V
viltglance007
Guest
The other day while I was stuck in traffic, I heard a song from a famous singer that said:
"This ain't a song for the broken-hearted
No silent prayer for the faith-departed
I ain't gonna be just a face in the crowd
You're gonna hear my voice
When I shout it out loud
Chorus:
It's my life
It's now or never
I ain't gonna live forever
I just want to live while I'm alive "
And as I listened to the words of the song, a powerful feeling aroused in my heart. "It's my life! I ain't gonna live forever! I have the right to control my own life! It's now or never!" I was really excited with the idea of "it's my life" but there was something that was bothering me: "I ain't gonna live forever". Then I realized that my life without eternity would be nothing but misery.
This song describes very well the situation of the modern man. Everybody wants to be independent. Everybody wants to maximize every second of this life and be successful. But at the end we face the reality that we are going to die. Without a purpose in eternity our lives fall in an absurd reality. Our existence would be meaningless: a life without purpose.
In the Bible God reveals himself as the answer for our need of meaning and purpose. Our existence has meaning because God makes us meaningful. We can see it clearly in the account of creation in Genesis 1.
We have meaning because God is our Creator.
The Bible begins with the words "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth " (Gen 1:1) With this summary, these words solve the most basic (and difficult) of the philosophical questions "why is there something instead of nothing?" the answer is "because God created everything and He has always been." God is the one who brought into existence everything that is. That means that everything in the universe finds its origin in Him. Besides, He is not only the Creator but the all-powerful Creator. We can see this fact in the pattern of creation expressed by the words "and God said and it was" God's word were so powerful that it was enough for God to express his will to bring into existence what he said! There is nothing that has existence independently of Him.
We have meaning because God is our designer
Verse 2 in Genesis says "And the earth was formless and void and the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters" God brought order in a chaotic universe. As we read through verses 3-31 we can see repeatedly that God is organizing everything. His words were changing all things according to his design. From the inanimate things (light, darkness, heaven, earth and sea, sun, moon stars) to the living creatures (plants, aquatic creatures, birds, animals of the earth, man). The culmination of his creation was man. The Bible describes this in a beautiful way "and God said 'let us make man in our image according to our likeness'" (26)
God wanted to share his very person with man so that he could enjoy a personal relationship with him. His plan was that man could rule over all creation (v. 26-27). We are not an accident we are the result of a careful Designer. Man's dignity is not found in himself but in the fact that God made him according to his image.
We have meaning because God is good.
Repeatedly we see in those verses the phrase "and God saw that it was good". Goodness is the mark of His character. God is good. That means that everything God makes is in accordance with his character. His goodness is the expression of his moral character as his power is of his creative capacity. In fact we can see this more vividly after the creation of man where the Bible says "and God bless them " (v.28) the blessing of God is the expression of his favor toward man. His purpose was that we could have abundant life. God blessed them with creating them in His own image, providing for their needs, giving them the capacity to reproduce, and ordaining them to rule over all creation (27-30). At the end of creation God evaluated all he had done and "behold it was very good" (31).
Your life has meaning because God is interested in you.
The fact that we have a Creator, that made us with a careful purpose and that is good is the only basis firm enough to give meaning to our existence. But someone may say, if there is such a God, how is it possible that there is so much evil in the world? The fact is that even though God loves man, man decided to "live his own life". Despite the fact that God had commanded not to eat from the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (2:16-17) man disobeyed God and for the first time experienced the meaning of living his own life apart from God. This experience was death. Death and suffering are consequences of sin. Sin in its most basic form is the desire to live our life apart from God. It is disobedient for us to not have God a constant part of our lives. Nevertheless God is still interested in you and me. And has done something so that we can live forever. To save man from sin and death God sent his one and only son -Jesus. Jesus himself once said "for God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son, so that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life" (John 3:16). Jesus died on a cross paying for our sins and rose from the dead. Today he offers to us eternal life by trusting in what he gained for us. Jesus said once "for what will a man be profited if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what will a man give in exchange of his soul?" (Mt. 16:26). Wouldn't it be nice to say "it's my life, it's now or never" but instead of turning our back to Jesus bow down our heads in prayer and decide to give him our lives today? Then we could say " I am gonna live forever"
"This ain't a song for the broken-hearted
No silent prayer for the faith-departed
I ain't gonna be just a face in the crowd
You're gonna hear my voice
When I shout it out loud
Chorus:
It's my life
It's now or never
I ain't gonna live forever
I just want to live while I'm alive "
And as I listened to the words of the song, a powerful feeling aroused in my heart. "It's my life! I ain't gonna live forever! I have the right to control my own life! It's now or never!" I was really excited with the idea of "it's my life" but there was something that was bothering me: "I ain't gonna live forever". Then I realized that my life without eternity would be nothing but misery.
