Chapter One What if Your Life was Meant for More?

Discovering Your God-given Purpose

Have you ever wondered why you are on this earth? Not long ago, I saw a billboard for Grand Canyon University in Phoenix that read, “Find your Purpose.” That simple phrase captures something deeply human. Finding purpose is not a luxury—it is central to being fully human and fully alive.

Most of us don’t want to fail at life. We want our lives to matter. We want to reach our potential and know that our years were not wasted. Beneath our daily routines lies a quiet but persistent longing: Does my life have meaning? Does what I do really count? That longing is universal.

The Human Search for Purpose

The question of purpose is not new. Philosophers have wrestled with it for centuries. Plato and Aristotle wrote about teleology, the idea that everything exists for an end, a purpose, or a goal. If everything else in the world has a reason for existing, it is natural to ask whether human life does as well.

Another branch of philosophy—ethics—asks a related question: What is the good life? What kind of life is truly worth living?

Modern psychology echoes these ancient questions. Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs shows that human beings want more than mere survival. We need food, clothing, and shelter, but we also need love, belonging, meaning, and accomplishment. Our minds are wired to seek purpose. That instinct is so strong that the U.S. Army once used it as a recruiting slogan: “Be all you can be.”

From an early age, we see this desire at work. Ask children what they want to be when they grow up. They want to be firefighters, astronauts, athletes, doctors, teachers—people who make a difference. They want to do something.  

Even as adults, we still ask one another, “What do you do?” It’s a polite way of asking, “How do you contribute? How does your life matter?”

Created on Purpose For a Purpose

According to the Bible, this longing for purpose is not accidental. There is a reason God put you on this planet. When we understand why human beings exist, we begin to see how our individual gifts and abilities fit into God’s larger design. Every person has talents. Part of the adventure of life is discovering them and learning how to use them well.

Perhaps one of the greatest gifts a person can offer is helping others—especially young people—discover and develop their God-given abilities. When people understand why they were created, their lives begin to move in the right direction.

A Life That Changed the World

History gives us powerful examples of how one purposeful life can change everything. William Tyndale is one such example. In a 2002 survey, he was ranked twenty-sixth among the one hundred greatest Britons of all time. His life’s work was translating the Bible into English so ordinary people could read God’s Word for themselves.

At the time, having a Bible in English was a crime punishable by death. Nevertheless, Tyndale believed everyone should have direct access to Scripture, not filtered through political or religious authorities. In 1526, his English New Testament was published.

When his work was discovered, Tyndale was forced to flee England. He continued translating while in exile in Belgium, until agents sent by the bishop of London captured him. He was strangled and burned at the stake. His final prayer was, “Lord, open the king of England’s eyes.” Within four years of Tyndale’s death, English Bibles were published in England—by order of King Henry VIII and placed in every church.

Tyndale’s work transformed the English language, the church, England, and eventually Western civilization. The Puritans carried the Geneva Bible to America. Biblical ideas about God-given rights shaped the American Revolution. Today, roughly 80 percent of all English Bible translations are based on Tyndale’s work. One life—lived with purpose—changed history.

Why was Tyndale’s work so dangerous?

Because access to the Bible threatens entrenched power. Both political and religious authorities fear what would happen if people read the Bible for themselves. And they are right to be concerned. The Bible challenges systems that depend on control, fear, and deception.

The Protestant Reformation was not merely a theological adjustment. It was actually a rebellion. It was a challenge to the absolute authority of kings and church institutions. From the Roman Empire onward, governments have often been uneasy with the authentic Christian message. People who read and believe Scripture tend to think, question, and resist manipulation. The leaders in power don’t like that.

Your Life Matters

Your life may not change world history the way Tyndale’s did. But within your own circle of influence—your family, friendships, workplace, and community—your life matters deeply.

When you use your gifts to serve others, people benefit. Your spouse, children, neighbors, and even future generations are affected by choices you make today. Your life can shape the world in ways you may never see.

The Bible teaches that God wants to bless the world through ordinary people living with purpose. In that sense, you are God’s gift to the world. The challenge is not whether you have something to offer—but whether you will discover and develop what God has already given you.

Better Than Any Spy Movie. And This One Really Happened.

If you want to know more about Tyndale’s impact on England and the English language, Leland Ryken’s book reads like an action-packed spy movie. The obstacles William Tyndale had to overcome were enormous. Owning a Bible in English received a death penalty. Translating it, even worse. They followed him to another country just to strangle and burn him at the stake.

But what grabbed me most was the sheer impossibility of what Tyndale did. A man on the run just because he was translating the Bible. One man, exiled from his own country, hunted by the church, the crown and the educational establishment, smuggling handwritten pages across borders — and he changed the course of Western civilization. He educated the Puritans who settled America. He shaped English into one of the great languages of the world. The authorities executed him for it.

And it all started because William Tyndale believed God is actually speaking in the Bible and wanted everyone to have the opportunity to hear it.

WILLIAM TYNDALE’S NEW TESTAMENT: A Biography of the Book that Changed Our World by Leland Ryken and Edward D. Andrews