How Do You Justify Your Existence?

I used to think I needed to be something special, do something notable, rise to some standard of achievement, in order to earn the right to occupy space on the planet, to be considered a worthwhile person, worthy of existing. I thought the whole world believed that way. I believed this was how the world functioned. Somewhere along the way I learned about the importance of "justifying one's existence." It's been so long since I believed that way that I went ahead and looked it up online to see if anyone still even thinks this way. Here is one sentence I found in an "AI Overview:" "A person justifies their existence by creating personal meaning, contributing to others, and pursuing happiness, rather than fulfilling an external obligation." And here is another one: "Justifying one's existence means making one's presence felt in the realm. There are various things that can be done to make that happen." So, then, this concept is still a thing. For me, it has been a thing of the past for quite a number of years. When I was younger, I wanted to be the best at everything I tried to do. I was one of the two best artists in grade school. The other one became a pediatrician. I was not a bad student, and I was a happy child until my parents got divorced. Then things started to become difficult. You see the focus of these two sentences about "justifying one's existence." It's all about things you have to do to achieve this. So, my life eventually became very unhappy, and I did not know what to do about it. I was playing music professionally, which made me somewhat proud, I had my name on a marquee, but inside something was missing, and I did not know what. To make a long story short, somewhere along the line I heard a gospel message. The message said that everyone was a sinner and that Jesus died and rose again to pay for my sins and save me from suffering the punishment for my sins, and there came a time when I believed it enough that my whole life was changed. And, suddenly, the weight was lifted, the pressure was off, I was free. It has now been several decades since I began this new life in relationship with God through Christ and today, I found something in Romans chapter five that I have seen probably hundreds of times but something clicked this time. All those "before Christ" years of thinking I needed to earn the right to live had come to an end many years ago, but then I saw these passages which clarified it even more. "For judgment which came from one offense resulted in condemnation, but the free gift which came from many offenses resulted in justification" (Romans 5:16). Adam's one sin condemned all of his descendants, (including you and me) but Christ's death and resurrection covered the multitude of sins committed by people everywhere in the world. "Therefore, as through one man's offense judgment came to all men, resulting in condemnation even so through one Man's righteous act the free gift came to all men, resulting in justification of life" (Romans 5:18). And there it was" "Justification of life." Justification means "being declared righteous." And this is what I had actually been striving for all those years and didn't know it. Trying to be acceptable to people all my life, when being acceptable to God was what my soul really longed for. God calls us to righteousness and provided the way to access it--through Christ's death and resurrection, not through all my efforts to be successful in all the ways the world has been saying. I hope you got something out of that. Have a good week as we move into Resurrection Sunday aka Easter. God bless you and goodnight.