How Can My Faith Give Me Purpose in Tough Times?

There is one inescapable feature of our experience in this life: hardship. That sounds bleak, but it's true. Everyone experiences loss, betrayal, and disappointment.
But how will we handle the suffering we will inevitably face?

Imagine for a moment that there is no God. We are simply a product of chance, without ultimate purpose or meaning. At best, we are highly evolved animals struggling to survive.

Nothing we do has lasting significance. Every building built, song written, and relationship nurtured will no longer exist one day - not even as a memory. That's a happy thought, right?

Faced with tough times, the secular person has little hope to draw on.

As Christians, we believe that our lives do matter. We were created by a personal God who knows our name and gives us a profound purpose and meaning. Our view of the world and our place in it should give us unequaled resources to deal with difficulties.

As followers of Jesus we have:
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1. A sympathetic priest

Unlike the secular person, Christians don’t believe life is random and purposeless. Though life is often incomprehensibly hard, we know that God is in control and has a plan. What’s more, He is not unsympathetic. While we may never fully understand why God allows suffering, we know that it is not because He doesn’t care.

By sending Jesus to earth as a humble servant to give up His life for our sake, God demonstrably proved that He cares deeply about our condition. You know how valuable something is by the price someone is willing to pay for it. God spared no expense in sending what was most precious to Him to rescue you and me.

Our view of the world infuses extraordinary meaning to even the worst hardship in this life. Moreover, in Jesus we have a God who isn’t distant and unable to relate. As the author of Hebrews reminds us, “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin.” (Hebrews 4:15)
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2. A conquering king

Jesus reminds us in John 16:33 that we have sympathy and power in Him.

“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33)

As He promised, life is hard, but He has defeated death. This should give us incredible courage to face whatever comes our way.

The Apostle Paul reminds us that “we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.”  (Romans 8:37)

Unlike the secular person who has no choice but to view tough times as capricious and purposeless, Christians know that God has a plan, He empathizes with our pain, and He gives us supernatural power to persevere!

Armed with this extraordinary hope, Christians have the resilience to devote themselves to loving others, alleviating pain, and sharing the truth.

Hard times, far from stripping us of purpose, strengthen our faith and bring clarity to what matters most: participating in God’s plan to redeem the world.