Some people drift through life with no clue why they’re even here. You may have witnessed individuals who wonder what comes next after we die, and whether our time here on this planet has any meaning at all. The world has coined the phrase “Life is not a dress rehearsal,” and although its meaning is secular, this has quite a bit of truth in it. Looking at this phrase through the lens of the Bible brings it into perfect clarity.

Indeed, life is not a dress rehearsal, and our lives aren’t just some type of cosmic practice session or run-through. This is the real thing, and what we do or don’t do right now makes all the difference about what happens later. We were put here for a reason. God has a specific purpose for our life. “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them” (Ephesians 2:10, NKJV).

These “good works” this Scripture refers to are the actions and behavior modeled by Jesus, Who teaches us every last detail about how to live. Imagine trying to build something without a blueprint or instruction manual. Many people try to do just that with their lives, but with their own limited knowledge and flawed understanding, the results are ugly, disconnected, and empty. God’s plan for us is revealed in His Word, which we can use as our instruction manual for life. “The Lord will perfect that which concerns me; Your mercy and loving-kindness, O Lord, endure forever—forsake not the works of Your own hands” (Psalm 138:8, AMP).  

We’re not the result of a biological accident from slime that oozed up onto the shore millions of years ago. God made us carefully and deliberately. “Then God said, ‘Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.’ So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them” (Genesis 1:26, 27, NKJV). Whether we believe that or not affects how we live our life.

The philosophy that we’re just a collection of skin, bones, muscles, and tendons powered by electrical impulses robs us of the knowledge of who we really are. We can choose to believe we’re simply a few steps up from apes, or choose to believe what the Bible says about our spiritual heritage. “But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light”(1 Peter 2:9, NKJV). What we believe in our mind eventually trickles down into our heart, and then manifests itself through our words and actions. Accepting what the Bible says about who we are will change our life!

When we welcome Jesus into our lives, we become God’s children, with whom He wants to spend eternity in heaven. “So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith” (Galatians 3:26, NIV). When we listen to God’s Spirit constantly giving us guidance and direction, we’ll know exactly why we’re here and where we’re going later. Internalizing the teachings of the Scriptures gives our life a laser-beam focus, and separates us from those wondering what’s going on.