What's the point?

04/17/2006

I received a phone call just the other day. The person at the other end simply said, "What's the point?"

I said, "The point of what?...Life?" I was joking...

"Yes," was the reply...and then the phone went dead.

Now before you start to think the worst, we have poor reception where we live, and the phone goes dead quite often, so I knew this person had not hung up...but I was extremely curious as to what was going on!! It was quite a phone call to get!

As soon as the bars on my cell-phone returned, we were once again connected to one another and able to delve deeper into the question of, "What's the point of life, anyway...?"

Good question!!
Wow!
It gets you to thinking...

It's what got me thinking, over 30 years ago, about the things of God--and that very question, "What's the point..." can lead us into a closer relationship with our Lord each day because it's such a good question!

It's a great question!

"Exactly, what is the point of life?"

I don't know about you, but can I just say something about this world we live in?

"LIFE IS TOUGH!"

Is it because I'm almost 50, or has life always been so tough? Is it because so many of my friends are close to one side or the other of 50, that their lives are so tough? Is this the way God designed things to be? Actually, no, it was not the way it was designed to be, but that got blown way back in the Garden of Eden when Adam and Eve chose to listen to the enemy and got kicked out of paradise to toil in the soil and bear children with great pain...

Isn't it interesting that right before Jesus was arrested and later crucified, He talked again about the pains of childbirth. In John 16, Jesus was telling the disciples about how He soon would be leaving them, and how they would grieve, but then how their grief would turn to joy when they saw Him again. He said:

It will be like a woman experiencing the pains of labor. When her child is born, her anguish gives place to joy because she has brought a new person into the world. You have sorrow now, but I will see you again; then you will rejoice, and no on can rob you of that joy." John 16:21-22 (NLT)

I kind of hate talking about the pains of childbirth right now, since we are expecting a new grandson...sorry Holly, but since Holly has been through this before, I am not telling her anything she does not know. Childbirth hurts, but there is great joy when it is over, and we do forget the pain...or most of it. We do love to tell the story...

Now, obviously, Jesus had never been through the pain of childbirth, but He was a man of many sorrows. He knew the pain of life, and He knew how difficult it could get. He saw the sick, the wounded, the abused, the lame, the accused...He healed their diseases, He forgave them of their sins, He returned their sight and comforted the brokenhearted. He was a man full of compassion for the world around Him, a world full of such pain, and yet He chose to enter into it so that He could lead us Home.

Thank you Jesus!
Thank you for leaving the glory of Heaven and spending time with us here, (John 17:4&5) so that we could know You, and You could show us up close and personal exactly what the point of life is!!

The point of life is Jesus!
That's it.
Jesus.

And the reason life is so tough, is because we are in labor!! We are on the road Home, and we will soon be delivered into the loving arms of our Father in Heaven. He is awaiting our arrival! He knows our due date. He is the only one who does! And He's not telling anyone. Until then, there is bound to be some pain, and as we get closer, there is bound to be more pain. And so, as the pains increase, we can know the time is drawing near.

My mom told me before our first son was born, that there would come a time during labor when I would not be able to take much more. She also told me, when that time came, to hold on, because I would be almost finished. She was right.

I was a mom of the 70's/80's, the era of no drugs, whatsoever! You take your Lamaze classes, you learn to breathe as your husband squeezes your knee with increasing pressure until it hurts...and you breathe, breathe, breathe, blocking out the pain and relaxing through it. (I have heard that now they don't "allow" the husbands to actually inflict pain on their wives, but I don't know if that is true or not.)

We graduated from our Lamaze classes, Jim and I did--he knew how to squeeze my knee until it hurt, and I had learned how to breathe until it did not. Then off we went to have our baby boy. Of course, we did not know it was a baby boy until it was announced after delivery, because we had not had an ultrasound done. Those were the dark ages, and I was young, healthy and it was not deemed necessary. Now they have these 3-D ultrasounds that you can pay to go to and see your child in the most amazing way, before they are even born! We've seen our grandson's face, and he's not even here yet! It's awesome! But don't even get this grandma started...that's the joy part, we're still talking about the pain here...

As I was reading John 16 this morning, I was struck when I read, "Now is your time of grief, but I will see you again and you will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy." This was in the NIV translation, and as I thought about how tough life is for so many right now, it made sense when I read this. We are awaiting the arrival of Jesus Christ, the world is in anguish, there is suffering and there are many tears--but when we see Jesus' return, we will rejoice and no one will take away our joy! No one! Not even the enemy--also called the "prince of this world."

