I’m getting old.

You may not be old………..yet. But, you are certainly older than you were last week. This is one of the greatest truths…..one of the most pressing realities of our lives. Yet, oddly, we give it little thought. This is probably because of where it leads……..physical deterioration and death.

We live in a society that worships youth. When the TV wants to sell you something, they show you somebody 45 or younger enjoying it. Have you ever seen a soap commercial featuring an 85 year old in a wheelchair? Have you ever seen, on TV, an 85 year old in a wheelchair enjoying anything? 85 doesn’t look like any fun at all………if the TV is telling us the truth. And yet, old is where we are headed…….all of us. The only way to avoid 85………is to die young……….swell. A famous musician summed it up pretty well when he said, “Nobody gets out alive”.

Our culture’s solution to this “unhappy ending” is surprising in its simplicity………we ignore it. “Eat, drink, and be merry…….” But, generally speaking, ignoring the truth is not a good plan. I once went to a surgeon to get something fixed. In the course of our conversation, he said,

“You’re going to get old, and you’re going to die, and it’s going to be ugly”.

That was uplifting……….and yet every word was true.

So……..how do I get up and face the day………face my future……..face 85 in a wheelchair? Well, I start out slowly. I let the stiffness and the dizziness settle down. Then I sit up, put my feet on the floor and get going.

I look a little further ahead than my TV does. I look out of my back window at this amazing beautiful world. I consider how it came to be.The most popular explanation of the world today is Darwinism. Boiled down, Darwin tells us that everything we see is just an accident……actually trillions upon trillions of consecutive, additive, positively adaptive accidents. The trouble with Darwin is that I’ve seen enough accidents to know that after an accident, things get worse not better….things become more random, not more organized. Darwinism is a little like believing that the way to improve your old car is to plow it into a tree. (OK, that was cheap……the car isn’t alive so Darwin doesn’t apply).

So, I choose a less popular world view…….intelligent design. This tells me that behind it all is a creative intelligence. I think that the best candidate for this intelligence is God/Jesus/Spirit……a benevolent creator who cares for me personally. This is good and bad (from a secular perspective). The creator promises life after old age……after 85 in a wheelchair……after death. But, the creator also has expectations of us…….expectations of me………before 85. This world view is humbling because we are moved down the chain of command from the greatest intellect in the cosmos to a fairly small cog in a very large machine. We are not in charge. And we, as humans, do not like the whole humble thing. We like believing that we are in charge. Even though…….by any measure……..we have made a mess of things.

So, how do I face my day……today…….at 65? I take the long view. I look ahead to paradise where I get to spend time with the guy who made me………to spend time with friends and family. I accept that while 85 in a wheelchair is going to be a temporary setback…….there is something much better ahead. I am not clear on all of the details, but I suspect that it will involve friends, a satisfying job, and a body that works the way God intended it to. Until then, I will focus on living up to my creator’s expectations of me………today.

His expectations? Pretty simple.

Love

Love God and love my fellow man. That should keep me busy……..for the next 20 years or so.

“Which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”
Jesus replied:  “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’  This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

Jesus, NIV

We hate to admit it.

But, we are, by nature, followers……we are sheep.

There are very few true leaders out there. The funny part of this is that we don’t realize this basic truth in our lives. We each like to believe that we are independent thinkers, the captain of our fate. But…..for better or worse…….this is just not true. For almost all of us there is a single idea, person, or thing that we follow. We tell ourselves that we have chosen our leader because the person, thing, or idea is somehow good. But, the truth is that we will follow even when our leader, our boss, is clearly doing something bad. The further along we go, the more rigid we become. We stop hearing anybody but our boss. We discard any idea that the boss doesn’t like. We only watch Fox news…..or CNN. This is how people who are fundamentally good and smart wind up in a crowd following someone who is clearly evil……..think Hitler. FWIW this post is not about Trump and Pelosi. I don’t want you to focus on the “evil” person or idea that the other guy is following……..I want you to critically examine the boss whom you are following. Most of us have never done this. For most of us, we live our lives walking down a path that has been laid out by another. A great many of us get to the end of that path and ask “how in the world did I wind up here?” It’s pretty simple……you got “here” because the boss you were following led you here…… and he did it for his, her, or its purpose. In order to avoid future disappointment or worse……..you need to know who is leading you……you need to have an idea of where they are taking you.

