Meaning of Life? 1

If our chief end is “to glorify God and to enjoy him forever” (Westminster Shorter Catechism 1), then it’s very natural to ask how any particular person can use that axiom for direction and meaning in life. Does it indicate what to do, or just the manner of doing it? It implies that I must not do that which God forbids, but it doesn’t tell me whether I should be a plumber or a banker, whether I should live in Denver or London, or whether I should spend this moment praying or shaving. Or does it?

When we ask for direction or guidance or meaning, we ask amid a complex of dynamic circumstances. It does us no good to ask abstractly, because that isn't where we are. We are “in the middle of things” (in media res) and “on the way.” We have at our hands a specific set of resources and responsibilities. We are connected to these friends and loved ones. We are in the hands of this God.

God tells us to come to him for wisdom (James 1:5). He is our Father, our Creator, our Redeemer, and therefore our chief point of reference for the deep questions like this. Prayer and bible study orient us towards him. They orient us to the contours of reality. They begin to transform the illusions that we have inherited from our culture (both inside and outside the church) into true vision. Thus prayer and bible study, done both corporately with the church and privately, are necessary media for drinking the wisdom of God.

How shall I seek his glory? He has put specific tasks in front of me. Some of them are mundane and we often perform them almost automatically: pay these bills, pick up bread and milk at the store, call Mom and Dad to keep in touch, call this list of friend who have been so kind, etc. Others tasks require much harder decisions and work: I am looking for a job, so do I stay in Huntsville or do I move to Denver to look for work? What preparations do I have to make for either route? How can I do this with minimum disruption to others?

Between the prairies of the mundane and the valley of the shadow of huge decisions lie the rolling hills of creativity. Negotiating them requires that we have some relief and leftover energy from climbing through the life-altering decisions, but they offer their own refreshment in return for work invested. I have been editing a book that a friend is writing. That’s one example. Writing this blog is another. And there are some projects that I have started and left hanging unfinished. Friends that have seen my outlines for those projects have encouraged me to continue, so I hope to start them up again. As it happens, the friend’s book, this blog, and several of my own projects all have explicitly theological aspects. Other activities that may not look especially God-ward do, in fact, relate to him because all of life comes from him. Painting, jogging, reading a good book, singing, baby sitting, and other simple activities can glorify God and give profound joy to others and to us.

Another clue about finding the specific goals of one’s own life comes from I Cor. 12 and Romans 12. God gives us gifts, spiritual and otherwise, for building up other people, not for promoting ourselves.

Conclusion: When we apply our gifts to opportunities for serving other people in joy, we will find that we also have grown. If we aim for self-fulfillment, we will find emptiness. If we aim to fulfill others, we will find, as a side effect, that we also have been filled.

Sonnet

In response to a haiku, composed by Jeff Goldstein at proteinwisdom, I wrote the following:

“St. Paul Addressing Conservatives about Modern Immorality”

They multiply transgressions of the law.
Imagining the darkness light, they twist
God-given wisdom into foolish mist
that leads astray. This gold they turn to straw.

And, not content to maim themselves, they draw
more people to this death-perverted list,
compounding pain, becoming but the grist
for God’s relentless mills, as Moses saw.

But you self-righteous Christian Pharisees,
repent of lovelessness, and from you knees
beg pardon. Jesus, who took our disease
and sin upon himself, reveals the truth and grace
of God. His wrath will fall in its due place.
His love will leave of sin no smallest trace.

Not great, but a gratifying effort.