I am doing a study on church and writing about it as I go, but I thought it best to kick everything off with a birds-eye view of creation, salvation, church, and how we as individuals fit into God’s eternal plan. I call this series, Living A Life That Matters. This is part four. If you haven’t already, I recommend starting at the very beginning. You can do so here.
When a man doesn’t sense deep meaning in his life, he numbs himself with pleasure. The reason we get distracted by sex, money, sports, vacations, movies, work, relationships—anything that proposes a sense of tangible pleasure—is because we don’t feel that our lives have deep value or purpose.
As Christians, we know the right answers.
We know we’re made for the glory of God. We know our lives really do matter whether or not we feel it. We know God created the world, He saved us and now we are supposed to pursue eternal purposes. Unfortunately, however, knowing these things and feeling deep meaning don’t necessarily go hand-in-hand.
“Living for the glory of God” is pretty vague. We can’t chart out a course for “accomplish God’s eternal purposes” like we can a new business venture. Furthermore, living for God’s glory and His eternal purposes requires sacrificing other pleasures which give just enough meaning that as long as this whole God thing is mysterious and abstract we will constantly wrestle with a greater desire for those pleasures we’re supposed to give up.
So how do we fit this together?
If God did create, then His plan for my life is the plan that is most fulfilling. Because I am born with a fallen nature, I constantly trying doing life outside of His plan. I need saved. When I am saved, I become a part of a family that far transcends my immediate friends and connections. Experiencing more of God requires my continual engagement with His people.
Creation and salvation are absolutely fundamental for understanding life as God designed. Church, the body of Christ, is a critical part of going deeper with Him. But understanding creation, experiencing salvation, and participating with church are not enough to live a life that truly matters.
True meaning comes from radical love.
Radical love sets Christ apart from Mohamed or Buddha. Radical love is the difference between Jehovah and man-made idols. Radical love is how you can tell a true Christian from a fake one. And yes, there are many fake Christians sitting pews.
You see, a fake Christian lives with the perspective as if Satan owns the world. He believes we must avoid a lot of things so we don’t get trapped in his bondage. A true Christian, one with radical love, rests in the reality that God created. And it is good. He believes we must fix our eyes on God and His creation.
A fake Christian sees salvation and holiness as being something good Christians do. To him, others can tell you are saved and growing in holiness by things you stop doing and things you start doing. He is really troubled when people stop doing the right thing. But doesn’t think twice about those who don’t. A true Christian, one with radical love, has simply come to believe in his heart that he is created for God’s pleasure and turns his heart and focus to God, to being whole-ly His.
Fake Christians view church as the congregation in which to build God’s Kingdom; while true Christians understand God’s Kingdom isn’t something that needs built, but something we participate in as we love one another and love those who do not yet know God as their Father.
These fake Christians use love to manipulate God. The longer they serve Him the more they expect something from Him. They suffer as victims, getting as many people as they can to sympathize with their troubles.
True Christians radically love God simply because He is God. Their service is not selfish. They are not seeking personal gain. They don’t compare themselves to others. They don’t need recognition in this life. They selflessly get dirty in their love for God and others because they remember with great respect that they are able to relate with God because Christ selflessly got dirty for them by giving up the pleasures of heaven to endure the headaches of earth and die on the Cross.
Many Christian live without true meaning because they do not know radical love.
Even though they read Philippians 2 every other Sunday of even-numbered months, their lives are focused on themselves. They are fake Christians, not true ones.
If you and I want to live lives that matter, we must stop playing religion as fake Christians and remember instead Christ’s work of grace on our behalf. When we realize our freedom because of Christ’s radical love, we discover the capacity to live with the same kind of love. That brings true meaning to life and makes it matter.
Coming up next, we’ll look at the tangible ways radical love expresses itself and how we can know the unique calling on our lives.
