*NOTE: We had some issues with the audio for this episode. Thanks for bearing with us.

Everyone wants their life to have meaning and significance. But how do we accomplish this? The Bible states every human life is created in God’s image and is of infinite value (Gen. 1: 27). Therefore, our “meaning” results from us cultivating an intimate relationship with God. And that relationship is based on knowing, serving, and worshipping him. 

0:00 – Binmin introduction

0:14 – Welcome and introductions

2:20 – A worldview is how you perceive the world. It’s how you take in the data of life, interpret it, think about it, make decisions and then act.

2:40 – A worldview answers six important topics remembered by the mnemonic: “G.O. H.O.M.E.”

G is for God 

O is for Origin 

H is for Humanity

O is for “Ought” (Morality)

M is for Meaning

E is for End (Destiny) 

3:44 – Everyone wants their lives to have a meaning. Many people seek it in appearance (fitness, beauty), job title (or job success), money or possessions, sexual conquests, power.

4:26 – King Solomon, who “had it all,” wisely summed up such a self-centered approach as pure vanity, “Vanity of vanities…all is vanity” (Ecclesiastes 1:2). 

4:55 – Even selfless efforts for caring for others or bringing justice don’t fully accomplish our purpose when we make them ultimate!

5:24 – A Christian would define the meaning of life differently because God created humans in his image (Gen. 1:26-28). We find our greatest joy in life by intimately knowing, serving, and worshipping him.

5:52 – But since Adam and Eve’s rebellion, sinful humans do not naturally seek an intimate relationship with God or want to worship him.

6:55 – Our meaning is knowing, serving, and worshipping God. 

7:00 – Saint Augustine said, “Our hearts are restless until they rest in You” because “You have made us for Yourself.”

7:25 – After being restored to God, we can find our supreme satisfaction by following Christ’s command: loving him with all our hearts, souls, and minds and our neighbors as ourselves. That’s how Jesus sums up the whole law and our purpose (Matt. 22:37-39).

8:12 – Proof of this reality is evident in our lives whenever we experience dissatisfaction with what we thought would please us. Blaise Pascal wrote in the Pensees about a God-shaped vacuum (an “infinite abyss”)  in our hearts (Pensees, sec. 148).

10:33 – Distractions such as technology and entertainment continually try to fill this God-shaped vacuum, leaving us less time with God. 

11:47 – For non-Christians, there can be two extremes. One is the distraction with technology and entertainment. The other can consist of being in despair because my life has no meaning. 

12:46 – Romans 12:1-3. It covers all of these facets of “knowing, serving, and worshiping God!” How we use our bodies to serve God and others all the time is our constant 24/7 worship!

13:36 – Romans 12:1-3 continues…  We get to “test out” how good God’s will is for us is by doing it every day!

14:28 – Knowing God means to be in an intimate love-relationship with Him (John 17:3), not just to know “about” him. 

17:22 – Serving God means giving our lives away for God and others like Jesus, who “came not to be served but to serve” (Mark 10:45).

18:22 – Worshiping God includes Sunday worship at a local church, but it also involves “responding to God’s worth” in love with “all of our hearts, souls and minds” (Matt. 22:37). 

20:08 – Practical Implications for finding meaning: 

• Know God more: Spend some extra time this week reading his Word.

• Serve him more: Find someone you can ask to pray for this week.
• Worship him more: Before a mundane task, pray and tell God: “God, I am going to worship you as I do this: Thanks for letting me do this, I do it for your glory.” 

21:57 – Bob’s experience reading 1 John 2:17— Loving Jesus makes us more deeply happy than anything else because only Jesus brings real meaning to our lives.

23:57 – Thank you and wrap up