What Charlie taught about purpose
Three questions: how did I get here, why am I here, where am I going. His answer to the middle one was to love God and love people.
“Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.”
Matthew 22:37-39 (KJV)
“How did I get here? Well, we know how we got here. We're created in the image of God. We know that, that God created the heavens and the earth. We know why we are here, which is to love God and love people, create disciples of all nation and to know Jesus and to make him known. And hopefully we know where we're going. So we answer all three rather easily.”
Charlie believed purpose was not a mystery. Speaking at an educators' summit, he reduced the search for meaning to three questions: how did I get here, why am I here, and where am I going. He said a student who can answer them is in far better shape than one who has only learned skills.
For a Christian, he said, the answers come easily. We are created in the image of God, and God made the heavens and the earth. We know why we are here: to love God and love people, to make disciples, to know Jesus and make him known. And we hope to know where we are going.
“But the majority of my life's work is actually the purpose question. Why are you here? What do we do? And why do we do it?… I am here to love God, love people, know Jesus, and to make him known. That is my life's work.”
“Or my favorite one is, the world is better because you're in it. Now, that might sound like a good message, but in reality, it should be a question. Is the world better because you're in it? Right? And so, it should be a question. It has the world become a better place because of you… I believe a people that is not dedicated to service is a very depressed people. It's not always about you.”
He was honest about where his own work sat. He said the majority of his life's work was the middle question: why are you here, what do we do, and why do we do it. And he put his own answer in one line: I am here to love God, love people, know Jesus and make him known.
He also pushed back on a slogan he had seen, that the world is better because you're in it. That might sound good, he said, but it should be a question: has the world become a better place because of you? Purpose, in his telling, is aimed outward. He called a people not dedicated to service a very depressed people, and reminded them it's not always about you.
Jesus compressed the whole law into two commands, love God and love your neighbor. Charlie's answer to why you are here is the same two commands, made personal. You will not find purpose by staring at yourself. You will find it by loving the next person God puts in front of you.
Living it today
Write your own one-line answer to why you are here, in the shape of his: to love God, to love someone specific, and to do one useful thing. Then do one small piece of it before bed tonight.
A prayer
Father, you made me and you know why. Show me what you made me for, and keep me from living only for myself. Let me love you first and love the people near me well, and let the world be a little better for it. Amen.