“Some people think football is a matter of life and death. I don’t like that attitude. I can assure you that it is much more serious than that!” Bill Shandly, English Soccer Manager
Jesus promises to give meaning to life. All of us need a reason to live. For some it’s sport, for others its family or work, the business or travel.
There is a very wise answer in the Westminster Catechism to the question “what is the chief end of man?” – the 17th century way of asking, “what is the purpose of life?” It runs, “to glorify God and enjoy Him for ever”.
We are so prone to answer life’s questions from the human perspective. Life’s purpose is football, or family or friends etc. But this is like looking at a view from the wrong end of the telescope. We miss the big picture. The truth is that once we see God at the centre of both the Universe and our own lives we are able to enjoy all the things He so graciously gives us. Football, friends, families, work, hobbies, gardens etc are gifts from His hand.
To glorify God by thanking Him for these gifts and by using them in His way, neither relying upon them as if they were god nor misusing them as if we were god, is the way to find real meaning in life.
Humanism would have us focus only on earth whereas Christ would bid us lift our eyes to our gracious Creator. As we do we find that when the good gifts either let us down (as with people), fade away (as with things) or no longer satisfy our needs we have not lost everything. Rather we find that our gracious creator and wonderful Saviour remain true and faithful.
When Jesus said “I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full”, He was inviting us into friendship with God. In the same chapter 10 of John’s gospel He had said that He was the door through which we enter and having entered, we find ourselves under His leadership as the good shepherd.
Any basis for meaning in life must be able to deliver in good times, bad times and through death.
There is only one who has conquered death. Jesus is able to sustain all who would come humbly to Him in all circumstances. He is certainly worth giving another chance on this basis alone.