Finding Meaning in a Secular Age

An Age of Restlessness

We live in a restless age. Every answer is one Google search away, every boredom a scroll or swipe away, every itch satisfied by instant gratification. For all our convenience and progress, the hunger for meaning has not gone away. If anything, it’s gotten louder. We can distract ourselves endlessly, but when the phone is off, when the noise stops, the same question always creeps back in: What is the point of all this?

this oh so secular world has tried to give an answer. It has told us we don’t need God, we don’t need transcendence, we can make our own truth and craft our own meaning. But if meaning is something you invent, is it really meaning at all — or just a story you tell yourself so you can sleep at night?

The Secular Promise and Its Failure

The modern creed is simple: freedom without limits. Decide who you are. Create your own morality. Define your own truth.

Sounds nice. doesn't it?

At first glance, it sounds liberating. But freedom without foundation is really just drifting. If everything is relative, then nothing is firm. If all meaning is self-made, then it can also be unmade in an instant. the second a challenge arises and the self fails, what does self worth matter. Where is your strength when you lack the skills, knowledge and foundation. why put your faith in the self when self is so fragile.

That’s why so many in our age chase distractions — because when you stop moving, the emptiness sets in. you look around and see everyone so trapped by their own existence. and yet their own non-existence. Most people I know wake up, go to work, come home, and quietly waste away, day after day. Sure they have days off but those are spent maintaining by most people. maintaining the lawn, house, or catching up with their favorite video game characters.

what about maintaining health, knowledge, creativity, passion, relationships, exploration and what I find to be oh so important, a hunger for more. More of these beautiful things. This does not mean quitting your job and traveling the world... Just seek more. read more, create more, consume beauty, not the prescriptive media fed to the masses.. explore the human soul.

We are surrounded by comfort, yet crushed by anxiety. Surrounded by entertainment, yet starved for joy. Surrounded by information, yet still asking ancient questions. The secular promise has failed to answer them.

The Root of Meaning

I don't know If we will ever truly know the meaning of life. I mean as a species. many scholars give answers, but they feel hollow. Richard Dawkins calls us "survival machines" and says we are "programmed to preserve selfish genes.” but that doesn't give any explanation why people find purpose and joy in selfless existence and servitude of others. in fact that was posited by a famous writer, Tolstoy. Tolstoy once wrote that the highest purpose was to serve humanity. But even he wrestled with despair — what good is serving humanity if humanity itself is destined to end? some say its unification of humanity or the preservation of knowledge. it seems noble but, what's the point if the suns going to explode and erase every trace of that knowledge and humanity.

I believe meaning in life comes from purpose, and purpose is rooted in God.

To be made in His image means we are not random accidents floating in a primordial sea of worthlessness. We are created with intention, which means our lives carry intention. To live with meaning is to aim high and seek to use all God has given you — every gift, every opportunity, every ounce of creativity — to the best of your ability.

Purpose is not comfort. Purpose is not distraction. Purpose is aiming at the highest good you can conceive of and then ordering your life toward it. Without that, life collapses into survival, consumption, and compliance.

A Conversation I’ll Never Forget

Years ago, I had a conversation with an atheist friend that shook me. I was talking about my book project, how reading Brave New World had reignited a spark in me. a spark for creativity — for literature, art, music, and beauty itself. Especially the chapter where John debates Mustapha Mond about God, meaning, suffering, and truth. That scene hit me hard, and I shared that with my friend.

He listened, and then he said something I’ll never forget:

“Well, say that you are right and God’s real — He created everything in existence, and we are made in His image — then, would it not go to say that our creativity is a divine trait? And to create with the highest intention is to honor God’s gifts to the world?”

That floored me. Here was a man who didn’t even believe in God, yet he had stumbled onto something profoundly true: our ability to create is not a throwaway trait. It’s divine. And to squander it is to waste a gift that was meant to shape the mind, the soul, and the world.

The Age of Distraction: Brave New World Come to Life

And yet, here’s the tension: how do you live with purpose in an age of endless distraction? How do you create something meaningful when the world around you is designed to numb you?

This is the curse of modern life. We are entertained into apathy, distracted into submission, pacified with noise and novelty. Huxley saw it coming in Brave New World. He warned us that the future wouldn’t be defined by oppression, but by sedation. Not by people being denied pleasure, but by people being drowned in it.

It may not be as extreme as his dystopia, but look around: endless streaming, constant scrolling, consumerism dressed up as culture. We’re overstimulated and undernourished. We feel less and less because we are numbed more and more.

Slowing Down to Find Meaning

If meaning is to be found, we must rebel against the tide.

• Slow down. Step away from the constant noise. Turn off the stream of instant gratification. Put the phone down and pick up a book. Take a walk in nature. Put those creative skills to the test!

• Steer into discomfort. Don’t run from suffering — let it shape you. Without hardship, there is no growth. Without risk, there is no beauty.

• Choose depth over distraction. Read long books. Have hard conversations. Create instead of consume.

• Aim higher. Direct your gifts, your creativity, your time toward something that endures.

Without these choices, there will be no growth, no beauty, no real discovery. Just more of the same consumeristic compliance that keeps us docile but empty.

Meaning Rooted in God

Ultimately, meaning cannot come from distraction, pleasure, or self-invention. Meaning comes from purpose, and purpose is anchored in God. To live with meaning is to recognize that your life is not an accident, your creativity is not random, and your suffering is not wasted.

You were made in His image, and that means your life matters. To create with the highest intention, to serve others with your gifts, to live in obedience and faith — these are not small acts. They are the very way we honor God with what we’ve been given.

Refusing Complacency

We are living in a Brave New World age. The distractions are endless, the sedation constant, and the temptation to drift overwhelming. But the hunger for meaning is stronger still.

The search for meaning in a secular age is not about inventing your own truth or numbing the ache. It’s about aiming higher, embracing discomfort, and anchoring yourself in the God who gives life purpose.

Because without Him, meaning is a mirage. With Him, every act — every word, every creation, every struggle — becomes part of something eternal.