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Show Notes
Last time, we mentioned that God is the source of all deep and lasting meaning in life. In this episode, we are going to explore this a little bit and answer the question about how is this done? Or, asked another way, how does living from love help set you free in order to live a life full of meaning? That is what we are going to talk about here in episode 15.
Welcome. My name is Charles and this is The Simple Not Shallow Podcast. A podcast for those who want a deeper faith, not a confusing one. That is what our name is all about, keeping faith in Christ simple; simple enough that a child-like myself can understand it and yet, not so shallow, that when the storms of life hit, our faith is forced to run aground. It is for those who want their faith… to be like a very good cup of coffee. Simple, strong, full of flavor, and richly satisfying. Like this cup Tanzania Peaberry I have right in front of me now. Which, by the way, is immensely satisfying.
So, kick back and sip on this.
Of those two questions, the second seems more intriguing to me. For we all know that Jesus said he came to give life and that in abundance (John 10:10). And an abundance of life would include purpose, meaning, and worth; or would it truly be a life that is abundant? The second question is of interest because it explores what this looks like in our daily life.
Last time, we saw how God, from the get-go, created us on purpose and with a purpose. That, also from the get-go, it was God alone who was the source of our enduring purpose, of lasting meaning, and of our profound and endless worth. And in this episode, I want to talk about 5 passages in the Bible that I came across. Ones in which Jesus tells us exactly what this looks like.
The first passage reads something like this, “He who seeks his life will lose it, he who loses his life for my sake will find it (Matthew 10:39). Right away, as I was reading that, I was reminded of Adam and Eve’s seeking their own wisdom in the garden; seeking it apart from God. While they did find something it was not what they were expecting; and what they lost out on, as a result, was so much more.
But, what does this look like today? If we seek our own purpose, our own meaning in life, and our own sense of worth apart from God, we will find something but it will also not be what we are expecting. And just like Adam and Eve, we will also lose much more than we ever find. For instance, suppose I were to seek these things from my job. We know it is possible that I would find a little bit of each of these things there; at least until the job is gone and I have difficulty in finding a new one. Then suddenly I would no purpose, there would be no meaning in life, and my sense of worth would begin to crumble. Another fine example is the seeking of them through by attaining some lofty goal; we all hear about being goal-driven today. Whatever that goal may be, be it: more money, a certain social status, living independently, attaining some great physical achievement, or whatever this goal may be. As long as we are striving to reach that goal, we know we that we do attain some degree of this satisfaction. There is some meaning in life, some purpose we’re serving, and we get a great sense of worth as we strive to reach the goal. Because we are going someplace. Yet, once the goal is reached, we find that what we thought we had, is not what we have left. There are many, many, many people who have lived this way. Who has reached some hard-won goal and then find themselves asking, “Is this really all there is?” “Shouldn’t there be something more?” They too did not find what they were expecting.
So what use is our passage in relation to any of this? Jesus tells us how to find what we truly are looking for, what we truly want, and how to avoid wondering “what if there is nothing more?” We don’t have to ask, “Is there anything else?” We do this by giving up on seeking purpose, meaning, and worth for ourselves; to actually give up seeking them altogether. Does that sound strange? That to find what you want; you must stop looking for it and focus on Jesus alone. Yet, Jesus says that this is how it is done; this is what being set free to live a life full of meaning looks like. For, Jesus promises that if we do this, we will find all the purpose, meaning, and knowledge of our worth that we could ever want. Or to use his words, we will find ourselves.
Now the other passages I mentioned, are similar to this one, though they take us a little deeper into the understanding of all that is involved here. This deeper understanding comes as Jesus uses different words in each of them. Well, in the next three passages, he uses the same change. He changes the words from reading, “He who seeks his life” to “He who desires to save his life” (Matthew 16:25; Mark 8:35; Lue 9:24). This new depth comes from his shifting our focus from the actions to the motivations. Similar to what he did when he told us that to be angry with someone is to earn the same judgment as if we murdered them (Matthew 5: 21, 22). The motivation he mentions here is the motivation of the self.
This is a motivation that is focused only on your self-satisfaction; that is, on the desire for you to achieve your right to yourself. It’s like he is saying, “Stop being so myopic, myoptic, myo… stop being focused on yourself. For it is only when you selflessly give yourself away, to me and to others, that you find yourself.” He is saying that by shifting your motivation off of taking care of number 1, by losing yourself in love, a reference to the 1st and 2nd great commands as listed in Matthew (22:34 – 40), you will find out who you truly are and you will find out that it is another (Jesus) who is providing everything that you need. Which includes a profound sense of worth, a never-ending purpose, and all the meaning in your life that you could ever want or need.
How do I know this involves love? I see this is seen in the final of those five passages. For, this is where Jesus changes the wording one last time. He changes the words from “He who desires to save his life” to “He who loves his life.” He says, “He who loves his life will lose it. He who hates it, in the world, will keep it” (John 12:25).
The phrase here, “hates his life,” was simply their way of saying to love something less than something else; not to actually hate it. Much like we use negative words to mean something good. Such as if we were to say, “That was a sick concert.” Meaning, of course, that the concert was not just good, it was great, it was off the charts great. So here, the meaning is not that he hates his life, but that he who loves me (meaning Jesus) more than his own life will keep it, will keep it forever. Which, surprise – surprise, comes right back to loving God with our entire being and our neighbors as ourselves. Which, are the two greatest commands ever given; once again we see that all of God’s teaching do spring from them (Matthew 22: 34 – 40).
So, back to our original questions, how does Jesus bring us a meaningful life and how does living from love help set you free in order to live a life full of meaning? He does this as his love frees you from the tyranny of yourself. His love frees you to love him and to focus on him alone; the one who is the only source of deep purpose, lasting meaning, and profound worth for your life.
In light of this, love simply, love wisely, love well, and allow yourself to be shown all the meaning, purpose, and worth that God has already given to your life, that he has placed upon you.
Well, what do you think? I’d love to hear from you, so please, go to simplenotshallow.com, and under the Simple Not Shallow Podcast section, find this episode, #15, and leave a comment for me there. Also, in the show notes, I’ll list all the verses I referenced, in the order and at the location in the transcript, that I post, at which I referenced them. That way you can check me out to make sure I’m not making any of this up or that I’m out in left field. I am a very creative individual, but I never want to be that creative. Also, please take a second to rate this episode and subscribe to this podcast through the podcast service of your choice. You know, iTunes, Stitcher, Spotify, iHeartRadio, or whichever service you prefer. That way, you can take the podcast with you, wherever you want to go. Thank you for listening. Thank you, thank you very, very much. I’ll catch you next time.