"because the prince of this world now stands condemned."
John 16:11 (NIV)

If we think we are miserable while we wait for Jesus to return, think about Satan....how do you think he feels? I guess we don't think about that much, at least I don't. When I think about the enemy I think about how ruthless he is, how mean, or unfair...but we would be too if we knew we were doomed, with no way of escape! He already stands condemned. He is headed for the lake of fire for eternity! This could make him pretty grumpy, to put it mildly, knowing what the final day holds for him! Why would he not be trying to make us as miserable as possible before that day comes? Don't we do the same thing? If we don't get enough sleep, if we're not feeling well, if someone has been mean to us or if life seems unfair, we will more than likely take it out on those around us. It's not a pretty sight, but it's pretty much the truth! It takes a lot of prayer and the fruit of the Holy Spirit, mainly self-control, to keep our mouths shut when we are unhappy.

Try cutting someone off in traffic if they have just found out they lost their job, and see the reaction you get. Try piling a bunch of jobs on someone who works for you when they have only gotten a couple of hours of sleep the night before. Try asking your husband if they will take the car in for repairs, or even fill it up with gas if he is in the middle of paying the bills and the checkbook has run dry.

The reactions are not pleasant, so why should the enemy be any different?
He tempted Jesus, and failed.
He killed Jesus, and failed when Jesus arose three days later.
He thinks he is the prince of this world, and he is, but his reign will end when Jesus comes back, and the enemy has no idea when that will be...he must simply wait, as in the pains of childbirth, until that day comes upon him...he's gotta be squirming...

And where does that leave us as believers? It leaves us in an excellent position! Really it does! Life hurts, there are sorrows, there is great missing and heartbreak, but...but...BUT! We have Hope! We are looking towards a bright future! The enemy is not!

Before Jesus left, He prayed, "Holy Father, keep them and care for them-all those you have given me-so that they will be united just as we are...I am coming to you. I have told them many things while I was with them so they would be filled with my joy. I have given them your word. And the world hates them because they do not belong to the world, just as I do not. I'm not asking you to take them out of the world, but to keep them safe from the evil one. They are not part of this world any more than I am." (John 17:11b &13-17 NLT)

You see, the evil one is the prince of this world, but he is not our prince.
We belong to the Prince of Peace.
The enemy is not our ruler, because we are not of this world any longer, when we believe in the Truth of Jesus Christ, God's One and only Son. We live in this world, but it is only a temporary situation. We'll be getting out of here one day because Jesus said, "Father, I want these whom you've given me to be with me..." (John 17:24 NLT)

We're going Home! We will be delivered from all this pain! It will not last forever! Halleluiah! That's Good News!

So let's not miss the point!
Jesus.

"Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart
because I have overcome the world." John 16:33 (NLT)

We shouldn't be surprised by the stuff that is happening--but we continue to be surprised shocked, puzzled, worried, up-tight, fearful... And why? Is it because we're missing Jesus? What would it look like if we didn't "miss Jesus"?
What if we truly lived each day in great expectation of our arrival Home?
Of meeting our Savior face to face?
Of being relieved of these pains of childbirth when we will be delivered into our Father's arms?

Life would be very strange indeed, at least from the way we've always known it. Imagine this...

We get a call from the doctor. The news is not good, it's cancer. The big "C." The enemy sits there, waiting for our reaction, what will it be? Tears? Fears? Remorse? Regrets? No...what's that?
A peaceful heart?
A thought of... "Did I just get my ticket Home?"
"Is my job here really complete?"

Now, before you think me heartless, please understand, I have worked through the cancer issue every which way but loose...we were devastated when Phil's diagnoses of Leukemia came. We were shocked, puzzled, worried, up-tight, fearful...we were not singing praises of Halleluiah because our son was sick. It was the last thing we would have ever chosen. We wanted our child to live; we wanted to see him grow up, to get married, to have children, to be all that he could be in this life. We did not want to say, "Good-bye"...our hearts were shattered when he left this earth for Heaven. It was more than our hearts could bear without the Hope of an eternal life with Jesus Christ.

But we're beginning to understand the point now!
Jesus.

We are beginning to realize that we are in the pains of childbirth. It's the only thing that makes any sense out of what happens in this world. We are beginning to understand that this life is full of struggles, most of which are beyond what we can endure without the love of God to see us through. And now, maybe, we are called to understand that the older we get, the harder this life will become, and that there is a good reason for that...because Heaven is drawing near.

As we get older, some of us may even find ourselves becoming more grouchy... "Say it ain't so"...more opinionated... "Oh my"...and find we're even having more trouble sleeping at night than ever before. The discomfort becomes more noticeable as the aches and pains settle in and as our friends and family endure hardships and illness. It seems so many around us are feeling the same pressure bearing down. Talk to most people you know, and you will find it to be true. The trials are many.

So the point is...

