I grew up in a home where God was never discussed. Consequently, God had no part in my thinking when I began searching for meaning in my life.
I eventually began justifying my existence (providing myself with some meaning,) in terms of my service to my fellow man. And, after God and his Son became important to me, then seeing service to my neighbors as gaining God’s approval. But I still felt something was missing.
This morning (Aug 4) I read a daily devotional titled, My Utmost for His Highest, for the umpteenth time. One sentence reads: “The only thing of value is being taken into the compelling purpose of God and being made His friend.” What began to dawn on me is that the primary justification for my existence is not my service to either neighbor or God, but rather my friendship with them… my love for them.
This is very hard for me to grasp. It’s sort of like a long peal of rolling thunder. It’s loud. It’s impressive. But at the moment, I haven’t a clue what to do with it! I do, however, suspect that this is like a bolt of lightning that is striking at the very root of my being. And I have faith that our Shepherd will open my eyes to see one of the most fundamental of all truths – the nature or meaning of life.
OK. After some prayer, I’m beginning to get some clarity.
Love is manifested as service (1 Joh 3:18)[1], but it is the caring that motivates the service, not the service itself, that justifies a person’s existence. God is looking for people who are open to learning to care about him and the rest of his children just as much as or more than they care about themselves. Perhaps you read about a hiker many years ago, whose hand got trapped under a boulder too big for him to move. He knew that no one knew where he was, so there was no hope of rescue. As much as he didn’t want to lose it, he nonetheless cut off his right hand because he loved himself more than his right hand. Similarly, Jesus says that, out of love, we may need to sacrifice ourselves for our brothers or for the sake of his name. Joh 15:13; Mat 5:11[2]
John wrote that we love because God first loved us. (1 Joh 4:10)[3] And indeed, the Bible is full of accounts of God serving mankind as a whole, as well as a multitude of individuals. Without an action that benefits someone, a person’s love is powerless. So, as we grow in our appreciation of God’s love for us, the many ways in which he makes our lives possible and enjoyable, his grace, we become more motivated and able to do the same for others.
As members of the body of Christ, (Eph 4:16)[4] we need to be serving one another (Gal 5:13)[5], just as all the cells in our bodies serve one another. But our motivation must be love – friendship for God, Jesus, and our fellow man firstly, and duty secondly. If obligation is our primary motivator, then it has become an idol, a false God to us. Perhaps you remember the very first of the 10 Commandments, “You must have no gods other than me. Don’t make an idol for yourselves.” (Exo 20:3-4) Christians are no longer under the Mosaic law, but the apostle Paul wrote to the Corinthians (1 Cor 10:14) to flee from idolatry, and to the Colossians (Col 3:5) to deaden their bodies to covetousness which was idolatry. And near the end of the Bible, at 1 Joh 5:21 the apostle John tells us, “… guard yourselves from idols.”
My needing to serve in order to feel that my existence was justified has been the idol I have worshiped/ been motivated by. While serving my fellow man (and then assuming that that served God,) was better than living only for myself, it was nevertheless shortsighted. The best, however, is knowing that God, Jesus, and God’s children are all family and dear friends; that provides much more freedom and motivation.
Service offered out of love rather than “I gotta serve to justify my existence (subconscious though that may be,) frees me from fear. If I can serve God’s family because He and I are friends, then I’m not concerned in the least about His casting me away should I become incapacitated and unable to serve. Now God, instead of my service, is my fortress. He is the source of my sense of security. (Ps 91:2; Pro 3:5)[6] He is the one I trust more than I trust myself.
I’m beginning to see a glimmer of light – God’s desire is not that I develop more skills but that I develop more caring. Becoming very good at whatever my job is, is important. (Col 3:23)[7] But even more important is that I become expert at caring more deeply for our Father, God and his children. Mat 22:37- 39[8]
And that takes me back to our Lord’s model prayer:
Our father in heaven, let your name be made holy, let your kingdom come, let your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Mat 6:9, 10
“Let your name be made holy (be sanctified, be honored) tells me to honor his nature, his spirit. And according to John (1 Joh 4:8)[9] that nature is love. As I learn to credit God for the myriad blessings I experience every day (rather than taking them for granted,) God becomes very attractive to me. I will want to be friends because he is being my best friend.
“Let your kingdom come,” When I pray for that I am praying for God to replace this devil-ruled system (2 Cor 4:4)[10] with his system ruled by Jesus, our King. (Rev 20:2, 4)[11] I am praying for a world ruled in love rather than by fear, a harmonious world.
