Why Are We Here?
Q: Why are we here? What is our purpose?
A: To fulfill the Creator’s will.
We Begin With Purpose
Before we begin talking about the problems in the world—or in ourselves—we have to go back to something older, deeper, and more foundational: God’s purpose. If we skip this step, we end up trying to fix what’s broken without ever asking why it exists in the first place. And that never works.
This series doesn’t start with sin, suffering, or salvation. It starts with a more fundamental question:
Why is there anything at all?
More specifically: why are we here? Not just humans in general, but you. Me. The universe.
Because if we’re just accidents in a cold cosmos—collisions of particles with no Author behind them—then nothing really matters. Meaning, morality, love, hope, even truth itself all become illusions. A cosmic joke with no punchline.
But if we were created—intentionally, lovingly, with purpose—then everything changes. Your life isn’t random. The world isn’t meaningless. And the things you feel in your soul—that longing for something more, the hunger for purpose—they’re not just emotional static. They’re signals.
And they point us back to something (or Someone) greater.
“We begin not with our problems, but with God’s purpose.”
— Theologian Francis Schaeffer (paraphrased)
The Creator’s Intent
Purpose doesn’t come from within creation—it flows from the One who created it.
That’s true for trees and galaxies. It’s also true for human beings. We don’t invent our own meaning like children scribbling on the wall. We discover our meaning by asking the only One who knows why we’re here: the One who made us.
“Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created.”
— Revelation 4:11 (ESV)
Long before you were born—long before the universe had shape or stars or time—God had a plan.
“…He chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love…”
— Ephesians 1:4 (ESV)
That’s not poetic sentiment. That’s revelation. It means this world isn’t a mistake. And neither are you.
You Are Here on Purpose
God doesn’t create randomly. He’s not an artist flinging paint at a wall to see what sticks. He’s a master builder, a divine composer, a Father creating a family. And His plan didn’t begin when the first humans sinned—it began before the foundation of the world.
We were made to reflect Him. To know Him. To live with Him in a love that changes us.
This is the true starting point for understanding anything:
We exist because God wills it.
We matter because He made us to.
We are here because we were meant to be.
Key Takeaways from This Essay
• Our existence is not accidental. We were created by a personal God with a specific purpose. • Purpose flows from the Creator. We don’t define our own meaning—we discover it through God’s revelation. • God’s plan preceded creation. His design for us was established before the world began. • True understanding begins with God’s intention, not human problems.
Key Questions to Consider
1. Have you ever paused to ask, “Why do I exist?” 2. What difference does it make if you were created intentionally rather than by accident? 3. Where do you tend to look for meaning—within yourself, or beyond yourself? 4. How might your life change if you truly believed you were here on purpose?
Next Step: Essay 1.10 — “The Problem of Being”
If we exist on purpose, that raises an even deeper question: why is there anything at all? The next step takes us into the strangeness of existence itself—and what it tells us about the nature of reality, and the God who speaks it into being.
⬅️ Previous Expedition • Next Expedition ➡️