Victor Porton's Christian Weblog

As we are Christians, what is our goal of life? You'd could reply, to live for God, to serve Him in Christ. But what exactly this means? What is our concrete goal of life?

The answer which I reasoned as a result of Bible study and thinking is rather paradoxical. Our goal of life is to search the goal of life.

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Come to Bible study. It is what Bible says:
(Philip. 3)
12 Not that I have already obtained, or am already made perfect; but I press on, if it is so that I may take hold of that for which also I was taken hold of by Christ Jesus. 13 Brothers, I don't regard myself as yet having taken hold, but one thing I do. Forgetting the things which are behind, and stretching forward to the things which are before, 14 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. 15 Let us therefore, as many as are perfect, think this way. If in anything you think otherwise, God will also reveal that to you. 16 Nevertheless, to the extent that we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule. Let us be of the same mind.

Here Paul directed by Holy Spirit writes about his goal (purpose) of life. He writes I press toward..., the thing toward which Paul presses is his goal of life. So what is Paul's goal of life? The next word in this scripture is the goal (I press toward the goal). Paul presses toward the goal. So the goal of life of Paul is goal. That is the purpose of life of Paul is to find the purpose.

Yes, the purpose of our life is to find the purpose of life.

So following Paul we consider ourselves as not already reached the understanding of what is our purpose, but we seek the purpose of our life in new ways forgetting the old ways of understanding behind. (We have an answer to the question what is the purpose of life, to find the purpose, but we deem this not enough and continue to search for a more concrete purpose.)

So we are to live in a such a way to have a purpose. We forget the things behind (our old goals) and search for new goals which are before us, this is our main goal.

This our main goal is called the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. High calling in Christ Jesus, as I understand it, is life with no particular (concrete) purpose, but instead when we ourselves continually set before us new purposes. Again what is the prize, is it a payment for a job to which Paul is called? No, the prize is calling itself! That is for Paul prize is to have high calling (high goal). I believe that this is the best kind of life and the best prize, better than life for any particular purpose; the most valuable thing which we can obtain is a new good purpose of our life.
(Philip. 3) 15 Let us therefore, as many as are perfect, think this way. If in anything you think otherwise, God will also reveal that to you.

Paul says that he was already taken hold by Christ Jesus. This means that Christ Jesus already given him a purpose of life. Now it is the turn of Paul to take hold (obtain) a purpose, that is Paul himself to set a purpose before himself forgetting the old purposes and stretching forward to future purposes.

And until we have left our old purposes and raised to new purposes, (Philip. 3) 16 Nevertheless, to the extent that we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule. Let us be of the same mind. This implies that we are to reach our current purposes while we have not yet obtained new purposes.

Conclusion: Paul teaches in Holy Spirit that our purpose of life is to reach purpose of life (to not lose purpose of life but to have (some) purpose, to not be meaningless), life by this rule is what is called the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus, because it is not life with no purpose, not meaningless life.