Having conducted a Memorial service last week and with another one coming along this week you can well imagine that thoughts of the purpose and meaning of life are foremost in my mind. As always, my basic answer, remains unchanged. Our main purpose in life, straight out of one of the doctrinal texts that have served Presbyterians for hundreds of years, is that we are here to glorify and enjoy God. The answer to why we are here is even simpler: we are here because God loves us. I know that these simple phrases might seem trite or even cliché, but in my experience, they are the clearest and most concise way answer to our existence.
Our problem in accepting and understanding this simple response to the meaning of life is our great separation from God, and in many cases a very, very, very poor understanding of just how much God loves us and wants us to be closer to him. In the midst of dealing with funerals and the potential of a few more, given the great age of a few folks here at St. James, I have a Facebook friend who is very much pregnant, and thrilled to be so. She is looking forward to the birth of her baby girl with a love, joy and passion that is infectious.
That love, joy and passion is exactly what God directs towards each of us, not just at our birth, but throughout our lives. Well, OK, there are moments during our life when God’s joy is somewhat diminished, but His love and passion never abate. If we could understand how God feels about us and, more importantly, if we could return even a small portion of that love, joy and passion heavenward, we would be far better able to understand why we are here and what we’re supposed to be doing.
Some folks derive purpose and meaning by doing stuff to the exclusion of God. Physically fulfilled, they are nevertheless nowhere near to being spiritually or emotionally satisfied. Without God at the center of life, our doing has no meaning or purpose. Most of us fall into that category. When I look at my own life and consider how important it was to me to find the right job, I realize that my priorities were way off base for the longest time.
I’m not alone in that respect: we worry about our kids having the right job; we stress about keeping the job we have or finding a job after we’ve lost one. Sure, good work and a paycheque are important, but we have bought into that system so much that we have lost sight of what really matters. What really matters is that God should be at the top of our priority list, not someplace way down the page.
The earliest Christians had it right: they shared everything and put themselves wholly in God’s hands. As a result of their faith they wanted for nothing and worried even less. There’s a powerful lesson there for all humanity: maybe it’s time to stop asking the questions and start living the answers. Maybe the time has come to worry less and start loving God with all our hearts and minds and souls.
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