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