© 2014 SimplyChrist Ministries
WHAT IS LIFE ALL ABOUT?
“Although we agree in calling life a burden, … very few of us are willing to lay it down. The
thought of impending death causes us all alarm,”1 wrote John Wesley, the father of
Methodism. The irony is quite clear, isn’t it? Many of us go about complaining and
philosophizing on how difficult and pointless life is. “Life is a waste of time”, one might
remark as if to suggest that time is more valuable than life. Yet at the slightest hint of death
we hurriedly seek ways to protect our lives. If life is indeed pointless then why protect it or
keep it? Why do we get scared at the thought of impending death?
Death: A Clue to Life’s Purpose
A humorous story is told of a man who decided to commit suicide since life to him had
become burdensome and meaningless. After considering a number of methods by which he
would accomplish this task he thought it wise to seek a friend’s counsel on the best method to
employ. The friend suggested hanging. “What!” he exclaimed, clearly horrified by his
friend’s suggestion. “I tried that once and I almost lost my life,” he said.
The point really is this: we may entertain the belief that life has no ultimate purpose but it is
when death comes closest that we are forced to re-evaluate our commitment to this belief.
Christian thinker, C. S. Lewis put it this way: “You never know how much you really believe
anything until its truth or falsehood becomes a matter of life and death to you.”2 The general
human reluctance to die and leave this life is a real clue that we are here for a purpose beyond
ourselves. The Christian scriptures teach that man is created by God and for God. If you
accept this teaching then life must be deemed sacred. If you reject this teaching then you are
left to your own autonomy since you trace your existence to no supreme being; you subject
your decisions ultimately only to the dictates of your own desires. You decide what is right or
wrong. In essence you are the standard for your life – you are your own god. For many who
believe this way, personal happiness then becomes the prime goal in life. “I’m in this life to
meet my needs and longings and just make myself happy,” goes the thinking.
The Ever-present Human Hungers
J. M. Njoroge, a Christian Apologist, notes however, that “trying to meet our real needs
without God is like trying to satisfy our thirst with salty water: the more we drink, the
thirstier we become. This is a sure path to various sorts of addictions.”3 You see, in our
human nature are found various deep longings – the longing to belong or for fellowship, the
longing for respect and significance, the longing for affection, the longing to give and receive
love, the longing for intellectual satisfaction. All these longings find their complete
satisfaction in God our creator. But outside of God, we will require so many different things
to feed these longings (which never go away; they only change positions and increase from
time to time) and it gets frustrating. The Bible says that “human desires are like the world of
the dead – there is always room for more” Proverbs 27:20 GNB.
The Search of Answers
Some people experiment with many things – religion, money, sex, alcohol, relationships or
family life, work, a fast paced life, academics and the list goes on ad infinitum – in their
quest to find that special thing that will quench the thirst in their deepest being. In their book
“Happiness Is a Choice”, Psychologists, Frank Minirth and Paul Meier came to the
1
A Summary of John Wesley's First Sermon: "Death and Deliverance," Job 3.17, October 3, 1725. 2/4, http://www.gbgmumc.org/churchgroveumc/sect29.shtml . Accessed on January 14, 2012.
2
C. S. Lewis, A Grief Observed, Ch. 1, p.448 as published in The Complete C. S. Lewis Signature Classics, Copyright ©
2002 by C. S. Lewis Pte. Ltd.
3
J M Njoroge, Alienation and Restoration, RZIM A Slice of Infinity E-mail [2375], January 31, 2011.
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© 2014 SimplyChrist Ministries
conclusion that a lot of people choose happiness as an aim in life but are unable to attain it
simply because they seek for this inner peace and joy in the wrong places. They pursue
happiness in materialism but do not find it. Joy sought in sexual adventures culminates in
fleeting pleasures and bitter long-term disappointments. People seek for inner fulfilment by
obtaining powerful positions in corporations, in government, and other social groups yet all
these leave them unfulfilled.4
The Anti-Climax
Although not many of us who have failed in our attempts to attain inner fulfilment would
readily admit this openly, King Solomon however, is one of the few who has done so. In the
book of Ecclesiastes he says:
“I decided to enjoy myself and find out what happiness is. … Driven on by my desire for
wisdom, I decided to cheer myself up with wine and have a good time. I thought that this
might be the best way people can spend their short lives on earth.
