To have subjective meaning in life is to:
- have an ultimate vision or direction or sense of purpose for your life,
- believe that this vision/direction/purpose is important and worthy of pursuit,
- have emotional satisfaction, or a feeling of fulfilment, in the pursuit of the vision/direction/purpose, and
- be willing to sacrifice most other things (if not all) to achieve, or remain pursuing, the vision/direction/purpose.
On the other hand, to have objective meaning in life is to have been made by God for a purpose, whether or not you’re aware of this.
Now, there are five possible scenarios:
- You lack both subjective and objective meaning.
- You have subjective meaning but lack objective meaning.
- You have objective meaning but lack subjective meaning.
- You have both subjective and objective meaning, but their vision/direction/purposes differ.
- You have both subjective and objective meaning, and their vision/direction/purposes are identical.
The good news is that God exists and has created each and every one of us for a purpose. First, although I’ve defended God’s existence elsewhere (see my book The Kalām Cosmological Argument: A Reassessment (2018) and my chapter "Perfect and Worthy of Worship" in Handbook of Philosophy and Religion (2022)), the witness of the Holy Spirit is sufficient for producing justified beliefs about God in us, and I – along with countless other believers – find Christianity (with the view that the Bible is God’s Word) to be intuitively true and more intuitive than some obvious moral propositions (such as that murder is wrong). So, God exists, the gospel about Jesus Christ is true, and the Bible contains God’s message to us.
Second, God created you for a reason, for a purpose. Usually, us humans create things for a purpose: we create houses to shelter us, cars to transport us, art to please us. How much more, then, would God – who is a maximally great being and is all-loving, all-knowing, and all-powerful – create humans for a purpose? Indeed, nature testifies to this; wherever you look, natural things (e.g., stars, air, water, cattle, insects, etc.) appear to find a meaningful place in the world and serve a purpose in the “circle of life”. We see this also in the first chapter of Genesis: God creates the firmaments in the waters for the purpose of dividing the waters; and plants for the purpose of yielding fruits and seeds; and the stars for the purpose of dividing day from night, and for signs and seasons, and for providing light to the earth; and fish and birds and land creatures to be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth; and so on. The message of nature and Scripture is clear: God creates things for purposes, and, thus, He created you for a purpose.
Therefore, scenarios A and B above are ruled out, and it turns out that there are only three possible scenarios: C, D, and E.
The bad news, however, is that, for most people, either C or D is true. Many people are living as if their lives lack meaning (even though their lives do have objective meaning) because they either don’t believe their lives are objectively meaningful, or they are clueless as to what the objective meaning in their lives is. On the other hand, many people have adopted subjective meaning that is inconsistent with their lives’ objective meaning; they find meaning in the wrong things, such as advocating for legalising abortion, or pursuing authoritarianism, or chasing wealth at any cost. Either way, the situation is sad; our lives are dripping with objective meaning, and we should be soaking this up and living accordingly.
But this raises the question, Where should you find meaning for your life? How should you discover what your life’s purpose or objective meaning is? To what should you turn for help in uncovering your life’s meaning?
Well, you have two options:
- Find meaning in God, your Creator, the One who gives your life meaning and who created you for a purpose.
- Find meaning outside of God, in things that neither made you nor determine your purpose, in things such as careers, passions, ministries, hobbies, dreams, counselling, therapy, self-help books, or relationships.
Which of the two options above exhibit the most wisdom, the most reason, the most intelligence? The answer is obvious: the first option because it takes you directly to the source of your life’s meaning and purpose. Frankly, it is foolish to try find these outside of God.
But this raises another question: How do you find meaning in God? Well, you should do two things:
- Pray. Pray (or speak to God) when you feel like it, and when you don’t; pray when you have time, and when you don’t; pray as much as you can to form a strong relationship with God, to learn His voice, and to discuss your life with Him.
- Read the Bible. Read it when you feel like it, and when you don’t; read it when you have time, and when you don’t; read it deeply, and widely, and carefully, and sincerely, to learn what it says about why God made you and how you were made to live.
It is that simple, my friend.