Esther 4:14 “For if you keep silence at such a time as this, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another quarter, but you and your father’s family will perish. Who knows? Perhaps you have come to royal dignity for just such a time as this.”

What am I here for? What’s the point? What is the meaning of life? Maybe you have found yourself asking one or all of those questions at some point in your life. A recent edition of Reader’s Digest compiled a list of some of the best quotes pertaining to that last question…What is the meaning of life? Among those answers:

• “My aim is to spread more smiles than tears.” – Tupac Shakur
• “Ob-la-di, ob-la-da, life goes on…” -The Beatles
• “Try and be nice to people, avoid eating fat, read a good book every now and then, get some walking in, and try and live together in peace and harmony with people of all creeds and nations.” -Monty Python’s The Meaning of Life
• “The purpose of life is to discover your gift. The work of life is to develop it. The meaning of life is to give your gift away.” – David Viscott

I don’t know if any one of those is the final be-all-end-all answer on what is the meaning of life, but I do think they all offer us some good guidance in finding meaning in our lives.

Just a few weeks back I preached from the book of Esther. In that story we see the young Jewish woman, Esther, suddenly vaulted into a situation that she never expected to be a part of. I am sure she asked herself those same questions that I listed above, wondering why she found herself standing at a crossroads with the Jewish people. One path led to redemption and freedom, the other to eradication. “Why me, what am I to do?” she wondered. It was her cousin Mordecai that laid it out for her when he told her, “Who knows? Perhaps you have come to royal dignity for just such a time as this.”

I think that all of us have metaphorically stood at those crossroads in our own lives, our families, our church, our nation, our world. If you are like me you have been left asking the same question as Esther, “Why me, what am I to do?” I encourage all of us to hear Mordecai’s words anew, “Who knows? Perhaps you have come to royal dignity for just such a time as this.” Now you could shrug it off and think, I’ve not been brought to “royal dignity”, but to those comments I would remind you, YOU are a child of the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords. Each of us is the daughter or son of the King, that by default makes us a part of a royal bloodline, one that goes back to Jesus, back to David, back to Abraham, back to Adam. You are fearfully and wonderfully made, chosen and loved by the Creator of the World. We have all been given a place to serve, we have all been given gifts to use, we have all been given a chance to make a difference.

I pray that we can all maybe find a sliver of the answer to the question, “What is the meaning of life?” in our service to our Savior, Jesus Christ. All of us together are the Church, here for just such a time as this. It is my honor and my privilege to serve with and alongside each of you as we work to make this world a better, more meaningful place.

God Bless,

Pastor Devin