Surely there are those moments in the lives of every person where he thinks about why he is on this earth and if there is a deeper meaning to life. Every day our calendars are filled with activities from early morning to late evening, but in those moments, what is the answer when you ask, “Why am I doing this or why am I here?”
In Paul’s sermon on Mars Hill, he affirms that God is the source of all life and breath and has placed limits of time and boundaries in men’s lives, “…so that they should seek the Lord in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him” (Acts 17:25-27). In the Old Testament, God used this imagery and adds one other element to the man groping to find Him. “You shall grope at noonday, as a blind man gropes in darkness” (Deut. 28:29). Have you had those moments when you felt like you were a blind man seeking to find the meaning of life?
Hundreds of years before Jesus was born, there were the Greek philosophers who struggled with this. There were two extreme positions proposed as the answers. On the one hand were the Epicureans who said that happiness was to be found by denying all restraints. They said, “Let us eat drink and be merry for tomorrow we die.” Paul spoke of this view of life when he wrote to the church in Corinth. He said that if there is no resurrection this would likely be a good choice (1 Cor. 15:32).
On the other hand, the Greeks had their Stoics who went to the other extreme and advocated that abstaining from satisfying the body we should live a life of denial. Paul showed this when he described this idea as one of “will worship” and said, “If you died with Christ from the basic principles of the world, why as though living in the world do you subject yourselves to regulations—’Do not touch, do not taste, do not handle,’ which all concern things which perish?” (Col. 2:20-22).
So, what is the truth about why you are here? When God created Adam as a living soul, He placed that soul in a body formed from the dust of the ground (Gen. 2:7). It is that soul, that spirit who causes you to ask about your existence. The answer is found in another spirit God placed in a body made of dust. The spirit of Jesus existed in heaven and before He came into the world He said, “A body you have prepared for Me…behold I have come to do Your will” (Heb. 10:5-9). Our body and soul are His!
You will not find Him in modern philosophy, but in the life of Jesus. Seek for the meaning of life in Him. When Paul spoke of men groping for Him at Mars Hill, he added, “He is not far from each of you.” We, too, have come to do His will!
-Dan Jenkins
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