What is my purpose?

"Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade—kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God's power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls."

- 1 Peter 1:3-9

We have been saved into something great! Salvation of our souls for sure, but why? Glory to God, that's why! We have been given new birth into a living hope, shielded by God's power, a refined faith to be proven genuine, all to give praise, glory, and honor to Jesus Christ. That is what it is all about... no mystery there :)

Freedom

"Freedom to me is not going out and doing what you want to do. Anyone can do that, and lots of people are doing it. Freedom is to have the power to do what you know you ought to do. Most people know what they ought to do but they don't have the power to do it. They're in bondage."

- Josh McDowell

This is a big difference in perspective between Christians and non-Christians. I think that a lot of people believe that if they were ever to put their faith in Christ that they would have to give up all of their freedoms and will instead be bound to a bunch of new rules. What they don't realize is that they are all ready in bondage to their sins and their flesh. They aren't really free at all, they are slaves to the most ugly part of ourselves. When you allow God to rule your life instead of yourself, you are actually being saved into a much more free and abundant life altogether. God doesn't "make" you do anything at all, you are only finally free to make your choices with out the hold of sin on your life. Plus you are given power from the Holy Spirit to overcome evil influence.

And people look at "commandments" or "laws" as restrictive, as if God is with-holding something good from us, but that is so foolish. Let's just take a look at one thing that our sweet God warns us against doing- stealing. If we would have all just followed even that one commandment, think about how wonderfully different our world would be. No more locks! No more keys! No more stolen iPhones! He asks us not to do things because they are bad ideas... If we would all follow His plans and the guidelines He has given us, we would really all be better off for it.