There's only one thing left to do! As the ways of the evil one attempt to squeeze the life right out of us...focus and breathe! Just like they taught us in Lamaze class. We were taught to have a focal point. Mine was a clock on the wall in the labor room. I wasn't watching the time tick by; I was simply focusing on something, anything, which would distract me from the pains of childbirth that were registering on the monitor to my right. Jim would tell me, kindly, "Here comes another one," as he watched the monitor start to move again. I remember one time thanking him, not so kindly, for that news!! If anyone walked by, and passed in front of the clock, I lost my concentration and had to start over. It was disturbing, to say the least! It seemed the pains would never end, but they did, and the joy that followed still follows us to this day as we watch our sons now having their own children.

But back to the point...after some discussion with the "phone caller," I asked the person if they knew what the point of our being here was? They responded with, "Well, yes, to love God. But I'm not even sure what that really means..."

Good point.
What does that really mean?
It's a question we all ask ourselves at times in our lives when we don't "feel" that God is all that near. At times, it seems more like He took a vacation and left the wrong person in charge! How do we love God when we don't even feel all that loved ourselves?
By allowing the Spirit of Truth within to speak Truth into our hearts, diminishing the lies.
By choosing to believe God, while asking Him to help us in our unbelief!
No, we cannot make ourselves love God, but we can choose to have a relationship with Him, to depend on Him and to spend time with Him and learn to trust Him, no matter what, until the day comes when we cannot help but love God because of Who He is in our lives. Then we begin to rest, to be still in Him, and focus on Him...understanding that without loving God, this life will never be all that it was meant to be.

Why do you think Jesus prayed to the Father, "...protect them from the evil one?" Because He knew life was going to be rough, and we would need protection from it all!

Jesus finishes His prayer to the Father with this:

"O righteous Father, the world doesn't know you, but I do; and these disciples know you sent me. And I have revealed you to them and will keep on revealing you. I will do this so that your love for me may be in them and I in them."
John 17:25-26 (NLT)

Did you see the Trinity in that part of Jesus' prayer? The Father, of course is easy to spot, and then there's Jesus, of course, because He's the one praying. And then there's the Holy Spirit when He says,  "I in them." Jesus lives "in" us! His Spirit, the Holy Spirit, is with us to this day. He's the Spirit of Truth we cling to!

The Father sent Jesus to earth, so that we would know the Father, and know His Son. The Son told us all about His Father, and what was going to come in the future. John 16:13 says, "...he will tell you what is yet to come." The Son continues to reveal the Father to us through the Holy Spirit that lives inside each believer's heart. That's where love is found, in that Truth.

God showed how much he loved us by sending his only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him. This is real love. It is not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins.
1 John 4:9-10 (NLT)

...as we live in God, our love grows more perfect.
1 John 4:17 (NLT)

We try to do so many things on our own, even loving God, but we can't do it, as hard as we may try each day. It's impossible. On our own, in our flesh, we think God's unfair to us, unjust to us, forgotten us, abandoned us, tempting us, torturing us, and unforgiving towards us...

But when we get to the bottom, to the point of no return...we get to the heart of Jesus. We get to the place inside that we're holding onto by the last thread--and if we are wise, we will cut that thread loose and allow the Spirit of Love to satisfy us as never before.

As my phone caller so perfectly put it at the end of our conversation, "If I am not doing what God wants me to, then I will be empty and unfulfilled--and only when I am truly doing what He has planned for me, and not what 'I' think is best, will I feel true fulfillment in this life."

AMEN!
Now we're getting to the point!

When life hurts, when it doesn't make sense, when it seems unfair, when it scares us, when we're feeling unloved, abandoned, and tempted to do all the wrong things, and then become filled full of guilt for doing all those things...there's ALWAYS Jesus, the Truth, waiting at the bottom of the rubble in our life longing to be our everything.

We'll find:
The forgiving Jesus.
The loving Jesus.
The "I in them" Jesus.
The powerful Jesus.
The healing Jesus.
The Hope-filled Jesus.
The list is endless...Jesus.

Jesus.

Life has no point without Him.
Finding joy through the trials is impossible without Him.
Eternity in Heaven is not available without Him.
Loving does not happen without Him.

He is the Focal Point that we must stare at every day of our lives!
If we take our eyes off of Him, the intensity of the labor of life will suck us try, spit us out and leave us feeling like there is no point at all to keep on going.

Jesus said:

"I am praying not only for these disciples but also for all who will ever believe in me because of their testimony." John 17:20 (NLT)

Jesus was thinking way ahead, to the year 2006...He was thinking about you and me!
He was praying for us!
On this day, at this time in history, we're those "who will ever believe!"
Let's never forget that, and live each day thinking about Him!

He should always be our focal point!

Diane