“I accomplished great things. I built myself houses and planted vineyards. I planted
gardens and orchards, with all kinds of fruit trees in them; I dug ponds to irrigate them. I
bought many slaves, and there were slaves born in my household. I owned more livestock
than anyone else who had ever lived in Jerusalem. I also piled up silver and gold from the
royal treasuries of the lands I ruled. Men and women sang to entertain me, and I had all the
women a man could want…. Anything I wanted, I got. I did not deny myself any pleasure. I
was proud of everything I had worked for, and all this was my reward. Then I thought about
all that I had done and how hard I had worked doing it, and I realized that it didn’t mean a
thing. It was like chasing the wind—of no use at all.” [Ecclesiastes 2:1-11GNB]
Just think about the last line, “It was like chasing the wind—of no use at all.” It sounds like a
rather disappointing end, doesn’t it? Yet these are the words of one who denied himself no
pleasure. Christian philosopher, Dr. Ravi Zacharias has noted that the lowliest point in life is
at the stage when you have just accomplished what you thought would deliver the ultimate
and it has let you down. How true! Indeed there is nothing else so depressing than climbing to
the top only to find that there is nothing there. Elvis Presley, of whom The New York Times
newspaper, on the day of his death, described as “once the object of such adulation that teenage girls screamed and fainted at the sight of him”5 was asked the following question by an
interviewer six weeks before his death: “Elvis, when you started out in music, you said you
wanted to be rich; you wanted to be famous; and you wanted to be happy. You sure are rich,
and you're very, very famous. Are you happy, Elvis?” To this the Rock and Roll icon replied,
"No, I'm not happy. I'm as lonely as hell.”6
Is there a Real Answer? Yes!
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the German theologian, who was hanged for conspiring to assassinate
Adolf Hitler, once observed that happiness and peace depend so little on circumstances; they
depend really on what happens inside a person. King Solomon, after pursuing several vanities
of life finally gives this advice in Ecclesiastes 12:13-14: “After all this, there is only one
thing to say: Have reverence for God, and obey his commands, because this is all that we
were created for. God is going to judge everything we do, whether good or bad, even things
done in secret.”
4
Cries of the Heart,by Ravi Zacharias, p. 130. 2002
Molly Ivins, Elvis Presley Dies; Rock Singer was 42, The New York Times, August 16, 1977,
http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0816.html . Accessed on January 14, 2012.
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Spencer Gear, Youth Suicide: A Cultural Cancer, http://gear.dyndns.org/~spencer/Youth/youthsuicideculturalcancer.html .
Accessed on January 14, 2012.
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© 2014 SimplyChrist Ministries
The Bible says that everyone has sinned and is far away from God’s saving presence
(Romans 3:23). The word sin has the idea of ‘missing the mark’. And the prophet Isaiah
captures this idea when he says, “We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned
to our own way; …” (Isaiah 53:6).7 Sin disconnects the core of our being from its life giving
source – God, who is our creator and sustainer. But the reality is that there is some degree of
pleasure in sin, or at least most sins. It is deception to think that sin is not enjoyable. Sin gives
pleasure! This is why a liar, a cheat, an adulterer or a serial killer might say of his actions: “it
felt so good” or “It feels so right.” However, a sin-generated pleasure is not lasting; soon it
turns sour and empty and one will need increased stimuli to repeat the last pleasurable
experience. Thus a cheat will cheat more and an immoral person will engage in more
immoral acts. But man was made to have fellowship with God and a sinful life brings a sense
of restlessness and often a general lose of meaning in life because the divinely intended
fellowship has been broken by sin.
A person may thus look quite happy in appearance but something can be missing deep down
in the heart. There is, as one might say, a kind of God-shaped void in everyone. St. Augustin
was spot-on when he prayed saying, “…for Thou hast formed us for Thyself, and our hearts
are restless till they find rest in Thee.”8 God made us as finite creatures yet placed in us a
longing for the infinite. God, the only Infinite Being, is the one that can infinitely meet our
deepest need. No finite substitute will do. Indeed, not only can God meet our deepest needs
but he actually wants to. A good reading of the Bible shows that God yearns to give Himself
and to satisfy our souls with the richness of his goodness. He has taken the first step of
extending a hand of forgiveness to us even though we have not sought it: “For God loved the
world so much that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not die
but have eternal life.” (John 3:16). Jesus Christ is this Son who was crucified for our sins and
if only you will believe in him today as your saviour, all your sins will be forgiven by God
and you can make a fresh start with God.
Do you know about Jesus Christ? And have you believed in him? If you have believed in
him, are you allowing this belief to have a purifying effect on your nature? A right
relationship with God, which is only through Jesus Christ, brings life’s true meaning to the
heart, soul and mind. Are you right with God?
(Unless otherwise stated, all scriptures are from the Good News Bible – Second Edition © 1994.)
By R. G. Coleman
(President, SimplyChrist Ministries)
SimplyChrist Ministries is an evangelism and Christian apologetics group that seeks to reach people
with the Gospel of Jesus Christ in ways that meet the demands of both the heart and mind. If this
article has been of help to you or if you have any questions about the Christian Faith or message, we
would like to hear from you.
Contact us
SimplyChrist Ministries, P. O. Box 2566, Kwabenya-Accra, Ghana.
Tel.+233 208-185-736 / +233 244-972-221
Visit us online at: www.scmin.org or www.simplychristgh.wordpress.com
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8
As translated in the New International Version (NIV). Bible, Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011.
St. Aurelius Augustin (Bishop of Hippo), Confessions, Book 1, Chapter 1.1, Translated by J. G. Pilkington, 1876.
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