What Is Life All About? (For Grads… and the Rest of Us)

Pastor Brett

May 4, 2025

What Is Life All About? (For Grads… and the Rest of Us)

It’s Grad Sunday, so it’s natural to talk about the future: college, jobs, plans, dreams.

But underneath all of that is a bigger question every one of us has to answer—whether you’re 18 or 80:

What is my life actually for?

If we don’t know the answer, we’ll inevitably live for less than we were made for—like using a chainsaw as a hammer or a laptop as a paperweight. It might “work” in some way, but it’s a tragic waste of design.

Jesus has a clear, simple, and demanding answer.

1. The Purpose of Life: Love God Fully, Love People Fully

In Matthew 22:34–40, Jesus is asked a big question:

“Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”

His answer is basically:
“Here’s what life is all about.”

“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind…
And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself.
All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

According to Jesus, the purpose of your life is not:

Your career
Your accomplishments
Your marriage or family
Your reputation or status
Your income, followers, or what people think of you
“Doing what makes you happy”

Those things matter—but they’re not the point.

You were created to love God completely and to love people completely.

That means:

Every part of your life is meant to be saturated with love for God
- Work and school
- Friendships and family
- The way you spend money, time, and attention
- Even the “boring” stuff—washing dishes, going to class, doing chores
And that love for God overflows into how you treat people
- Friends and strangers
- Neighbors and enemies
- The people you naturally like and the people you naturally avoid

You don’t need to become a pastor or missionary for your life to “count.”
You just need to live your actual life—school, work, home, hobbies—in a way that loves God and loves people.

This Week: Live Your Purpose on Purpose

Here are a few practical ways to lean into that:

Do a 10-minute purpose audit.
- Take a sheet of paper.
- Write three headings: School/Work, Home, Friends/Free Time.
- Under each, answer honestly: “How am I loving God here?”
  “How am I loving people here?”
- Circle one area that needs the most change.
Pick one concrete act of love for God.
- Example:
  - Start each day this week with a simple prayer: “God, help me love You and love people today.”
  - Spend 5–10 minutes in Scripture (start in Matthew 22 or Ephesians 2).
Pick one concrete act of love for people.
- Text someone you’ve been distant from and encourage them.
- Serve at home without being asked.
- Choose to forgive, not retaliate, in one situation.

Small, intentional steps in everyday life are how purpose actually takes shape.

2. The Power to Live: You Can’t Do This Without Jesus

At this point, if you’re honest, Jesus’ command should feel… impossible.

“Love God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind.”

Every motive?
Every thought?
Every interaction with people?

We don’t do that.
We can’t do that on our own.

The Bible is blunt about it:

We’re spiritually dead in our sins (Ephesians 2:1–3).
We’re broken “mirrors”—made to reflect God, but cracked and distorted.
We don’t naturally love God or others the way we were designed to.

So the answer is not:

“Just try harder. Be a better person. Push yourself.”

The answer is Jesus.

He is the only human who has ever perfectly loved God and perfectly loved people.
He is the true image of God—the fully human life we were meant to live but don’t.
Through His life, death, and resurrection, He doesn’t just forgive us—He makes us alive.

“It is by grace you have been saved, through faith… not by works…” (Ephesians 2:8–9)
“I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me…” (Galatians 2:20)

That means:

Your identity, worth, and value are not built on your performance.
When you trust in Jesus, He gives you a new heart and His Spirit.
He doesn’t just show you your purpose—He gives you power to walk in it.

And only a purpose rooted in Him can withstand real life.

Sports end.
Jobs disappear.
Friends change.
Health fails.
Family can be ripped away in heartbreaking ways.

If your ultimate purpose is in any of those things, your life will collapse when they collapse.

Jesus is the only foundation that can handle the weight of reality.

This Week: Build on the Right Foundation

If you’ve never trusted Jesus:
- Talk to Him honestly: “Jesus, I admit I’m broken and sinful. I’ve lived for lesser purposes. I believe You died and rose again to save me. I trust You as Lord and ask You to make me new.”
- Tell a trusted believer or pastor and ask about next steps (baptism, discipleship, community).
If you’re already a believer:
- Ask: “Where am I leaning on something other than Jesus as my real foundation?”
- Name it: a relationship, achievement, comfort, image, or success.
- Pray: “Jesus, I want You—not this—to be my foundation. Help me reorder my priorities.”
Post a reminder where you’ll see it:
- Write on a sticky note: “Only Jesus holds when life doesn’t.”
- Put it on your mirror, laptop, or dashboard.

3. The Prowling Lion: Don’t Sleep Through Your Calling

There’s one more piece to this:

There is an enemy who does not want you living out this purpose.

1 Peter 5:8 says:

“Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.”

His strategy has two phases:

If you don’t know Jesus yet:
- Keep you blind, distracted, comfortable, and uninterested in God.
If you do know Jesus:
- Distract you so much that you never actually live out your purpose.

In some parts of the world, he uses persecution and suffering.
Here, more often, he uses distraction.

Not all distraction is evil, but it’s dangerous when:

Entertainment becomes an “every spare minute” habit.
Phones are always in our hands—even when we’re with people.
Streaming, scrolling, and gaming get our best energy, and God gets our leftovers.
We fill our minds with endless content, but never slow down enough to ask, “What is my life actually for?”

Like the Romans with “bread and circuses,” we can give away our purpose one show, one scroll, one distraction at a time—never realizing how much we’ve lost.

The enemy doesn’t mind you being “happy” and entertained, as long as you’re spiritually asleep.

This Week: Wake Up on Purpose

Be honest about your distractions.
- Where do your time and attention really go?
- Track one day this week:
  - How much time on social media?
  - How much time streaming?
  - How much time in Scripture, prayer, or intentional conversation?
Choose one simple “fast.”
For the next 7 days, consider:
- No screens for the first 30 minutes after you wake up.
- No phone during meals.
- One night this week with no TV/streaming—use that time to talk to God, read, or encourage someone.
Replace distraction with devotion.
- Use the time you free up to:
  - Read a chapter of Scripture.
  - Journal one way you can love God and people that day.
  - Have a real, device-free conversation with someone.

Don’t Settle for Less Than What You Were Made For

Graduates:
You have the rest of your life ahead of you.
Don’t waste it chasing purposes that can’t hold the weight of your soul.

Everyone else:
You also have the rest of your life ahead of you—however long that is.
You’re not done. You can still live with purpose starting now.

Your purpose: Love God fully. Love people fully.
Your power: Jesus in you, not you trying harder.
Your threat: A prowling enemy who would love to distract you into a wasted life.

So this week, pray something like this:

“Lord, don’t let me live for less than what You made me for.
Help me love You and love people in everything I do.
Jesus, be my foundation, my purpose, and my power.”

You were not made for a small, distracted, self-centered life.

You were made to know God, reflect God, and point people to God—
for the rest of your life, starting today.

Brett Kirk