The Special of the Day… From the Orange Moon Cafe…
"To Walk In Meaning"
Does it all matter? Does anything matter? Do we matter?
The thought occurred to me while watching a mini-documentary about the movie, "It's a Wonderful Life."
You likely know the story. George Bailey (portrayed by actor James Stewart) comes to believe his life has no meaning or purpose. He bemoans his fate and his seeming insignificance. "Everybody would be better off if I had never existed." An angel orchestrates events to show George this is not the case, and that he actually mattered greatly.
But did he? Again, do any of us, or does anything? The Bible plainly declares we do matter. Originally created in the image of God, humanity and all its members are of such importance both now and forevermore that God Himself became as one of us.
"The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us" (John 1:14).
The Lord Jesus also lived and died among us, His demise becoming the means of providing and offering eternal redemption to all (I John 2:2). Thus, we matter. Our lives have meaning. What we do bears significance. We will all exist forever, with our Lord or apart from Him, and we will all have had a role in the fulfillment of His eternal purpose in the Lord Jesus Christ (Ephesians 3:11). This the Christian believes, and this we seek to remember and affirm by living in the holy light that reveals all we are and all we do bears far more consequence than we can imagine.
"Whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord" (Colossians 3:23).
The materialist, conversely, declares either directly or tacitly that human beings do not matter. Our lives have no meaning. We bear no significance. Nothing is truly consequential. Indeed, the universe will one day end its expansion and then collapse back into nothingness (one commonly held view of several that project the ultimate doom of all things). The human race, according to this perspective, will have existed for a relatively brief moment of time in the history of all things. No record will remain that indicates we ever were, nor will anyone exist who knows and cares about our moment. In terms of reality, it will not have mattered that we lived, nor will it have mattered that the universe existed. A cosmic event will simply have happened that led to a vast material domain, over long spans of time. But then, it will end as if nothing ever took place. Little wonder that nihilism, the view that nothing has meaning or purpose, has had such a voice in philosophy during the last two centuries when materialism exercised such influence over the scientific realm. "Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die" (I Corinthians 15:32).
Much in God's creation tells us that we matter (everything, actually - Romans 1:20). Every page of His Word bears the same witness. The Holy Spirit continually shines the light of significance into every human heart. Believers proclaim the truth as we walk with God and seek to exemplify and communicate Christ. Indeed, we do well to remember as we look into the eyes of every human being that the heart behind them matters to God. May it matter to us as well.
May this day matter to us. Whatever it holds, the great fact of today proclaims that Someone holds it. Even more, this Someone "worketh all things after the counsel of His own will" (Ephesians 1:11). Considering the vast scope of the universe and the intricacies of human existence, such truth casts us to our faces in bewilderment and wonder. This constitutes an absolutely proper response to the infinite majesty of the Creator and Sustainer of all things. From our faces, we then arise to significance, to consequence, to meaning, to importance. All things matter. Human beings matter. You matter. I matter. This day and this moment matters. Perhaps most importantly, what we think, what we believe, what we pray, what we speak, and what we do matters so much that God weaves the threads of all into the tapestry of eternity and its sublime purpose in the Lord Jesus. Our realization of this truth, and our devotion to it, leads us in truth, reality, and yes, to walk in meaning.
"I know that, whatsoever God doeth, it shall be forever. Nothing can be put to it, nor any thing taken from it: and God doeth it, that men should fear before Him."
(Ecclesiastes 3:14)
Weekly Memory Verse
Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin.
(Romans 4:8)
6398
6397
No comments:
Post a Comment