So who…..or what …….are you following?

Here are some candidates:

The Republican party
The Democratic party
Your job
Addiction
Money
Status
Fame
Hatred
Pleasure
Fitness
God
Satan

It can be surprisingly difficult to know who is at the head of the line you are in. Fact is, most of us have never even looked onto it. But, rest assured, as long as you stay in line, you will wind up exactly where THEY want you to go.

The best way to know whom you are following is to examine the forks in your path. Look back at choices that you have made…..especially grey zone choices. You might even make a list. Look down the list and ask what authority informed your choice. Why did you make the decision that you made?

Here are examples of “forks in the road”:

Who did you marry?

What job did you take?

Who did you vote for?

The last lie that you told

Your last act of kindness

The last thing that you did or didn’t steal (ever heard of the “use tax”…….its the sales tax that you are supposed to pay on things you order on the internet…….and that you probably don’t report on your state income tax form)

Last Sunday……..did you relax with your family…..or work

Are gun control and abortion right or wrong?

Look at these decisions. In particular, consider the ones that made you just a little uncomfortable. Those are the forks where you followed the boss…….and they are the key to your leader’s identity.

Once you have identified your leader, then you can get an idea of what destination he has chosen…….for you. Then, you can decide if that is the destination that you would choose.

If you don’t like what you see…….watch for the next fork in the road. Decide based on a new leader. The old leader will tug at you, but at each subsequent fork, choosing the new path……following your new leader will get easier.

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”

God, NIV

“I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me—  just as the Father knows me and I know the Father—and I lay down my life for the sheep. I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd.”

Jesus, NIV

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

Jesus, NIV

Christians and secular humanists butt heads all of the time. Abortion, freedom of religion, freedom of speech, LGBT issues…….you name it…….we probably disagree about it. The gap between us is wide and seems to be getting wider.

If you trace this gap back to the basics, it seems like the heart of it comes down to our understanding of what “life” is.

So, what do we mean when we talk about life…….in particular our life…….my life?

To the secular humanist, our life is the time from birth to death. Everything fits into this span of time. We look at our life experiences and they are rich and colorful. Life is long and full and beautiful. There is nothing meaningful before our birth or after our death. Others lived before us and others will live after us, but; in a very real sense, their lives are theirs…….and they are irrelevant to us. We have about 80 years to do it all……to experience it all. 80 years is a lot of time but we have a lot to experience. So…..we each develop a code that we live by and we design that code, that set of rules, to maximize the quality of our 80 years. We do contribute to our families and to a lesser extent to the communities that will outlive us, but these are secondary. The further removed they are from our 80 years, the less attention they receive. If you don’t believe this……look at where you spend your money. This is the reason why global warming just hasn’t gained much traction……even among secular humanists. Our secular code tells us, “eat, drink, and be merry…….for tomorrow you will die”. And that code works very well…….for our 80 years. That is the primary meaning of life for the secular humanist.

To the Christian, life has a very different meaning……even though most Christians don’t give this a lot of thought. In fact, most Christians spend most of their time living as though they were secular humanists. In a word, we spend six days and change as secular humanists and then become Christians for a few hours on Sunday. If you really think about it, life, for a Christian, has 3 phases……..eternity past, this world, and eternity future. We know a little about history but, eternity past is largely hidden. We know more about eternity future from the Bible; but, realistically, our vision of eternity future is a little foggy too. The one thing that I can say with certainty is that our 80 years in this world is a tiny sliver of time wedged between these two eternities. Our life seems very important from where we stand today; but, if you back off and look at the big picture, our 80 years here is extremely short……….and inconsequential. This can be sad or joyous.

