Answering the Questions…

In my previous blog, I had raised many questions, mostly of existential nature. I felt I cannot go ahead with any other writing, before I answer these questions, at least to the best of my satisfaction. I did answer them in that blog itself, but I don’t think I dealt with them thoroughly. Hence let me do that in this blog, before I go to resurrection and after life and proofs for them. Of course, I am answering from the point of a Christian worldview.  

The first question would be ‘Who am I?’ I would answer this in this manner: ‘I am the most loved creation of God, the Father, who created me in His image, to reflect His glory. His eyes saw me when I was in my mother’s womb and much before I was formed in the recesses of it.’ That makes me the most cherished person, a human being, made lovingly, and made to have a wonderful relationship with my Creator, my heavenly Father.

“Why was I born? What am I doing on earth? What is my purpose on earth?” These three are related questions. The answer, of course, will flow from the first. How do we respond to a loving father or a mother who care for us on earth? Yes, we love them in return and try to make them proud of us by whatever we do. We obey them when we are young and try to fulfill their plans or designs for us.

In the same way, we obey the commandments of God, as it is given in the Bible, and the teachings of Jesus, or even as it is written in the conscience of human beings, and make God our Creator feel proud of us. God boasted about Job to Satan, “Have you noticed my friend Job? There’s no one quite like him – honest and true to his word, totally devoted to God and hating evil?” That is what makes God proud of us, and He even boasts like a proud Father!

That is why we are born, to glorify the Father, our Creator and to bring Him honor and glory by our lives. That is our main purpose. This can be done wherever He has placed us, as a house wife or a career woman or a worker in the mines or an engineer or a Doctor or a minister in the church or a clerk in the government office. In whatever secular position you find yourself in this world, arrived at by your hard work or studies, you can work honestly, with integrity and fear of God that you have to answer Him if you do anything wrong.

The life on earth is like a probationary period, where we learn to live our lives according to the norms prescribed by God, without oppressing others, helping the poor, the marginalized and the suffering persons. In Bible God asks through His prophet, “What does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” That is all basically God wants from us. To be just in our actions, be merciful to people who suffer and walk humbly before God, our Creator. No thumping our nose at God saying “This is my life; I will do what I want with it. Who are you to ask?”

Now, if you ask me the question, how do we know what God has prescribed, I can only point to you the Bible, where clearly in black and white God’s commands for a good and faithful life have been written down and given to us. This has been lived in practical terms by Jesus when he was on earth as a model to us. To people who say that in their religion there are no such clear teachings, I would only say that if there is a true God, who cares for us, and how we live in this world of His, He would definitely leave His commands and foot prints on earth. So you have to search and find the true God and then follow His commands.

When the probationary period on earth is over, which is temporary and transitional, then we are ready to go to a better place, the eternal place, where we will live for eternity in the company of God and Jesus Christ, living a life of joy and happiness in the presence of our God, forever. This world is a training ground for us, so we can be found worthy to live in the eternal world.

That is also why running after money, name and fame and material possessions will not really satisfy the human heart. It is made for something better, to live in the company of God, his Creator.

What is the meaning of this life? Meaning in life is given by doing any work, secular or religious, for the glory of the Lord. It has to be hard work, not hardly working or working only when the supervisor watches, but all the time according to our conscience. 

Whether we are managers or workers, officers or clerks, executives or assistants, house wife or the bread winning husband or vice versa (it is possible in the modern days), when we work like this, it will bring enormous satisfaction to life, which we usually call as, “Job satisfaction.”

To rise to the fullest of our potential, we need to become free of false notions of our happiness and satisfaction. True satisfaction lies in finding out what is God’s plan and purpose for us and then stick to it, whatever might be the difficulties.

The important thing is to work as if you are working for the Lord and not for your earthly supervisor. Then to whom does a CEO of a company answer? There is an ultimate Supervisor, God, for everyone. We are all answerable to Him ultimately. That should temper our dealings, in business or in administration or in service, to be honest and hard-working. Doing a useful job, to the full capacity of a person, being truthful to God and his earthly supervisors, will give meaning to one’s life. In addition to giving meaning to my life, it adds significance as well.

Not only that, but the fact that I am so deeply loved by God gives me emotional security, which in turn gives meaning and stability to my life. How do I know God loves me so deeply? Look at what He did. To get us reconciled back to Him, as it was in the Garden of Eden, to get back the lost human race, He incarnated Himself as a human being, in Jesus Christ, who lived his life as an ordinary human being, but as per the commands of God, loving and compassionate, till his enemies in the world put him to death.

Jesus died in our place, as a sacrifice, to pay the penalty of our sins, so that when we accept what Jesus did for us on the cross, and repent and seek his forgiveness, we are forgiven and given the righteousness of Christ, so that we can enter the presence of God, as pure and undefiled beings, and thus are reconciled to God. Is this a small thing for God to do? He paid a huge price just to get us reconciled to Him and to make us fit enough to come to His presence and inherit eternal life after death. Is that not proof enough for His love for us? Do we need anything more?

My main purpose in life is to be a witness to this love of God. To bring the knowledge of His love and the sacrifice that was involved, to all whom I can, so that we could all have the privilege of being reconciled to Him. This saving knowledge of Christ is not to be kept under a lock and key, secretly to be enjoyed only by those who are saved, but to be told from the roof top, so that many will benefit and come to this joy, which alone is permanent in this world.

As I think of Him in my bed when I an awake, and when I think of His love, His mercy and kindness, I am filled with joy that no one can take away from me. As I sing songs, hymns and Psalms during my restful times, I am so filled with His presence and His Spirit raises me up to stand on mountains and to walk on stormy seas. I draw my strength to live this life on the earth from moments like that.

That is my purpose. To become His child, His daughter, His most precious and cherished daughter, so I can sit soaked in His love, and spread His love to others, so that others may also know about Him and His love and enjoy such a beautiful relationship with Him. This gives meaning to my life.