unless it led to our intellectual and emotional contentment. Therefore, God's purpose would have to be the same purpose we would already choose for ourselves, or else it would not be a purpose any human being would want to serve.
For more on the meaning of life, see the following Secular Web Library: Meaning without God
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