This song describes very well the situation of the modern man. Everybody wants to be independent. Everybody wants to maximize every second of this life and be successful. But at the end we face the reality that we are going to die. Without a purpose in eternity our lives fall in an absurd reality. Our existence would be meaningless: a life without purpose.
In the Bible God reveals himself as the answer for our need of meaning and purpose. Our existence has meaning because God makes us meaningful. We can see it clearly in the account of creation in Genesis 1.
We have meaning because God is our Creator.
The Bible begins with the words "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth " (Gen 1:1) With this summary, these words solve the most basic (and difficult) of the philosophical questions "why is there something instead of nothing?" the answer is "because God created everything and He has always been." God is the one who brought into existence everything that is. That means that everything in the universe finds its origin in Him. Besides, He is not only the Creator but the all-powerful Creator. We can see this fact in the pattern of creation expressed by the words "and God said and it was" God's word were so powerful that it was enough for God to express his will to bring into existence what he said! There is nothing that has existence independently of Him.
We have meaning because God is our designer
Verse 2 in Genesis says "And the earth was formless and void and the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters" God brought order in a chaotic universe. As we read through verses 3-31 we can see repeatedly that God is organizing everything. His words were changing all things according to his design. From the inanimate things (light, darkness, heaven, earth and sea, sun, moon stars) to the living creatures (plants, aquatic creatures, birds, animals of the earth, man). The culmination of his creation was man. The Bible describes this in a beautiful way "and God said 'let us make man in our image according to our likeness'" (26)
God wanted to share his very person with man so that he could enjoy a personal relationship with him. His plan was that man could rule over all creation (v. 26-27). We are not an accident we are the result of a careful Designer. Man's dignity is not found in himself but in the fact that God made him according to his image.
We have meaning because God is good.
Repeatedly we see in those verses the phrase "and God saw that it was good". Goodness is the mark of His character. God is good. That means that everything God makes is in accordance with his character. His goodness is the expression of his moral character as his power is of his creative capacity. In fact we can see this more vividly after the creation of man where the Bible says "and God bless them " (v.28) the blessing of God is the expression of his favor toward man. His purpose was that we could have abundant life. God blessed them with creating them in His own image, providing for their needs, giving them the capacity to reproduce, and ordaining them to rule over all creation (27-30). At the end of creation God evaluated all he had done and "behold it was very good" (31).
Your life has meaning because God is interested in you.
The fact that we have a Creator, that made us with a careful purpose and that is good is the only basis firm enough to give meaning to our existence. But someone may say, if there is such a God, how is it possible that there is so much evil in the world? The fact is that even though God loves man, man decided to "live his own life". Despite the fact that God had commanded not to eat from the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (2:16-17) man disobeyed God and for the first time experienced the meaning of living his own life apart from God. This experience was death. Death and suffering are consequences of sin. Sin in its most basic form is the desire to live our life apart from God. It is disobedient for us to not have God a constant part of our lives. Nevertheless God is still interested in you and me. And has done something so that we can live forever. To save man from sin and death God sent his one and only son -Jesus. Jesus himself once said "for God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son, so that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life" (John 3:16). Jesus died on a cross paying for our sins and rose from the dead. Today he offers to us eternal life by trusting in what he gained for us. Jesus said once "for what will a man be profited if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what will a man give in exchange of his soul?" (Mt. 16:26). Wouldn't it be nice to say "it's my life, it's now or never" but instead of turning our back to Jesus bow down our heads in prayer and decide to give him our lives today? Then we could say " I am gonna live forever"
