Meaning

I learnt that the experience of the meaning of our lives given by God lies in our decision to align ourselves to His purpose. We looked at three individuals from the bible - Solomon, Paul and Peter.

I saw that Solomon actively sought out the meaning of life. Despite concluding that his duty was to fear God and keep His commandments in Ecclesiastes 12:13-14, his conclusion did not translate into his own life. 1 Kings 11:4 says “𝘍𝘰𝘳 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘚𝘰𝘭𝘰𝘮𝘰𝘯 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘰𝘭𝘥, 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘸𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘯𝘦𝘥 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘵 𝘢𝘸𝘢𝘺 𝘢𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘨𝘰𝘥𝘴; 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘸𝘩𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘥𝘦𝘷𝘰𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘓𝘰𝘳𝘥 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘎𝘰𝘥, 𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘋𝘢𝘷𝘪𝘥 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘧𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘣𝘦𝘦𝘯”. Solomon did not turn away from sin and observe careful obedience to God’s commands, as he saw was his supposed response to the meaning of life he concluded.

On the other hand, in Philippians 3:8, Paul concluded that everything was worthless compared to the infinite value of knowing and gaining Christ his Lord. Paul responded by choosing to discard everything else and count them all as garbage so that he could gain Christ. I’m sure it must have been a daily decision he made such that he was able to conclude at the end of his life in 2 Timothy 4:7 that he had finished his race well. Likewise, I should keep choosing to prioritise my fellowship with God and people rather than my own rest, earthly concerns and pleasures.

In Jesus’ urging for Peter to be redirected to live for what is on Jesus’ heart (His people) when he was distracted from his purpose because of his weakness, Jesus’ question to Peter thrice was: “𝘋𝘰 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘮𝘦?” Apart from aligning my decisions to my life purpose of knowing and gaining Christ each day, the love for the Lord was Peter’s motivation to live for what is on Jesus’ heart. Similarly, I must grow in my love for the Lord so that I can deny myself to make choices that enable me to know and gain Christ.

My application is to grow in a zealous heart and love for God through praise daily, to be quick to confess the attitudes and mindsets that were not right before God so that I can readily imitate and grow in Christ’s character, and to make the choice daily to prioritise fellowship with God and people in order to know and gain Him.

14 October 2020