Scholarship Essay #2
When
you look back on your life in 30 years, what would it take for you to consider
your life successful? What people,
things and accomplishments do you need?
Regardless as to
whether or not one realizes it, no one can live their life purely by situational
ethics, on a case by case basis. One’s
actions, words and thoughts are all formed by the core principles that one
lives by. The principles that any person
chooses to live by are defined by how that person understands their
purpose. If one has not thought that
far, then at the very least, they will live by principles that ascribe to how
one understands his or her sense of what has meaning and what doesn’t. With that said, I hope to look back and see
that I have correctly understood my purpose in life, chosen well in regards to
valuing what is meaningful and lived consistently by principles that reflect my
understanding of purpose and my choosing to value what I perceive as
meaningful. I am a Christian. I make no apologies and I am not ashamed. It is my first and foremost expression of
purpose, meaning and principle.
I was made by God, for
God, to be in close relationship with Him and so, in regards to purpose, I was
made for God’s glory, that is, as the masterful painting brings the masterful
painter praise, so too is my purpose to bring God the same sort of
accolades. But I was also created for
God’s enjoyment, as the father enjoys his son, or his daughter, delighting in
them in a way that cannot be explained beyond love. My purpose is to be, by my nature, obedient
to God with my actions and affectionate to Him with my creativity and desire,
as the son who thinks that his father is the greatest thing ever in the whole
wide world. A childish way to phrase it,
but sometimes the simple way is the best way to name a thing. My purpose is to please and delight in God.
Understanding this as
my purpose, then I find meaningful the things in life that God finds
meaningful. This is not a mechanical response,
but rather, a response similar to that of a son who thinks the world of his
father and wants to walk like him, talk like him, dress like him, essentially,
to be him. Anyone, regardless of belief,
will approach meaning in this way, which is imitation, the forming of one’s
nature to be like the nature of that which is seen as meaningful according to
one’s understanding of his or her purpose in life. At the very least, the fool will imitate what
he or she perceives to be good and/or sensible.
Whether the reader is a Christian should not matter in regards to
understanding the logic of this response.
What is valued, what is seen as meaningful, what is treasured, there
will any man or woman’s heart be also.[1] This is not only found in the Bible, but also
in the familiar quote, “home is where the heart is.”[2]
My heart is steeped,
like a good cup of tea, in the things that have meaning to God. Keeping in mind then, my previously stated
purpose, it makes perfect sense that I, over the next thirty years, would
pursue those meaningful things. From the
pursuit of what is meaningful, as understood in accordance with my purpose in
life, come the principles by which I live.
Now a human father can easily tell his son what has meaning and what
does not, what is right and what is wrong, what is good and what is not, what
will last and what will not. Another
name for the Bible is the “Word of God.”
This is not some silly, artistic phrase for the sake of religious
aesthetic. It is infinitely practical. God, through the Bible, reveals to those who
see his “Word” as meaningful, what is right, what is good, what is true, the
principles by which I want to live, peace, love, joy, patience, perseverance,
faithfulness, trustworthiness, etc.
I want to look back
and see a life lived for a purpose, with meaning and by principle. I hope that I was a good father, a good
husband, a good brother, a good son, a good friend, all of these things. I believe now that I will be a pastor of a
church someday soon, but that is not an accomplishment that I feel I must
have. Rather, it is a choice pursued
because of how I understand myself, my sense of purpose, of meaning and of
principle. It does not matter what job I
do, as long as I remain true to my sense of these things. Whether a janitor or a professor, a
burger-flipper or a pastor, all jobs are equally important in that it how I do
what I do that matters more than what I do.
And after thirty years I hope that I will be the man of principle and
that my children and grandchildren will know that God loved the world so much
that He sent His one and only son to die for our sins and brokenness. And that whoever believes in Jesus will not
die, but have eternal life. And that
they will be men and women of purpose, meaning and principle. I need nothing else, want no other thing,
desire no greater accomplishment than to do these things and in doing so, show
others just how great and wonderful God is.
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