What's the Point of Living?
By Jess (Monash Uni)
It was getting dark and I sat alone behind the big pillar outside the State Library. School had finished a few hours ago, and I had stayed behind for extra tuition classes in the city. After peering around to make sure no one was watching, I lit a cigarette. It was a little habit I had newly picked up. I didn't want anyone to see me.
Here I was, a star year 12 student, getting great marks at school, a prominent student leader, heaps of friends, all set for a bright future... Yet, I had this deep sense of dissatisfaction and loneliness. Cool, calm and collected on the outside, but feeling lost and alone within. I thought smoking would make things better. If people from school saw me smoking in a hidden corner like this, I bet they would talk, they would judge. My parents would be so disappointed in me.
As I sat there puffing away, there was a recurring thought inside my head - what's the point in living? Is there any meaning to my life? I felt so empty inside.
Things started to change midway through year 12, when I met Dom. He helped me to see everything in a different light. There was something different about this guy. He had this innocence and joy that I hadn't seen in other people before. So I asked him where he got that from. He told me his joy came from having a personal relationship with Jesus. A personal relationship? With Jesus? That made me curious. I mean, I had grown up hearing Bible stories at church, about how God loves me and Jesus died for me... I accepted it intellectually, but I felt it was all so irrelevant to my life. What on earth was Dom on about?
That really made me think so I was determined to find out more. When first year uni started, I went along to some meetings run by a campus Christian group called Student Life. I began reading the Bible more seriously and discovered some amazing truths that have since turned my life and perspective upside down.
I've learnt that God created me and loves me intensely. He promises that He has an amazing plan and purpose for my life. I came to realise that in the past, I had been living entirely on my own strength, my own ability. I was chasing hard after materialism, relationships and my own selfish ambitions. So no matter how much I had, how well I was doing in school or how hard I tried in everything, I still felt dissatisfied and miserable. It was only when I started focussing on Jesus as the centre of my life that I have found my purpose and meaning to life.
In the last few years, I've come to know Jesus more intimately through reading the Bible, which is God's Word, and speaking to Him through prayer. In my heart, there is now an overflowing joy and satisfaction. And I'm never looking back.
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