What Is Life All About?

“Although we agree in calling life a burden very few of us are willing to lay it down. The thought of impending death causes us all alarm”, wrote John Wesley, the father of Methodism. The irony is quite clear, isn’t it? Many of us go about complaining and philosophizing on how difficult and pointless life is. “Life is a waste of time”, one might remark as if to suggest that time were more valuable than life. Yet at the slightest hint of death we hurriedly seek ways to protect our lives. If life is indeed pointless then why protect it or keep it? Why do we get scared at the thought of impending death? Is it because we realize at that moment that life is really not pointless after all?

A humorous story is told of a man who decided to commit suicide since life to him had become burdensome and meaningless. After considering a number of methods by which he would accomplish this task he thought it wise to seek a friend’s counsel on the best method. The friend suggested hanging. “What!” he exclaimed, clearly horrified by his friend’s suggestion. “I tried that once and I almost lost my life”, he continued.

We may entertain the idea that life has no ultimate purpose but it is when we are pressed that we realize we really do not believe this idea. Life does have a purpose and this purpose gives life meaning. But what is this purpose? To know the purpose of life you must know why you are here in the first place. When the “why” of life has been established the “what” of life becomes defined, doesn’t it? The Christian scriptures teach that man is created by God and for God. If you accept this teaching then life must be deemed sacred. If you reject this teaching then you are left to your own autonomy since you trace your existence to no supreme being; your life is subject to the dictates of your lusts. You do what you want when you want and how you want. You decide what is right or wrong. In essence you are the standard for your life – you are your own god.

Like some commentators have observed, there are those who have tried to live life to suit their own desires thinking that it will give them happiness yet happiness still eludes them. They seek for happiness in materialism and do not find it. They seek for joy in sex which leaves them empty. They seek for fulfillment in fame and positions of power but they remain unfulfilled. The commentators thus have concluded that the reason for this is that even though such people choose to be happy they seek it in the wrong places. Although not many who find themselves in this situation would readily admit it openly, King Solomon however, is one of the few who do. In the book of Ecclesiastes he says:

I decided to enjoy myself and find out what happiness is. … Driven on by my desire for wisdom, I decided to cheer myself up with wine and have a good time. I thought that this might be the best way people can spend their short lives on earth.

I accomplished great things. I built myself houses and planted vineyards. I planted gardens and orchards, with all kinds of fruit trees in them; I dug ponds to irrigate them. I bought many slaves, and there were slaves born in my household. I owned more livestock than anyone else who had ever lived in Jerusalem. I also piled up silver and gold from the royal treasuries of the lands I ruled. Men and women sang to entertain me, and I had all the women a man could want…. Anything I wanted, I got. I did not deny myself any pleasure. I was proud of everything I had worked for, and all this was my reward. Then I thought about all that I had done and how hard I had worked doing it, and I realized that it didn’t mean a thing. It was like chasing the wind—of no use at all. [Ecclesiastes 2:1-11]

Just think about the last line, “It was like chasing the wind—of no use at all.” It sounds like a rather disappointing end, doesn’t it? Yet these are the words of one who denied himself no pleasure. Christian thinker, Dr. Ravi Zacharias has noted that the lowliest point in life is at the stage when you have just accomplished what you thought would deliver the ultimate and it has let you down. How true! Indeed there is nothing else so depressing than climbing to the top only to find that there is nothing there.

The book of Ecclesiastes ends with the following powerful words: “After all this, there is only one thing to say: Have reverence for God, and obey his commands, because this is all that we were created for. God is going to judge everything we do, whether good or bad, even things done in secret.” Ecclesiastes 12:13-14

Billy Graham once observed that man is made in God’s image so that there will be fellowship but sin (i.e. rebellion against God and His principles) breaks this relationship. He notes that there is indeed pleasure in sin for a time but soon it turns sour and empty. “The sinner becomes restless and feels the loneliness of sin”, notes Mr. Graham. A person may look quite happy in appearance but something can be missing deep down in the heart. C. S. Lewis, one of the finest Christian minds of the past century, once observed that “God invented man just like man invents an engine; a car is made to run on gasoline and it will not run properly on anything else.” In the same way God made man to run on Himself. God is the food we are supposed to feed on. If we decide not to feed on Him then there is nothing else He can help us with. Lewis explains that “God cannot give us happiness and peace apart from Himself; there is no such thing!” Christian speaker J. M. Njoroge has also observed that “Trying to meet our real needs without God is like trying to satisfy our thirst with salty water: the more we drink, the thirstier we become.  This is a sure path to various sorts of addictions.”

Dietrich Bonhoeffer,the German theologian, also noted that happiness and peace depend so little on circumstances; they depend really on what happens inside a person. It was Blaise Pascal who observed that there is a God-shaped vacuum in everyone. A good reading of the Bible shows that indeed God seeks to fill this vacuum with Himself; He longs to give Himself and to satisfy our souls with the richness of his goodness. Our hearts are restless until they have found rest in our maker – God. We have wandered far away from God and it is only in the person of Jesus Christ that we can experience reconciliation with God and have inner peace and happiness. Are you right with God?