10/28/2023
Are you in search of the “things” of your life; you know, the thrill of your life, the job of your life, the experience of your life, and if you are so fortunate, the love of your life? These are all examples of the “things” that we find ourselves seeking. These are the “things” that we believe will make us happy, and if we are honest with ourselves, we all long for these things to some degree, but are we ever truly happy when we think we’ve found them?
“These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.”
John 15:11 ESV
As we search for those “things” that will make us happy in life we need to make certain that before all else we have life itself. It is hard to have the love of our life, or any of the other “things” of life, if we don’t first have a life. This is the biggest mistake people make as they struggle to find joy every day. They don’t first stop and ask themselves if they know how to live... they don’t ask themselves “Do I have life, what does that mean, and how will I know when I have it?”
There is a common expression that people use all the time; they tell someone to “get a life” but what they really mean is for that person to do something productive or that will bring them happiness. Most of the time they don’t really know what life is... other than a breath and a pulse.
We all laugh when people talk about finding the meaning of life. We think of this as a great unknown, an enigma, a question without an answer, and we think this is so impossible to discover that we abandon the quest, and instead concentrate on the more tangible “things” of life. What if I told you that the meaning of life isn’t hard at all, and that you can have it, and all the “things of your life” including joy? What would you think of that?
I knew a boy who blamed someone else whenever he failed. There was always someone or something that caused him to be unsuccessful... it was never Him! When he tripped, it would be immediately followed with “Who put that stone there?” Or if he lost a game it was “They cheated!” or, “We would have won if Johnny had done what he was supposed to.” This is how we approach our failure in seeking the fullness in our lives, and soon we just laugh nervously, and say that we failed because there is no true meaning to life. It makes us feel better to think that the meaning of life is as unobtainable as the fountain of youth, so instead we turn to seeking the “things” we believe will make us happy, and bring us joy.
Well my friend, understanding the meaning in your life is easy, and it is right there gathering dust on your bookshelf in the pages of your bible, or in a childhood memory of your Pastor speaking on Easter Sunday. Listen to these Words as Jesus speaks...
“Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and life.””
John 14:6 ESV
Jesus Christ is the meaning of life, and has been from the foundation of the world. It has never been a question without an answer. We spend so much time trying to deny Him that we make knowing Him appear hard in order to console ourselves in the sin and failure we bask in. We begin to search for the “things” in a life we don’t even know, or have. We blind ourselves to Him so that we can see the world more clearly.
The realization that Jesus Christ is life itself is an amazing epiphany! It removes the clouds from our eyes, and provides a foundation for all of the “things” in our life. He not only gives us the “things” of life, but His truth allows us to know when we have actually found those that will bring us joy... the TRUE “things” of our lives.
“He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?”
Romans 8:32 ESV
And yes, Jesus brings us the joy in all the “things” in our life that we have come to know, and that are founded in Him. His desire for us is to experience joy.
“These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.”
John 15:11 ESV
When we have the life of Christ, we see ourselves in a different way, we see truth. The love of our life may suddenly appear for what it is... the lust of our life. The job of our life shows itself to actually be greed, and when we see the thrill of our life in the full light of Jesus we may see it has actually been sin. This is the difference that the true meaning of life brings. It most certainly defines life, but it also changes us, and opens us up to the truth of life as well.
“But that is not the way you learned Christ! — assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.”
Ephesians 4:20-24 ESV
So, now that we walk in life, we can have the “things” of our lives as they should be. Suddenly our spouse becomes the love of our life in truth, and we find that there is a better job for us that fills our every need monetarily, and spiritually. All of the “things of our life” take on new meaning and direction, and the result is great peace, and joy.
Prayer:
Father, I thank you for my life, and the realization of it through your Word, and I thank you for Jesus Christ your Son who is that life. Thank you for the clarity and foundation my living in Jesus brings. I know your joy Lord because I follow your commandments and live without the vexation of unforgiven sin. Heavenly Father, I thank you for the redemption of Jesus, and the forgiveness He has made possible for my sins. I praise you for your grace and mercy that reached a crescendo on Calvary Hill. Help me Lord as I seek the great “things” of my life. Make them true, pure, and pleasing to you. I know that if they are such, then joy and peace will abound in me through them, and in my life itself. In your Word and Jesus Christ I find truth, and the very meaning of life; I see the lie that once told me that life had no meaning except in my own pleasure. Thank you for opening my heart and my eyes to you Father, and ordering my life along the path of righteousness. Praised be your name, and may all creation cry out to you... Holy, Holy, Holy art thou! Father of life, and God of living, peace, and joy.
Rich Forbes