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| It's
Your Life, You Know
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| Dee Bowman |
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Life is filled with perplexities,
puzzlements of various sorts. It has odd turns: seemingly
insignificant things sometimes turn out to be terribly
significant; things that aren’t supposed to work out, but
sometimes do; and things that seemingly should work out, but
don’t. Life is a tangled web, a knotty, mostly inexplicable
web. Man seeks to describe it, to explain it, and he can’t.
All he can do is live it.
But don’t despair. There is more to life than just an
inexplicable maze of un-related and un-controllable events.
Actually, God made life, and it is to Him that we must turn for
information concerning its proper management. Life can be a
zesty, fulfilling experience, even in the face of difficulty or
adversity, if it is lived in accordance with the designs of the
Maker. Otherwise it’s just an empty shell lived without
meaning and with little genuine happiness attached to it.
First, let it be carefully observed that a life divorced from
God has little meaning. Solomon paints a sordid picture of life
in Ecclesiastes. He says that the sun rises and goes down over
and over. He says that one generation comes and another passes
away. He says that the weather forecast really doesn’t change
that much—that one cold front follows another, that “that
which is crooked cannot be made straight and that which is
wanting cannot be numbered” (Eccl. 1:15). Paul the Apostle
echoes the same sentiment when he exclaims, “if in this world
only we have hope, we are of all men most miserable (1 Cor.
15:19). So let it first be noted that a good life begins by
getting in touch with God.
Life has meaning when it generates service. Service is the
essence of life. To put oneself at the disposal of others is to
bring meaning to life, to be a part of society, to bring honor
to the Creator. We are “all members one of another” (Rom.
12:5). That means that we are joined in service to one another.
We don’t all have the same talent, but we all have some talent
with which to serve. Want a fulfilling life? Put yourself at the
disposal of others. Get out of yourself and get involved in
serving others.
Life has meaning when it is motivated by love. Love is the
divine energizer. It brings things about. It generates the
motion necessary for everything from good marital relationships,
to good congregations of God’s people. Actually, what is not
motivated by love is of little value in the ultimate reality.
Love broadens, softens, actuates, disciplines, clarifies, joins,
repairs, and is behind every sort of human happiness. Love and
you’ll be loved. Love and you’ll be blessed—even when
things go wrong.
Furthermore, life has meaning when it is pointed in the right
direction. “I am the way, the truth, and the life,” is
Jesus’ way of saying “point your life toward me or it will
have no real meaning.” The Hebrew writer must have had this
concept in mind when he said we should run the race “with
patience, looking to Jesus, the author and finisher of our
faith.” To look in the wrong direction is disastrous, folks!
You’ll have a wreck for sure.
Finally, faith is the substance for giving life real meaning. A
life that has been lived without any connection to the life
hereafter is foolish indeed. More than that, it’s a terrible
waste! Even the light afflictions are made easier to bear, the
disappointments easier to shoulder if there is faith in the
Eternal. “Our light affliction worketh for us a far greater
and eternal weight of glory, while we look not at the things
which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the
things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not
seen are eternal” (2 Cor. 4:17-18). You should know by now
that “faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence
of things not seen (Heb. 11:1). Our faith is the basis for our
hope. If we look in the right direction, we will see it—off in
the distance there—eternal life. Now that’s a life worth
living!
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Copyright (C)
2008
Southside Church of Christ
All rights reserved.
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