One of life's greatest questions is simply "Why are we here? Why do we exist?" It is a good question and one that we ought to be asking ourselves and the earlier the better.

Why are we here? The atheist insists that we are here for no reason in particular. He tells us that matter has always existed, that one time billions of years ago matter exploded and by chance some of this matter formed our own solar system including our wonderful planet Earth. By accidents one day microscopic life just happened to come into being and over the ages this simple life evolved into all the other forms of life which we see on earth today.

So humans have no real purpose and we are no different really than the roaches or the monkeys, only a little more intelligent (and for some of us there is a question about that!). From a long line of accidents we are an accident on its way to its final accident. So as far as the atheist is concerned, life has no real purpose. Nothing really matters. We live a few years, die, and accomplish nothing and finally are remembered no more.

The Bible gives us a much different and more appealing answer as to why we exist and why we are here. That answer is found in the very first verse of the Bible which simply says, "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." This verse tells us that there was a beginning to time and a beginning to this earth and that God was already there in the beginning because he is eternal.

No one would dare say that his television set just came together by some explosion or accident. It would be crazy for someone to claim such a thing. But what about this beautiful earth and all the beautiful pictures and scenes on the earth? Is it any less crazy to say that it happened by an explosion and by an accident? The Bible says, "Every house is built by someone but God is the builder of everything." (Hebrews 3:4)

The Bible states plainly that we are here because God created us. It says, "All things were created by God and for him." (Revelation 4:11) We were created on purpose and for God's purposes. He created all things for his own pleasure. So our purpose in life is simply to live for and please the God who made us.

What are you living for? An education? An income? An apartment? A car? A vacation? A retirement? Or for God? Jesus said, "... work for the food that endures unto eternal life." (John 6:27) There is food for the body and there is food for the soul. Of course, we all work for the food that feeds the body. Jesus says our purpose in life is to work not only for food for the body but even more important than this is that we work for food for the soul.

There is something more important for which to work than money, food for the belly and material things. All these are ours only for a short time. That apartment. Someone else will own it. Those clothes. Soon they will be old and good for nothing. That money. You can't take it with you.

But there are things that are eternal. And they can be yours. And you can take them with you even when you die. There is a life that is eternal. God's message to each of us is that we can live forever.

John 3:16 "For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life."

Are you working for things that perish? What about the things that are eternal? Do you have treasures on earth? Jesus said be sure and gain eternal treasure in heaven. The Bible says we die because we break the law of God. The penalty for sin is death. But the Bible also says that Jesus Christ died for us, and in our place in order to pay our death penalty. And when we believe in him and accept his death, we will be saved from sin and from death. And one day we can be resurrected from the dead like Jesus and we can live with God forever. And this is what we ought to be living for.

A Christian was once invited to eat dinner at the home of a very rich neighbor. After dinner the neighbor took him outside and pointed to every direction and said, "I own all the land as far as the eye can see." The Christian thought for a minute, put his hand on the shoulder of his friend, pointed up to heaven and said, "But how much do you have up there?" The man hung his head and said, "I never thought of that."

Why are we here? We are here to please God and to live with him forever.