SNS 015: How Does Jesus Bring Us a Meaningful Life?

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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.

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SNS 014: Is Life Meaningless?

Thank you for visiting.

Click on the white arrow in the green button above to hear this episode. Below are the show notes. Feel free to read along, check out the Bible references I make, and subscribe through the podcast service you prefer by clicking any of the buttons on the upper right side of this post.

Also, to click the like button or leave a comment, please click here. Then simply scroll down to the bottom of the post and click like and comment away.

Thank you.

Show Notes

Is life meaningless? Or is it that we just don’t see the meaning in it? And what does God have to do with any of that? That is what we are going to explore here in this episode, episode 14.

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 good cup of coffee. Simple, strong, full of flavor, and richly satisfying. Like this cup of very hot coffee I have before me right now. Yes, very satisfying. 

So, you might want to buckle up and sip on this.

Where does our sense of purpose and worth come from? What gives our lives meaning? Do these things not come from knowing that we are doing something worthwhile? And our sense of self-worth is that not tied, not only to our being loved, which it is, but also to our accomplishing things that are worthwhile? I think it probably is. 

Perhaps, just perhaps, that is why God, the one how loves and accepts us the most, made us not only on purpose but with purpose. And what if, what if that is the reason that we gain a sense of meaning and worth the way we do. What if he loved us so much that he was intentional in assigning us a purpose of such depth and complexity that if we are not pursuing it, our lives feel empty and meaningless. Jesus said he came to give life and that in abundance. What if that involves reconnecting us with the purpose for which we have been made. And from which we have become disconnected.

What is that purpose? Well, in thinking about this, and I was giving this a good deal of thought, I thought that a very good place to begin, as good as any, in looking for this purpose, was at the beginning, at beginning of it all. At the very moment human beings were created. Well, at least to see what I could find out. And then I figured, for that point I could turn to the New Testament to see if Jesus had anything to say about this. Know what I found? I found that at the very beginning, at the exact moment of being created, we were given a purpose by God. That purpose is found in our being made in the image of God. Our purpose was to be his representatives to the rest of creation. Yes, to all of creation. We were to act in his stead, to govern it for him, to tend and care for the garden, and to rule over the rest of creation. How’s that for purpose?

I find a lot of depth and complexity here. Especially when I take a look at some of Jesus’ teachings. The ones that say, that the first will be last (Mark 10:31), the leader with be the servant of all (Luke 22:26), the rulers will be the servants (Matthew 20:26). By looking at such teachings as these, it is not hard for me to see that our original purpose involved serving, being a good steward and servant of all the rest of God’s creation. 

As to our worth, it seems that since God entrusted us with being his representatives, that speaks volumes about the great worth that he has attached to us, his human creations. No other part of his creation is entrusted with acting in his stead, with maintaining and taking care of all that he has created. David, king David, even said it this way, he says, “you (God) have crowned him (us, human peoples) with glory and honor.” People, who even David saw as small when compared to all the marvels of the universe. Even he marveled at the worth God placed on us (Psalm 8:3 – 9). And David relates that it is this worth, this is the reason this purpose was given. Worth, purpose, and meaning. Then I did a little further digging and found our worth to be further explained in Hebrews 2, which quotes this Psalm, Psalm 8, but it then goes beyond that and shares our great worth to God. It does this by telling us how Jesus, who is God, is not ashamed to call us brothers and sisters. We are worth so much to God that he is proud to call us his family. And that, my friend, is a game changer.