As I say “let your will be done…” I am committing myself to working to accomplish God’s goals rather than my own. Eph 2: 10; Eph 6:6; 2 Cor 9:8[12]
Wow . . . Where do I start?
Jesus said, “Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me.” (Mat 11:29)[13] His yoke is the symbol of his service to his father. (Joh 5:30)[14] So Jesus, our Shepherd (Joh 10:11) [15] will teach me what God’s will is, and how to do it. But I won’t endure through the tough challenges (Mat 10:22)[16] unless I really care about my Best Friend’s desires and his feelings.
I think I’m beginning to get it. It’s in this increasingly intimate relationship with God that I grow in life until I am experiencing “life in abundance.” Joh 10:10
So what is the basis or meaning of life? I’m thinking intimacy with our Creator, our Father, God. It’s in living in and working with Jesus (Joh 15:1-8)[17] that our life becomes permanently meaningful. It is in working on God’s project that we see ourselves as an integral part of something bigger than just ourselves or even humanity as a whole. It is in the maturing process of serving God that I can be “filled with the fullness of God.” (Eph 3:19)[18] This is what puts my life in the context of the larger reality, God’s will, his plans for mankind. (Jer 29:11)[see endnote 19] This is what gives my life its fullest and permanent meaning.
All scriptures in the endnotes are from the MKJV (Modern King James version.) All pop-up scriptures on the blog are from the NKJV (New King James Version.)
[1] 1Jn 3:18 Children, let us not love with word or talk, but in deed and truth!
[2] Joh 15:13 No one has greater love than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. Mat 5:11 Blessed are you when men shall revile you and persecute you, and shall say all kinds of evil against you falsely, for My sake.
[3] 1Jn 4:10 In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation concerning our sins.
[4] Eph 4:16 from whom the whole body, fitted together and compacted by that which every joint supplies, according to the effectual working in the measure of each part, producing the growth of the body to the edifying of itself in love.
[5] Gal 5:13 For, brothers, you were called to liberty. Only do not use the liberty for an opening to the flesh, but by love serve one another.
[6] Psa 91:2 I will say of Jehovah, my refuge and my fortress; my God; in Him I will trust. Pro 3:5 Trust in Jehovah with all your heart, and lean not to your own understanding.
[7] Col 3:23 And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men;
[8] Mat 22:37 Jesus said to him, You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.
Mat 22:38 This is the first and great commandment.
Mat 22:39 And the second is like it, You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
[9] 1Jn 4:8 The one who does not love has not known God. For God is love.
[10] 2Co 4:4 in whom the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving ones, so that the light of the glorious gospel of Christ (who is the image of God) should not dawn on them.
[11] Rev 20:2 And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, who is the Devil and Satan, and bound him a thousand years. Rev 20:4 And I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was given to them. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for the witness of Jesus and for the Word of God, and who had not worshiped the beast nor his image, nor had received his mark on their foreheads, nor in their hands. And they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.
[12] Eph 2:10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to good works, which God has before ordained that we should walk in them. Eph 6:6 not with eye-service, as men-pleasers, but as the servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart, 2Co 9:8 And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that in everything, always having all self-sufficiency, you may abound to every good work;
[13] Mat 11:29 Take My yoke on you and learn of Me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and you shall find rest to your souls.
[14] Joh 5:30 I can do nothing of My own self. As I hear, I judge, and My judgment is just, because I do not seek My own will, but the will of the Father who has sent Me.
[15] Joh 10:11 I am the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd lays down His life for the sheep.
[16] Mat 10:22 And you will be hated of all men for My name’s sake, but the one who endures to the end shall be kept safe.
[17] Joh 15:1 I am the True Vine, and My Father is the Vinedresser.
Joh 15:2 Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away. And every one that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bring forth more fruit.
Joh 15:3 Now you are clean through the Word which I have spoken to you.
Joh 15:4 Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it remains in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me.
Joh 15:5 I am the Vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, the same brings forth much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.
Joh 15:6 If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered. And they gather and cast them into the fire, and they are burned.
Joh 15:7 If you abide in Me, and My Words abide in you, you shall ask what you will, and it shall be done to you.
Joh 15:8 In this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit, so you shall be My disciples.
[18] Eph 3:19 and to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge, that you might be filled with all the fullness of God.
[19] Jer 29:11 For I know the purposes which I am purposing for you, says Jehovah; purposes of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.
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