Thursday, March 23, 2006

Exhortation

We are sojourners on the earth, here only for a short time. Someone has pointed out that most of our great, great grand children will have no knowledge of us at all. And as the Bible says, we are like a mere a wisp of smoke, or like a flower, here today, and tomorrow gone, never to be thought of again. The Existentialists were right when they realized that there is no meaning in existence. We exist, but for no purpose. We just are. The Bible also says, all is vanity, nothing but meaninglessness. We live, we die, we plant, we harvest, we work, we love, we get sick, we die. Poof.

But the Bible also says that this is a description of man without God. We were put here because of God’s good pleasure. We live, love, laugh, and are happy because it pleases God. So what if our great, great grand children won’t know who we are? God knows us and God give us life. God is pleased with his children and this is what we are—God’s children. Oh what love he has poured out on us by making and calling us children of God.

This is important to remember because it is true, without God life is indeed meaningless. But with him, with him pouring his life into us, giving us grace at every turn, pouring out his love on us lavishly, we live. Not only live, but we live. We love him, we love one another. Life has meaning, deep meaning because he gives it to us along with everything else.

When we meditate on these marvels it occurs to us that unless God gives himself to us we would be lost. And so we strive with every fiber of our beings to desire to know God, to be filled by God, to be overwhelmed with and by God. We are consumed with longing to know him and to be like him, for his glory and honor, because he is God.

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