Our Questionable Quest for Significance

“Be all That You Can Be” was the slogan used by the United States Army from 1990 -2001 in its recruiting young men and women to voluntarily enlist in serving our country.

It was a slogan designed specifically to go right to the heart of the young men and women who heard it, to awaken and inflame in them one of the deepest of all human desires, namely the desire for significance, the belief and assurance that our life has meaning and value, that we are relevant, important, even essential to the grand scheme of life, and thus are worthy of being known, loved and honored for who we are in our unique person.

The recruiting slogan was a tacit promise that through the opportunities, experience and training offered by the Army you could fulfill your potential in this world, developing the skills and character, the self-discipline, self-confidence, self-esteem necessary to succeed in the Army as well as in whatever career path you may choose upon discharge from the Army.   This is a very attractive, very enticing promise to young men and women looking to make their mark in this world in their search for significance, for honor and glory, meaning and purpose, a search that everyone of us is engaged in to one degree or another every day.

Tragically, many who responded to this slogan did not survive the experience to enjoy the promised rewards, dying honorable, sacrificial but horrific deaths in search of the glory, the honor and renown promised in the Army’s slogan.  Others served honorably and survived; putting their heart and soul into becoming all that they can be for their country, who upon discharge back into civilian life found themselves less prepared, less confident, less capable of managing the complexities and challenges of daily life in this world. Many ended up living on the fringes of society – homeless, jobless, crippled physically, mentally and emotionally, never really gaining in themselves the sense of significance they sought – never receiving the honor and recognition hoped from others, other than a perfunctory thank you for your service from less than enthusiastic beneficiaries of their service.

We presently have the spectacle that occurs every four years called the Olympics, in which young men and women from throughout the world, blessed with amazing, incredible athletic ability and skills, put those skills on display to the world in hopes of receiving the praise, honor and acclaim associated with winning a medal made of gold, silver or bronze. Each participant has given years of their life going through the pain, tedium and sacrifices of daily training in search of that which they believe will grant them a true sense of significance.  Most will find such significance elusive, and for others who do achieve Olympic glory, it lasts only as long as they remain in the spotlight.  One woman who failed to qualify for the finals of an event in this year’s Olympics commented, “I just wasted 15 years of my life”.

I had a friend years ago who competed at a high level in a particular athletic event, and after becoming a “champion” in that event, wrote to me of the disappointment that followed.  He noted that winning, despite the momentary sense of personal accomplishment and the acclaim and praise of others, just didn’t satisfy him in the way he had hoped.

The quest for significance in a world that makes most of us feel insignificant is different for all of us.  Some run marathons, some climb mountains.  Some seek it through popularity in their social circle, some through charitable activities. Some work long exhausting hours for business success, fame and fortune.  Others seek it in political office.  Many of us seek it in marriage and/or in having children wherein we believe that in such an arrangement we will be significant to at least one other person. Then there are those who, unfortunately, seek it in their success and skill in using and manipulating others.

Why? Why is there in the human heart such a hunger for significance, for glory, honor, meaning and purpose to our lives that men and women will many times risk their health, their families, their fortunes, their lives to achieve it?  One reason is because there is nothing worse than feeling we are insignificant, that our life really doesn’t matter, that we are of little importance or value to others and that there is no true or ultimate meaning or purpose for our lives and for our existence. A sense of insignificance, strong feelings of worthlessness, meaninglessness and hopelessness are what many times drives people to despair, resulting in angry, destructive behavior toward others or despondent self-destructive behaviors such as drug addiction and suicide.

A second reason, that goes hand in hand with the first, is that we were created for significance, for glory if you will, glory that was not to be found in what we do or accomplish, but in who we are, who we were created to be.  The Bible tells us that mankind was created by the eternal God of love (1 John 4:16).  We were created for His glory (Isaiah 43:7), in His image and likeness that the infinite value of His being would be revealed in us, to us and through us as we would, above all of God’s good creation, image the beauty, the excellence, the magnificence of God in every aspect of our being.  As such, we would be given the glorious responsibility of ruling over all of His good creation (Genesis 1:26-28).  Our greatest joy, our greatest pleasure, our ultimate significance would be found in knowing, loving and being loved by God and one another, as we would live together in God’s immediate presence without any sense of fear or shame, inadequacy or inequality.

However, it should be clear that we have fallen short of the glory, the magnificence, the significance for which we were created.  And the reason for this is sin, man’s rejection of God’s rule over our lives, displayed in our prideful efforts to find significance independent of and in opposition to the infinitely glorious God who created us for His glory (Romans 3:23).

Thus, if our quest for significance is to have the outcome we desire, we must look for it in God alone, and that is what I would like to focus on in the next few posts.

In this quest we will look at the glory and honor which God initially bestowed upon man in creating men and women in His image and likeness, and in giving mankind dominion, total rule over His glorious creation.

We will look at how the glory in which we were created, and our dominion over God’s good creation, were lost in the sin of Adam, sin which we repeat daily in our fruitless quest for significance apart from God.

Finally, we will come to a glorious and successful end to our quest for significance with the glory, honor and dominion which was lost in our sin, being fully restored to us through our faith in the person and redemptive work of God the Son, Jesus Christ on our behalf, and in our glad and joyful submission to Him as our Sovereign Lord (Romans 10:9-13).

I invite you to join me in this quest.

Grace and Peace ×