The Meaning of Life -Dying In The Light of God, Jesus, & The Holy Spirit (Christianity)

A lot of people ponder; “what is the meaning of life?” That depends on their definition of “meaning.” The question of the meaning of life could mean: “Why are we here?” “What’s life about?” or “What’s the purpose of our existence?”

Let’s say you died tomorrow, besides family and friends (unless you’re a celebrity); it’s highly likely anybody will remember you 5 or 10 years from now. And that goes for billions of people. We all have a brief amount of time on this planet, and then we’re gone. The atheist says that’s it, we cease to exist. We merely evaporate.

Solomon in all his glory said life is nothing but vanity; he’s done and had everything there is under the sun, women, horses, travel, palaces, food, drink, etc. “A person can do nothing better than to eat and drink and find satisfaction in their own toil.” –Ecclesiastes 2:24. Success (monetary) means absolutely nothing when it comes to life and death (think about the celebrities who have died - with no sense of meaning). So why then are we here?

"Worthless people live only to eat and drink; people of worth eat and drink only to live." - Socrates

It's about the here and now (what we do with it) and about the afterlife. If there's no God, then there's no afterlife. Life here on earth just goes round and round, and we hope to find "true love" and ease the pain of loneliness, if not, we just buy a pet and do the best we can. There really are no boundaries, except what man makes law. And if this is the case, why contribute to society if all we’re going to do is die anyway? Who were the original rule-makers, and who gave them the authority to make the rules that govern to make life better for a civilization? To be civil towards each other, who originally said this is the "right" thing to do?

"People are like dirt. They can either nourish you and help you grow as a person or they can stunt your growth and make you wilt and die." - Plato

What makes us want to scratch and survive for such a cold harsh reality, and then hide from it (through technology)? We “cocoon” and “clique” ourselves up and then try to find meaning for our lives.

There is hope for the believer, there are actually two reasons why we’re here, one is a test given by God to see what we do with the life we’re given, and the other is to serve and glorify God. God is love, and He created us so He could love us and we in return could love Him back. Whether we choose to accept or reject His love, and love Him back is our prerogative. What’s more important than our “self-image” and the world’s view of us is the image that God has on us, our “God-image.” Jesus says every act and every careless word will be accounted for on the Day of Judgment for the non-believer. Every kind word and act for the believer will be rewarded in heaven. Jesus gives life meaning by the act of our believing and trusting in Him to say and do the right things for His glory and later reward. Through Him is the only way to find true meaning in our lives.

“You may have all the money you need but are lacking in health. Or maybe you have enough money and good health but have lost love. “There is no one in this world who is 100% satisfied.” -R.C. Sproul

We can live with God’s rules and live in the Light, or we can live by our own rules and live in darkness (separation from God).

“We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light.” - Plato

To be in the light is to follow or serve Jesus Christ. And to follow or serve Jesus one must accept Him as his or her Lord and Savior. There is only one way to do this. If you confess out loud, that “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, then you will be saved. –Romans 10:9 (which means you're going to heaven and are "saved" from hell). The “Sinner’s Prayer” is to repent of wrong habitual behavior and ask Jesus to come into your heart and make Him your Lord and Savior. Staying obedient to His precepts and living by His examples will keep you “In The Light.”

I told my intellectual-surgeon brother; “Jesus Saves,” he told me; “yeah, and smoking kills, I got my stock in cigarettes. My brother's a true scoffer. He likes to play the stock market, in actuality; his trading stock is killing time. When my brother dies, his stocks will pass on to his wife and kids, then what? My brother thinks God’s going to let him in because he saves lives everyday (good works belief), it doesn’t work like that. Along with me, he’s still a sinner. He feels his good works exonerate him from hell. Yet the Bible clearly says there is not one righteous man good enough, based upon his own merit to earn his way into heaven. Jesus said He is the only way to get in, small is the gate and narrow is the road and only a few find it. –Matthew 7:14 Wide is the gate to hell because there are so many people going through it. The general masses think they’re good enough to be in the Light but if they’re not walking with Jesus, then they’re walking in darkness.

When we serve others, we’re serving Christ because Jesus said “Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me." Again, this makes us walk in His Light.

James (half-brother of Jesus) said; “faith without works is dead.” That's why we should do charitable deeds, not to make ourselves look or feel good, but solely to help others in need and to glorify God.

My life didn’t have meaning when I was serving the homeless or helping to build a house for the needy. My life took on meaning when I did good deeds and sought after God daily, that’s when the light turned on. I put on God’s perspective, His pleasing image of me when I strive to do what's right and to serve others.

Jesus - King of Kings

Jesus had his birth documented, when He was 12 years old and in the temple documented, and from when He was 30-33 years old documented. From that short amount of time, we’ve split our calendar by using His birthdate (B.C. & A.D. - Before Christ & Latin “Anno Dimini” -in the year of the Lord). Nobody has made such an enormous worldwide impact for such a brief existence and amount of time documented. No matter what your worldview or belief system is, you cannot deny the fact that there are over 2 billion followers of Jesus Christ, making Christianity the largest religion in the world. He's impacted the entire world where some people get executed just by preaching or following His name. God exalted Jesus Christ to the highest place of position and has exalted His name above all other names. That's why when we live for Jesus and follow Him our lives take on meaning. What we do for Him counts, in this world, and in the afterlife.

After we accept Jesus Christ (God the Son) into our lives, He then sends us a Helper/Counselor that is the Holy Spirit and He comes and lives inside of us (in our heart). God the Holy Spirit guides us and helps us pray, interceding for us to God (the Father) and interceding for us when we pray for other people. The Holy Spirit convicts us of any wrongdoings and we can grieve Him when we go down the wrong path. He also teaches, guides and directs us down the path of goodness and of righteous deeds. When we feel guilt, remorse, and shame, that's the Holy Spirit convicting us and shaping us into better people. The Holy Spirit is the counselor that directs us down the path of life that gives life "meaning."

Dying in faith in Biblical language means a person believes there was a man from Nazareth named Jesus who died on a cross (2000 years ago) for our sins, was buried, and rose from the dead. This is the gospel (good news) that is witnessed to millions of people by millions of people. A lot of people (like my brother who is a surgeon) who think logically say/think/believe Jesus was a good teacher but that's it. But Jesus not only said good profitable things, He also claimed that He and God are the same. So Jesus can’t be a good teacher and also be a liar. Atheists believe the Bible is just a bunch of stories about God made up by some people. The interesting thing is when people are faced with death, dying a slow death, born without limbs, extremely poor, faced with cancer, etc., they think about God as the only one who can heal and/or bring them peace. They welcome prayer graciously from believers, even my brother, when I pray for him, he begins to relax after I say in Jesus’ name. Why do people cling to Jesus in their final hours? Peace, hope and comfort, and it’s not a false hope or wishful thinking, it's a gut feeling, non-explainable assurance that believers will spend eternity in the overwhelming, loving presence of God. None of us can fully grasp what eternal life (heaven) will be like, yet most of us know from scripture that it’s a place that has no more death, tears, sorrow or pain. People are restored to their best possible appearance. There is total bliss, harmony, and worship of God forever. To believe and trust in Jesus Christ before and when we die is "dying in faith."