It All Starts with God For everything, absolutely everything, 
above and below, visible and invisible, . . .
everything got started in him and 
finds its purpose in him.
Colossians 1:16 (Msg)
Unless you assume a God, the question 
of life’s purpose is meaningless.
Bertrand Russell, atheist
It’s not about you. 
The purpose of your life is far greater than your own personal
fulfillment, your peace of mind, or even your happiness. It’s far
greater than your family, your career, or even your wildest dreams
and ambitions. If you want to know why you were placed on this
planet, you must begin with God. You were born by his purpose
and for his purpose.
The search for the purpose of life has puzzled people for
thousands of years. That’s because we typically begin at the
wrong starting point—ourselves. We ask self-centered questions
like What do I want to be? What should 
I do with my life? What
are my goals, my ambitions, my dreams for my future? But
focusing on ourselves will never reveal our life’s purpose. The What on Earth Am I Here For? 17
Bible says, “It is God who directs the lives of his creatures; everyone’s
life is in his power.” 1
Contrary to what many popular books, movies, and seminars
tell you, you won’t discover your life’s meaning by looking
within yourself. You’ve probably
tried that already. You didn’t create
yourself, so there is no way you
can tell yourself what you were
created for! If I handed you an
invention you had never seen
before, you wouldn’t know its
purpose, and the invention itself wouldn’t be able to tell you
either. Only the creator or the owner’s manual could reveal its
purpose. 
I once got lost in the mountains. When I stopped to ask for
directions to the campsite, I was told, “You can’t get there from
here. You must start from the other side of the mountain!” In the
same way, you cannot arrive at your life’s purpose by starting with
a focus on yourself. You must begin with God, your Creator. You
exist only because God wills that you exist. You were made by
God and for God—and until you understand that, life will never
make sense. It is only in God that we discover our origin, our
identity, our meaning, our purpose, our significance, and our
destiny. Every other path leads to a dead end.
Many people try to use God for their own self-actualization,
but that is a reversal of nature and is doomed to failure. You
were made for God, not vice versa, and life is about letting God
use you for his purposes, not your using him for your own
purpose. The Bible says, “Obsession with self in these matters is a
dead end; attention to God leads us out into the open, into a
spacious, free life.” 2
I have read many books that suggest ways to discover the
purpose of my life. All of them could be classified as “self-help”
books because they approach the subject from a self-centered
The Purpose-Driven Life 18
Focusing on ourselves will 
never reveal our life’s purpose. 
viewpoint. Self-help books, even Christian ones, usually offer the
same predictable steps to finding your life’s purpose: Consider
your dreams. Clarify your values. Set some goals. Figure out what
you are good at. Aim high. Go for it! Be disciplined. Believe you
can achieve your goals. Involve others. Never give up.
Of course, these recommendations often lead to great success.
You can usually succeed in reaching a goal if you put your mind
to it. But being successful and fulfilling your life’s purpose are not
at all the same issue! You could reach all your personal goals,
becoming a raving success by the world’s standard, and still miss
the purposes for which God created you. You need more than
self-help advice. The Bible says, “Self-help is no help at all. Selfsacrifice is the way, my way, to finding yourself, your true self.” 3
This is not a self-help book. It is not about finding the right
career, achieving your dreams, or planning your life. It is not about
how to cram more activities into an overloaded schedule. Actually,
it will teach you how to do less in life—by focusing on what
matters most. It is about becoming what God created you to be. 
How, then, do you discover the purpose you were created for?
You have only two options. Your first option is speculation. This is
what most people choose. They conjecture, they guess, they
theorize. When people say, “I’ve
always thought life is . . . ,” they
mean, “This is the best guess I can
come up with.”
For thousands of years, brilliant
philosophers have discussed and
speculated about the meaning of
life. Philosophy is an important
subject and has its uses, but when it comes to determining the
purpose of life, even the wisest philosophers are just guessing.
Dr. Hugh Moorhead, a philosophy professor at Northeastern
Illinois University, once wrote to 250 of the best-known
philosophers, scientists, writers, and intellectuals in the world,
What on Earth Am I Here For? 19
You were made by God and for
God—and until you understand
that, life will never make sense. 
asking them, “What is the meaning of life?” He then published
their responses in a book. Some offered their best guesses, some
admitted that they just made up a purpose for life, and others
were honest enough to say they were clueless. In fact, a number
of famous intellectuals asked Professor Moorhead to write back
and tell them if he discovered the purpose of life!4