WHAT IF I HAVE BEEN WRONG ALL OF THESE YEARS ?
I lived a good, Christian life until I graduated from high school. Then I chose to be swept away by my own foolish, selfish desires. For too many years I tried to fill the hole that was left in my heart and soul with worldly, pagan lies. I tried every worldly lie I could find. I was lured with riches and false hope, both worldly and emotional, filled with nothing but anxiety, depression and a 1970’s lifestyle.
All this did was choke the Christian life out of my heart and I bore no spiritual fruits for so many years. (Matt. 13:22) I was barren and lived a lonely, self-centered life. What followed was my desire to follow the way of the world with great determination and pride. Wasn’t that what I supposed to do? I was fed by the world, the flesh and forces of evil. I would hear but not understand and look but never see. I wore a mask on my face that fooled everyone except my wife and my Creator.
A whole had been knocked in my soul. I fought against the desire to fill the emptiness of my soul with the desires of the world instead of God’s calling and His will for my miserable life. The deepest desire of my heart was to be loved. I tried a lifetime to fill it with greed, pride, lust, shame, uncontrollable anger, idolatry, jealously and a few others. I did it my way, ( good song, bad result ) we all have, which failed miserably.
These worldly works of the flesh where the likes of what I thought would fill the emptiness of my soul. This did nothing but take control of my life and lead me into a downward spiral in my quest for the meaning of life. None brought comfort or spiritual food. During this time, I also fought severe mood swings, undetected depression, social anxiety, sleep apnea, a second fight with cancer, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, the death of my father, the death of my cousin and chemo partner, the death of my very good friend in a coal mine accident, elevated liver enzymes and type 2 diabetes. I was a serious mess.
MY QUEST ANSWERED, WHAT IS THE MEANING OF LIFE ?
In April of 2023, I asked myself this question for the hundredth time. “What is the meaning of life for me?” For the first time in many years I answered my tired soul, “ I have been wrong for all these years.” Finally, my eyes could see and my heart could understand the answer to the greatest question of life’s journey, “What is the meaning of life.” My answer was very clear to my life long quest.
It came to me as a rock bottom plea to God. I humbly cried to the living God of the universe for forgiveness for my wrenched life. I begged for intimacy with He that created me. I prayed for the desire to live God’s will for me in my life, not my prideful, miserable will that I had failed at for so long.
TALKING TO THE LIVING GOD OF THE UNIVERSE IS PRETTY COOL…
I now see that God created all of us to love and serve Him and to live His will for the earthly part of our eternal life. We are also commanded to love God with all our heart, soul, strength and mind. Jesus (I didn’t forget Him), added one more commandment, “to love your neighbor as yourself” which was a pretty tall order for a lost, pagan soul like myself. Well, you may laugh and not believe any of this but, “what if you have been wrong all these years” in your quest for the meaning of life. IF YOU CAN BET YOUR LIFE IN ETERNITY ON IT, HAVE AT IT. I’M NOT GAMBLING ANYMORE…
THESE ARE THE ANSWERS TO THE FINAL TEST OF YOUR LIFE, ALL WRAPPED UP IN A PARABLE…
MATTHEW 25: 31-45 THE SHEEP AND THE GOATS, THIS IS THE NAME OF THE PARABLE
31 “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. 32 All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33 He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. 34 “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35 For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in,
36 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’ 37 “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38 When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39 When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’ 40 “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’
41 “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42 For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43 I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’ 44 “They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’ 45 “He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these brothers and sisters, you did not do for me.’
The Living God of the Universe will give you exactly what you love the most on your judgement day.
Pretty heavy parable, if you ask me. In the end, we will be judged by how we loved. We are called to love one another, called by the Man Himself. You may or may not believe this but why don’t you take stock in your life today and I hope the reality hits you in the head like it did me. We may know a lot of things about Jesus but may never know Him in an intimate relationship. Jesus calls us to live a surrendered life to Him and get to know Him intimately. It is a very tall order but eternity is a very long time…
Steve, theGoodWordGuy here. Wow, pretty heavy statements here. Life was definitely not a straight line for me. Up next: Cancer, the “C” Word.