Ok, so that was our purpose in Genesis, but how about today? Did that purpose remain the same once we human beings fell away and had to leave the garden? Before moving onto this, there is one more tender story in Genesis that I simply have to share. It is one that also shows our great worth and value to God. This happens after the fall and right before Adam and Eve are forced out of the garden. At this point, they know they are naked and because of this they are full of shame. Oh, they tried as best they could to make a covering for themselves, to cover up their shame, to alleviate it. But their efforts weren’t good enough; it was quite inadequate. As seen in the fact that they still hid from God for the expressed reason that they knew they were naked and they were full of shame about it (Genesis 3:7 – 23). Here is the touching part; they were worth so much to God, he valued them so much, even after they had fallen, that he did not abandon them to their shame. He could have, but he didn’t. He could have forced them out into the wild rugged world, full of shame and quite inadequately protected from it. But that is not what he did. He quite graciously and tenderly gave them cloths to wear (Genesis 3:21). To both help them out of their shame and to help protect their bodies against the wild world outside of the garden. For the world was never going to be such a nice place, ever again. That he did this, to me, is yet another sign of just how much value he places on people, even after they have fallen.

Well, back to what our purpose looks like today, is the same purpose we were given in Genesis? Are we still purposed with being his representatives today? I think we are; I even think that perhaps the purpose has expanded just a little, or changed just a little. I think we are still to be good stewards of all creation; we are still to tend and take care of all God has made. And yet, this may look a little bit different than it did in Adam’s day, before the fall. But in any event, I have not been able to find anything that tells me this purpose has ended, that it has changed to something else entirely. Though, like I said, I think it has shifted in focus just a little bit. 

Our purpose today, as far as I can tell, is summed up in this statement, “As you go, be my representatives to others. Teach them how to be reflections of me as well; help them be my disciples. Teach them everything I have taught you. I will be with you as you do so.” Yes, this is a paraphrase of the passages known as The Great Commission in Matthew (28:19, 20). But, but, in light of all we’ve seen so far, and in light of the passage I found that says that the way others will know we are God’s representatives, his disciples, is this, that we love one another (John 13:35); well, in light of all that, it does not seem to be wrong as a paraphrase. And that shift in focus that I mentioned, is directly on helping other human beings become true representatives of him. Helping them also be true reflections of his love.

To simplify this just a little bit more, our purpose in life then, the one where we find lasting meaning and profound worth, is this, to live a life based on the 1st and 2nd greatest commands as found in Matthew 22 (34 – 40). And I hear this purpose stated yet again in at least one other passage; the one that shares how remaining in Christ’s love is how we bear much fruit and is how we prove to be true representatives and reflections of Jesus. Because, if we remain in is love, that is to follow his commands and that is to love one other (John 15:7 – 12). 

That is our purpose today, to love God with our entire being and our neighbors as ourselves. When we do this, we find lasting meaning in life. When we do this, we allow God to show us our profound worth. All of this because we are focused on him. As we have talked about living from his love in most every other episode we have here at the Simple Not Shallow Podcast, I’m not going to delve too much more into it now. But, if you have not listened to these other episodes, please do so, for these will help prepare you for our next one. The next one is already being written. For there, in that episode, we are going to talk more specifically about what Jesus shares concerning how this living from love sets you free to live a meaningful life. To know the meaning in your life, to know the profound worth that God places on your life. 

Until then, love simply, love wisely, love well, and discover all the meaning, purpose, and worth that your life has been given by Jesus Christ, God himself; the one who loves you the most.

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, #14, click on that and leave a comment for me there. Do click on the title as you will initially land on a summary page, one that lists several episodes at a time. To leave a message simply click on the title and that will take you to the actual post and you can comment away, all you’d like. Also, at that point, you’ll see the show notes, I’ll list all the verses I referenced, in the order and at the location in the transcript at which I referenced them. That way, and by the way, I really want you to do this, that way, you can check me out to make sure I’m not making any of this up, that I’m not putting things together that don’t belong, or that I’m totally in left field. I am a very creative individual, but I don’t want to be that creative. Making things up is never a good thing when it comes to biblical truth. 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… or whichever service you prefer. That way, you can take the podcast with you, wherever you want to go. When you are driving your car, going to work, taking your morning jog, walking your dog, or even going for morning coffee. However, whenever, wherever.  Thank you. Thank you very much. I’ll catch you next time.