It all hinges on what eternity future looks like.

As Christians we are given 2 visions of eternity future…….”paradise future”……..and “not paradise future”. As I said before, the descriptions that we have are a bit foggy. I tend to think of these as “nice eternity” and “not nice eternity”. There is little value in speculating about the details…….will there be a Starbucks? BUT……..eternity is a long time……and “nice” is better than “not nice”. And, as it turns out, the choice between “nice eternity” and “not nice eternity”………..is entirely up to us. Accepting Christ gets you “nice eternity”, denying him gets you “not nice eternity”. This is true regardless of whether you are a Christian or a secular humanist.

So……..back to the original question………..what is the meaning of life? Why does God bother with our tiny sliver of time? What are we supposed to do with our 80 years? I believe that we are here primarily for one purpose……..to decide……to accept Christ or to deny him……in a word, to choose between “nice eternity” and “not nice eternity”. Everything that enters and leaves your life is there to shape that decision: your wife’s laughter, your marriage, your granddaughter’s hug, addiction, your cancer, the death of your child. All of it…..good or bad………it all shapes you……it all contributes to your decision. We all respond differently to our world. Maybe God sent you a great spouse to lead you to him. Maybe he sent you pain…….for the very same reason. I believe that God, like any parent, is willing to expose his child to brief pain in order to preserve his child’s future.

So…….. the meaning of life for a Christian?

All of it………the joy and the pain……..is there to lead you past a fork in the road………accept or deny.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

Robert Frost, “Mountain Interval”

I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live and that you may love the Lord your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. For the Lord is your life, and he will give you many years in the land he swore to give to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

Moses, NIV

I’m mad at bunch of people.

The guy who robbed a family member.
The roofer who ripped off my son.
The guy who threatened my granddaughter.
The girl who bullied my granddaughter.
All of those who use handicapped parking but have no meaningful handicap.
The road rage guy who yelled at my wife.
The guy who charged me $1500 for 15 minutes of shabby work on my chimney.

And many more…….

My list is long; but, I know people who have lists much longer than mine.

Consider the people on my list…..and on yours. The things that they have done are deplorable…..no question about it.

In our society, we are constantly told to hate the people whom we are mad at. Every day, on our phones, on our computers, and on our TVs, somebody is demonizing their “enemy du jour”. Just like in junior high school……… they are trying to recruit you and me to hate the person that they hate. I see people who are otherwise very nice people…….friends of mine……doing this just about every day on Facebook.

But, here’s the problem.

God loves them all. Yes…..he even loves the guy parked in the handicapped spot……..whose only handicap is that he is lazy.

Even worse……..he loves those on the opposite end of the political spectrum. Hold your nose……..God loves Donald Trump……….God loves Nancy Pelosi.

So…….how do we handle our anger…..how do I handle my anger? I think that we need to try something that goes against our more base instincts.

Don’t hate someone because a politician or “talking head” told you to. They are trying to manipulate you to accomplish their goals. We should have left this behavior behind in junior high school.

Learn how to disagree without demonizing the other guy. Believe it or not he pretty much wants the same things that you do. When someone tries to recruit you into their hate……just turn away.

Remember that the only thing that you can control is what you say and do. People will hurt you. They will do bad things. Politicians will do things that you don’t like. This is never going to change, whether you wade into the mud slinging or not. Let it go and move on. When the other guy does something bad…… do something good. Go high when they go low.

If you do these things you will be in harmony with one of the two great rules of Christianity ………love your neighbor. This is the road to inner peace. Even more importantly, it is the only path to lasting joy.

This bears repeating.

LOVING OTHERS IS THE ONLY PATH TO LASTING JOY.

You can do this. You can love the other guy……..even if he hurts you……..even if she disagrees with you over something very important………abortion, gun control, the wall, the president, congress, you name it. This will drive the politicians and “talking heads” crazy.

And it will put a smile on God’s face.

“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.”

Paul, NIV