Meaning of Life part 1
"The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly" (John 10:10). I think about life a lot. Always have. For a long time my favorite song--well, maybe not "favorite" but the song I was obsessed with--was "What's This Life For?" And I think that's a questing that everyone asks. I think that's one of the reasons we're here: to find out why we're here. But the probelm with that song is that it asked the question without providing the answer. And, listen, I know that each of us will find the answer to that question in our own ways. It's all the same answer, but it's different for everybody. Because the answer is: This life is to be lived. To live is to love and to love is to live. This life is about love, plain and simple. Unfortunately, that's where so many of us get into so much trouble. We spend all of our time, treasure, and talent looking for love in all the wrong places. And by doing so we steal, kill, and destroy. The thief Jesus was talking about in John chapter 10 isn't the devil. It's someone who tries to get into the sheepfold--or the promised land of rest--any way except through the door that Jesus is. Let me say it like this: Eternal life is the gift of God. So if you're trying to earn a gift then you're robbing yourself. Because a gift can't be earned. It can only be received. And since the Holy Spirit is our love receptor, we begin to understand what Jesus meant when He said, "...I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me" (John 14:6). He was talking about relationship. Which is what eternal life is. Jesus said, "And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent" (John 17:3). The gift of God is knowing God as Father in the context of knowing ourselves as His beloved Son in whom He is well pleased. Jesus said no man cometh unto the FATHER but by Him. You can't know God as Daddy until you know yourself as His Son. And, just as you can't earn a gift, you can't earn Sonship. You have to be born into it. Born from above. The new birth that occured when Jesus drew all men into Himself, died, and then rose again. A new creation in Christ filled with the Holy Spirit that can finally receive God's love (instead of trying to earn it). When you try to earn God's love you rob yourself of it. Because He always has loved you and He always will love you. God loving you has never been in question. You knowing and believing that God loves you is another matter. And that's why Jesus came. He came that we might have life, and have it more abundantly. He came that we might KNOW that Father (and His love for us). He came to pass us out of death and into life by equipping and empowering us to receive and release God's love. What's this life for? It's for love. To receive the love of the Father and to love one another with that same love!