Purpose of Life

I believe that Heavenly Father truly wants us to become like Him.

I really do.

If someone asks "what is the purpose of life?" there are really many answers one could give. The main one's I think of are:

1. To obtain a physical body¹
2. To be tried and tested to see if we will obey God²
3. To progress³ -- I feel like this is broad and a few specific key things are worth mentioning here:
• To have joy⁴
• To put us in a situation where we may exercise agency -- needing to be enticed by at least two options, thus needing to be without memory of our pre-earth life.⁵
• To gain intelligence by study and by faith, i.e. to learn, grow, develop talents and gifts⁶
• To put us in a situation where we can be stewards and learn to be wise stewards.⁷
• To provide a time wherein we can repent and prepare to meet God⁸
• To become more like Him -- Personal development comes in many forms as well. I include developing attributes such as charity, humility, faith, compassion, meekness, etc. as well as developing our skills of creation.⁹
4. To build His kingdom through fulfilling the missions and callings that were conferred or preordained.¹⁰
5. To create eternal familial bonds, including multiplying and replenishing the earth.¹¹

All of these hail back to becoming like Him.

The first one is done -- we're here on earth, we have bodies, and Christ's resurrection ensures we will be so as well.

All the rest, however, require our participation, work, and effort.

The life of a full-time missionary seems like a type here. A missionary studies and strives to develop Christ-like attributes while simultaneously going out to live the mission of directly sharing and teaching the gospel.

It seems the purpose of life, too, is to simultaneously become the person we need to be and fulfilling our life missions the best we can along the way. There's no "once I'm good enough I'll start fulfilling some of my life mission." It's prepare and do at the same time. It's practice.

So a purposeful life is one where we have a clear sense of mission, we strive to fulfill that mission, all the while striving to become our best possible version of ourselves.

To me this means actively seeking out mentors and classics (books, movies, etc.) from which to learn principles, natural law, and to see ourselves clearly, for this is the beginning of wisdom.¹² It also means seeking out our life missions and striving to live them all along the way.

Why? Because God wants us to become like Him, and that's how He is.

1. "We came to this earth that we might have a body and present it pure before God in the Celestial Kingdom" (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith TJPS, p. 181)
2. See Abraham 3:24-25.
3. See 3 Nephi 12:48, Matthew 5:48.
4. See 2 Nephi 2:23.
5. See 2 Nephi 2:15-16.
6. "A man is saved no faster than he gets knowledge, for if he does not get knowledge." (TJPS, p. 217)
* See also D&C 130:18-19, D&C 88:118 (repeating 88:118 - D&C 109:7,14).
7. See the parable of the talents, Matthew 25:14-30.
8. See 2 Nephi 2:21, Alma 12:24.
9. "If you wish to go where God is, you must be like God, or possess the principles which God possesses, for if we are not drawing towards God in principle, we are going from Him and drawing towards the devil." (TPJS p. 216)
* "By faith the worlds were made." (TPJS p. 270)
* See also Matthew 5:48, 3 Nephi 18:16, John 14:6, Moroni 7:46,
10. See Jeremiah 1:5-8, Abraham 3:23-26,
* "There is neither man nor woman in this Church who is not on a mission. That mission will last as long as they live." (Brigham Young, "Remarks", Deseret News, July 3, 1867 as quoted here)
11. "Marriage between a man and a woman is ordained of God and. . .the family is central to the Creator’s plan for the eternal destiny of His children." The Family, A Proclamation to the World
12. "Seeing ourselves clearly is the beginning of wisdom." (President Uchtdorf, Priesthood Session, October 2014 - link)