The announcements abound of people who are nationally known or internationally recognized. There are those who are famous or infamous and are recorded in the history books. They are known for being who they are or for what they have done. But what about you? It may be that you are one of the vast majority of people who have lived who were not written about by the international press corps. You may not be one who is followed by the paparazzi. And you may be rejoicing that it isn’t you. But it may also be that you, along with many other followers of Christ have a sense way down deep inside where things like this are cemented, you have a sense of destiny. A sense of a God ordained purpose. It is a realization that you, in spite of the looks of things, are meant to be right here, right now.
You are. You are no accident in a chaotic cosmos. God has a hand in your being you and where you are in the timeline and on the globe. You are given gifts to unwrap and parameters to work in and a bundle of opportunities to decide on. And, by the way, you are not alone. You are a person of interest to the living God. Your name is recorded in the history books of time for all eternity. When you come to embrace God and you turn from all the other gods of this world to Jesus you are immediately and forever changed. It is historic. It is cheered not nationally or internationally, but beyond cosmically as the angels in heaven shout cheers of joy for you. Your name is written in the Lamb’s Book of Life. Your name is recorded in THE history book.
There is a deceiver who is the enemy of God and the accuser of God’s people. Beelzebub is not pleased with God’s attention on you so he does everything he can to mess things up. He might persuade you of your "greatness" and so you have little room for God. Or he may bring to your attention how "small" you are and how "little" you have accomplished and if you agree with the enemy he will drag you down. . Have you ever had a flood of thoughts that seem dark and as attached to you as a tick steadily sucking the life right out of you? If you have you may have identified the source. The enemy likes to steal your joy, to destroy your closeness to God, to kill your desire to live for Him. He knows the value of your life. He knows you are, in fact, an historic person. And the devil hates it. He is filled with pride and he is proud of keeping you from God and what God has for you. Watch out for him. Don’t listen to him.
There are some during their earth time who will accumulate more earthly attention and earthly records. God can and does use them as He does all His people. Does that mean they are of more value to Him? You know better don’t you. The thought that people with higher office or more fame on earth or successful in some manner of business or politics or athletics are automatically more favored by God is not a thought flowing from the realms of heaven. God is not operating on the same basis as those of human ilk. His ways are higher than our ways. He is dealing with you and me and all of us as we are in every situation male and female, rich or poor, famous or unknown.
What of living a life for God that is meaningful? There is a longing to honor Him with a life well-lived, a meaningful life. Have you wondered about that? Good, it is a good thing to consider. Do you know this verse spoken by Jesus?
Whoever knows and obeys my commandments is the person who loves me. Those who love me will have my Father’s love, and I, too, will love them and show myself to them. John 14:21 GWT
This verse gives us clues to a meaningful life. Notice that there is an ongoing relational aspect to it. The person who knows and obeys Jesus loves Him. Relationship is meaningful. This relationship is with the greatest human who ever or ever will live who was exalted to the right hand of God the Father and who is King of kings and Lord of lords. The person loving Jesus will receive God the Father’s love as well. People often long for meaning in the sense that someone whom they respect will see them, know them and be pleased with them. Jesus says, “Those who love Me will have My Father’s love, and I, too, will love them.” This goes far beyond a handshake and pat on the back. This is deep relationship. When someone notes that they are personal friends with a king or president or some other famous person people consider that meaningful. But somehow in the scheme of things having a close relationship with the God of the Highest Heavens is relegated to little importance except for ceremonial purposes. I imagine the enemy of souls has something to do with that kind of thinking.
Let’s go on with the clues to a meaningful life. At the time Jesus spoke these words no books of the New Testament were printed. There were no lists of Jesus’ commandments for people to obey. He had spoken. I am sure there were note takers, but that is not the point. People wanted to know what Jesus would have them to do and they wanted to and did do it. That revealed the love for Him that was in their hearts. A meaningful life? Doing what the Lord has for you to do. How that is evaluated by the world establishment is of little importance on the eternal scale. It comes down to being faithful to the one whose love for you took Him to the cross and beyond. You may be thinking, “This doesn’t help me much. I still don’t understand how I am to live my meaningful life?” Patience. You have something that is vital and you don’t want to overlook it. Begin with letting go of the world’s standards for what a meaningful life is. That ingrained twisted value system has barbs all over it and it gets hold deep on our insides and is hard to dislodge. It has to go. God’s values have to reign supreme. See things from God’s perspective.
Doing what the Lord has for you to do. How is that done? For most of us we assume (not necessarily something communicated by God). We assume that if we do good (good being defined by our own minds) that we have arrived at doing what the Lord would have us do. I can justify sin, but also projects, missions, ministry and all sorts of things. I know that I can justify my good actions. I can find reasons and excuses for my attitudes and behavior which I justify as being good, but by examination of the Holy Spirit and Holy Scriptures falls far short of good. In order to do what the Lord has for me to do I have to find out what He has to say about it. If He can't communicate it I can't be expected to do it, can I? If He does communicate it then I am like the one in John 14:21 who has His commandments and now it is up to me to follow through with it. And when I do keep His commandments the relationship of love flows. Life between the eternal and temporal flows. The meaning of my life takes on new dimensions.
A meaningful life? It is a life rightly related to God and His creation. It is a life empowered by the Holy Spirit's energy. It is a life so connected to Jesus that His instructions are heard and followed.
Something else comes with a meaningful life. Assurance that your life is meaningful. Take a look at the life of Jesus. He walked in the assurance of His life being meaningful. Peter was sure. Paul was positive. Delusional assurance is sadly typical, but genuine godly assurance is the way to go. There is peace from God in this assurance. There is an easy yoke in this assurance. There is the fruit of the Spirit in this assurance. There is a vision for living fully for God in this assurance. And there is the assurance of hearing "well done" by the One who really counts when it comes to the matter of life.
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