Considering Your Life

Paul's discourse in Athens is recorded for us in the the Bible, specifically the 17th chapter of the book of Acts.  "God", Paul said, "has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth…so that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us".  In other words, we all are special creations of God and were created with an ultimate purpose to seek God.  That is we should appreciate His power as we experience the wonders of creation.  We should understand, through the things that have been made, the invisible attributes of God, that is, His character. And since we have been made in His image, we should imitate that character.  We should be good and kind and helpful to others. Loving others is how we love God and seek Him.  This is our purpose.

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But if we are not created and just overly-fortunate products of a "big bang", then there is no reason behind our existence.  We are like King Solomon wrote in Ecclesiastes "man has no advantage over animals, for all is vanity, all go to one place: all are from the dust, and all return to dust".  Are we nothing more than animals?  No ultimate purpose in life but to survive?  If so, why not live like animals and take whatever we want and when we want it without regard to other "animals"?  Why not hurt and harm others if it is to our advantage?  If there is no reason for our existence, there is no accountability, no judgement of others, because one person's purpose in life is just as good as the next person's purpose.

 

But people can't live like that because we aren't animals.  To live this way Solomon found out is “madness”. That is why we have protections and court systems to hold people accountable for behavior that is clearly inappropriate. This is divine, not animalistic.  We all have a sense of fairness and rightness that animals do not have. That is part of the “divine nature” Socrates understood and Paul pointed out when he wrote, "For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, that is, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, being understood by what has been made".  We have value and purpose and a destiny other than just dying.  Jesus said it like this, "For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?". 

 

Yes, Socrates was correct, when he reasoned there is a "soul" within us, and it is "divine" and we do need to "examine" our lives.  Yes, Solomon was correct when he wrote, "Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is man's all."  Yes, Jesus was correct when He said that the human soul is worth more than "the whole world" and that we are of more value than many sparrows".  Yes, we are not just animals, we are not just a lucking outcome of a big explosion.  So what are you willing to "give in exchange for your soul”?  If we miss the reason and purpose of our existence on earth, we will miss the eternal existence…eternal life, the free gift to us from God the Creator through Jesus Christ, the Son of God.