So I was planning on coming home and writing a shallow, entertaining post about my past two days at work. But in light of current events, I can’t get my mind into an entertaining mood. So heads up, I think I’m about to get deep, even though I have no idea what I’m about to write…

Life. From birth to death. For many, this is all that matters. What happens between the time you’re born and the time you die. For others, it doesn’t matter at all what happens during life, but what comes after. Still others find a mix… your life matters, and so does what happens afterward. I would venture to say that most people say they believe this.

Plans. everybody’s got ’em. Things they are going to do in the future (or so they hope). They go from simple and short-term (finish this post then go get something to eat), to very complex and long-term (Finish school, get married, become a _______, make lots of money, live the high life). Nobody can truly say what they will do in the future, but most people seem to feel the need to pretend like they do. “What are you gonna do when you’re done with School, Steve?” “Well, I may do an internship at camp, but after that I really have no clue.” “You mean you don’t have a plan?!?” “You’re very observant.”

But I do have plans. I have plans to work tomorrow, I have plans to visit Rachel in 17 days, I have plans to someday put permanent rest to the idea of “Bachelor to the Rapture.” But who’s to say I’ll still have a job tomorrow? Who’s to say that there will indeed be a bus to take me to Jackson, and that I indeed will be on it. Who’s to say I’ll live long enough to get married? Life is fragile, life is a vapor, blah blah blah, we’ve all heard it before. Is there anyone that really knows what’s going on? Is there really someone in control of all this? What am I supposed to do about it?

Learn about it and come up with a conclusion, I guess. And I’m not talking about what Americans do in school, either, ’cause that can hardly be called learning. It’s more like memorizing enough of what your teacher says so that when they put a peice of paper with questions on it in front of you, you can answer most of them correctly and advance to the next grade. I’m talking about actually learning. Finding out how things work and why. Learning the truth, and separating it from farse. Knowing… really knowing right from wrong. That’s the kind of learning I’m talking about… the kind less than half of Americans actually do (yeah, that means you and/or many of your friends are probably just going through the motions and deceiving your/themselves… care to challenge me?).

Then what? Well I guess the next step would be to act on what you’ve learned. Actually carry out whatever your studies suggested you should do. Does everyone have to learn for themselves?… probably not… just as long as the people who don’t learn for themselves decide to copy someone who’s doing it right. And who’s doing it right? Yeah, you guessed it, we’re back to learning again.

Alright, all this theory’s gettin me depressed. I know that’s not the end of it. I know what lies on the other side of years and years of finding out what life is all about… I know the answer. “That’s awefully prideful of you.” Yeah, you shut up. It’s not on my authority that I’ve come to such a conclusion. I’m not the one who came up with it… I just agree. (Side note: For those of you who would have replaced “prideful” with “closeminded,” grow up, learn for yourselves and freaking admit that there IS absolute truth. Don’t bother arguing with me about it… as long as you label me “closeminded” I will happily fit the stereotype. I’m sick of you people). The answer… right. I am fully convinced that the purpose of life is to serve, honor, and otherwise glorify the one and only God: The Creator, the King of Kings, the Sovereign, Omnipotent One. If you disagree, I welcome you to comment, as long as you’re not gonna hide behind your make-believe wall of open-mindedness. Once you’re ready to have a truly open mind toward absolute truth, I’d love to talk with you.

So here’s where I guess everything’s supposed to fall into place. Serve God. Glorify Him. That is what truly matters in this life… the only thing I need to worry about between birth and death. How? The Bible is full of things that God wants you to do, and not to do. But what’s even better than that is that it’s full of how God will forgive you if you mess up. God demands perfection, and then He sacrificed His only Son so that we could attain this perfection, not by how good we are, but how perfect He is.

Alright… I’m almost done. This has been a lot of sequential ideas (at least they were sequential in my mind) thrown together with no real central point. So here’s what I want you to get, I guess: For those of you who do not believe that Jesus Christ is the only way to heaven and that it is by grace, through faith, and not of works… You’re missing out on the true purpose of life. Don’t just sit there and live a pointless life. Do something that will last an eternity. And for those of you who are believers, there is so much I could say. Jesus was once asked what the greatest commandment was… He responded with the “Shema” (It’s a Hebrew nickname for Deuteronomy 6:4) Love the Lord your God with all your heart soul, mind and might… And then He went above and beyond and gave us the second most important: “And love your Neighbor as yourself.” Long story short, Love is the key. God first, then others. If you truly love God and others, all your other actions will want to follow the rest of what God wants us to do. You wanna glorify Him? Then Love Him… more than anything else.

Ok, that’s long, I’m not gonna proofread. If you’re confused on something, comment or E-mail me, and I’ll try to explain what I meant.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 30th, 2005 at 5:58 pm and is filed under Serious. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.