Life
I love life. It is all that I know. My life began 48 years ago in my mother's womb. The meaning of life is an all together different thing than what is life. All our lives are different and we all see things from different vantage points. Still all are lives are finite and relatively short. To live for 100 years is, for us,a very long life, still this is a relatively short period of time.
What is important in this life? Is it pleasure? Is it adventure? Is it doing great things?
I don't think any of the items mentioned above is (in the big picture) all that important. The great deeds preformed by men will all be forgotten in the long run.
What is important in this life? Is it pleasure? Is it adventure? Is it doing great things?
I don't think any of the items mentioned above is (in the big picture) all that important. The great deeds preformed by men will all be forgotten in the long run.
We tend to think the exploits of great military leaders to be acts of greatness. We think of Alexander's conquest of Persia or Julius Caesar's conquest of Gaul to be great acts of greatness, but are they really? I don't think so.
I admit that these are important items in Western history. Alexander's conquest brought Hellenistic culture to much of the world. This laid the foundation, linguistically, for the coming of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Julius Caesar and the Romans united the Mediterranean world so that Gospel of Christ could quickly spread without having to cross national boundaries.
God used the selfish exploits of ungodly men and military accomplishments of egocentric leaders such as Julius Caesar and Alexander of Macedonia to lay the groundwork for the coming Saviour. We live in a fallen world and big events are mostly the acts of ungodly evil men, but even when men do things for evil, God uses these same acts to accomplish His holy will, which is for good and for the salvation of the world.
The meaning of life for the Alexander or Caesar was all about "ME." Power for ME. Glory for Me, Wealth for ME. Sexual exploits and pleasure for ME. Monuments for to ME. ME is the god of Men like Alexander and women like Cleopatra and their god is a god of death and destruction.
The God of Scripture is the God of life and salvation. In the Bible the writer of Ecclesiastes deals with the meaning and purpose of human life. It is, as a whole, very depressing. In it we find a writer who has sought meaning and purpose in armies and he finds this to be void of purpose. He seeks fulfilment in sexual exploits and is disappointed. He seeks to make life worth living by architectural achievements that would last a millennia and this too left him without meaning. In the end he repents and concludes "Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man."
The writer of Ecclesiasties found out the truth. All else is vanity and death.
Coram Deo,
Kenith
I admit that these are important items in Western history. Alexander's conquest brought Hellenistic culture to much of the world. This laid the foundation, linguistically, for the coming of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Julius Caesar and the Romans united the Mediterranean world so that Gospel of Christ could quickly spread without having to cross national boundaries.
God used the selfish exploits of ungodly men and military accomplishments of egocentric leaders such as Julius Caesar and Alexander of Macedonia to lay the groundwork for the coming Saviour. We live in a fallen world and big events are mostly the acts of ungodly evil men, but even when men do things for evil, God uses these same acts to accomplish His holy will, which is for good and for the salvation of the world.
The meaning of life for the Alexander or Caesar was all about "ME." Power for ME. Glory for Me, Wealth for ME. Sexual exploits and pleasure for ME. Monuments for to ME. ME is the god of Men like Alexander and women like Cleopatra and their god is a god of death and destruction.
The God of Scripture is the God of life and salvation. In the Bible the writer of Ecclesiastes deals with the meaning and purpose of human life. It is, as a whole, very depressing. In it we find a writer who has sought meaning and purpose in armies and he finds this to be void of purpose. He seeks fulfilment in sexual exploits and is disappointed. He seeks to make life worth living by architectural achievements that would last a millennia and this too left him without meaning. In the end he repents and concludes "Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man."
The writer of Ecclesiasties found out the truth. All else is vanity and death.
Coram Deo,
Kenith
1 comment:
Amen, CH!
I've always wondered how Alexander did so well in life with that busted nose of his. ;)
Seriously, excellent conclusion. Thanks for the post.
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