What Does the Book of Mormon Teach about the Purpose of My Life?
God has a plan of happiness for all His children, including you. Like the Bible, the Book of Mormon answers important questions about who you are, why you are here, and what God wants you to do.
You are a child of God
God is your Heavenly Father. He loves you. Everything He does is to help you learn, grow, be happy, and return home to Him. Life is sometimes full of challenges, heartache, and tough decisions, but God can help us see things from a different perspective. The Book of Mormon teaches about His love for us and His plan for our happiness.
God has a plan for you
Your life on earth is only a small part of the grand plan that God has for you. In the Book of Mormon, the prophet Alma explained: “God bringeth about his great and eternal purposes, which were prepared from the foundation of the world. And thus cometh about the salvation and the redemption of [all]” (Alma 42:26). This life is a time for us to grow and learn to follow Jesus Christ so that we can one day return to live with God.
God wants you to be happy
God’s plan is often referred to as the plan of happiness. The Book of Mormon prophet Jacob wrote, “Men are, that they might have joy” (2 Nephi 2:25). God created us to have joy!
The Book of Mormon teaches that we can find joy both in this life and the next by keeping God’s commandments. The prophet King Benjamin described “the blessed and happy state of those that keep the commandments of God. For behold, they are blessed in all things, both temporal and spiritual; and if they hold out faithful to the end they are received into heaven, that thereby they may dwell with God in a state of never-ending happiness” (Mosiah 2:41).
God wants you to learn and grow
Another purpose of this life is to learn and grow. We gain a lot of knowledge through experiences—both good and bad. The Book of Mormon teaches us that this is a crucial aspect of this life: “There is an opposition in all things. If not so, ... righteousness could not be brought to pass, neither wickedness, neither holiness nor misery, neither good nor bad” (2 Nephi 2:11). As we experience both joy and sadness, both success and defeat, we learn how to follow God. Our experiences make us better people. They also help us appreciate what we have.
God wants you to return to Him
In the Book of Mormon, the prophet Amulek taught, “This life is the time for men to prepare to meet God” (Alma 34:32). We can prepare now for the day when we will eventually be brought before God to be judged for our actions and thoughts.
We all make mistakes. But when we ask for forgiveness, we are made clean again through the grace of Jesus Christ.
Come unto Christ
At the end of the Book of Mormon, the prophet Moroni taught how we can become better people through the grace of Jesus Christ: “Yea, come unto Christ, and be perfected in him, and deny yourselves of all ungodliness; and if ye shall deny yourselves of all ungodliness, and love God with all your might, mind and strength, then is his grace sufficient for you” (Moroni 10:32).
The purpose of life is to become more like Jesus Christ. We are here to grow, to serve God and others, and to be happy. You can learn more about God and His plan for you by reading the Book of Mormon.