We were created to become the eternal children of God–to be loved, blessed, and guided by the Creator of the universe throughout eternity.  We are not merely a part of creation–some insignificant speck in the cosmos.   We have been given life (far above all other life on earth) for the incredibly awesome privilege of becoming members of the family of God. We, however, are unable to achieve this goal.  It is because of sin (rebellion against God and His laws) that we die, and because of our own sin, we are subject to eternal punishment in hell.

When God created Adam (the first human), He created him to be immortal–never to die.  Adam, however, directly disobeyed God.  He committed the first sin.  This not only introduced sin into the world, it also brought death.  God had commanded that the penalty for sin would be death, so when Adam sinned, he was no longer immortal, and neither are the rest of us because we have all sinned.

Death, though, means more than this.  God speaks of two deaths.  The first is when our bodies die (physical death), and the second is eternal punishment in hell (spiritual death).  Every person ever born–except for Jesus–has sinned, and because of this we are all subject to the second death.

Once again, we can look to Adam for the root cause of all this.  When he sinned, it not only brought death into the world, it also caused all of us–his descendants–to be born with a sinful nature. Our desire is not to live for God or anyone else but, rather, for ourselves.  We come into this world pursuing our own interests, wanting our own way, and we fail to give God His rightful position as Lord of our lives.  We try to be our own gods.  Yes, this is sin!  His very first commandment tells us that we are to have no other gods. We are to have nothing in our lives–no person, activity, possession, or desire–which competes with God (in what we love, value, or yield our decisions).  It’s OK to love what He gives us.  He loves us and wants to make us happy, but like any loving father, He doesn’t want us to love His gifts more than we love Him. 

Take a look at some of our other sins.  If we have ever misused the Lord’s name (ever spoken His name if we weren’t talking to Him or about Him), ever dishonored our parents, treated someone unkindly, enviously desired what someone else had, or ever looked at another person out of lust (other than our own spouse), then we have broken God’s most basic laws, and are, therefore, law breakers. If we are law breakers, then we are subject to the penalty of the law–“the second death.”  God doesn’t use a grading scale.  We don’t get to heaven by being “seventy percent good.”  It’s “one-hundred percent” or nothing.  We are either perfect and sinless, or we’re guilty and condemned. 

If this seems severe–that God would condemn us to hell for breaking just one law–we must also realize that the forgiveness of our sins and the promise of eternity in heaven are simply gifts to be accepted (extremely costly gifts to God).  Jesus Himself stepped into our world to be tortured and killed by crucifixion–the cruelest form of capital punishment ever conceived by man–to take the punishment for our sins.  He paid a severe price for our imperfections.  

We may, of course, wonder: “What’s the point?”  If we sin, we’re condemned, but if we’re condemned, we can be forgiven.  To answer this question, we need to emphasize the “we can” be forgiven.  To be forgiven, we must accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior.  We must make Him part of our lives.  We must acknowledge that He is here (that He exists and is accessible), admit that we need Him, and accept that He is able to help us.  We must enter into a personal relationship with God!  This is why He gave us His laws.  They not only give us guidelines to live by, they also show us our need for Him–our need of forgiveness. 

Before continuing, let’s examine why God had to suffer and die for our sins.  Why couldn’t He just forgive us?  Why did He have to become human and go through this horrible torment?  To answer this question, we must first understand a couple of things about His nature.  He is absolutely perfect and totally just (and always will be).  He has given us His laws–whether written in the Bible, or placed within our hearts–and commanded that the penalty for breaking them would be death.  Sin must be punished!  God’s very nature requires it.  To ignore our sin or to forget the just penalty which it requires would mean that He is not perfect, not just, and not consistent.  But He is!  So, He had to provide some way for us to escape punishment which was not in violation of His perfect and just nature.  He commanded that for our forgiveness, there must be a sacrifice–“a shedding of blood.”  We, however, have no way of offering this sacrifice, for once we sin, we die to Him.  Our spirit–the eternal part of us–is dead to God.  He, therefore, had to provide the sacrifice for us.  He provided “Himself.”  This was why He came to die on the cross.  He was the sacrifice that paid for all of mankind’s sin (everyone who would accept Him).  He was the only sinless human, thus, the only acceptable sacrifice to God the Father.  Jesus is like a father who pays his child’s speeding ticket–to keep him out of jail.  Justice is served, the father suffers, and the child is spared the consequences.  By believing in Jesus (the entire Biblical account), by acknowledging that He is God, and by accepting Him as our Lord and Savior (accepting His authority over our lives and putting faith in His sacrifice to save us), His death makes us righteous in His eyes and reconciles us to Him.  We are again alive to God!  This is referred to in the Bible as being “born again.”  Our spirits must be alive to God in order to get to heaven and to escape eternity in hell. 

So, the meaning of life is this: We are to accept Jesus as our personal Lord and Savior.  We are to enter into this most blessed and eternal relationship with our Creator God, which He has now made possible and now freely offers.  We are to assume the awesome and incredible position of being children of the Creator of the universe and are to spend the rest of our lives–now and throughout eternity (in paradise)–living for, loving, and being loved by Him.  Our entire lives are to revolve around God and His will. 

Now, if this doesn’t fit our plans, if we can’t see “just turning our lives over to God,” then we need to stop and consider a couple of things.  First, what are we living for and how long will it (this purpose) last?  How is age or the insecurity we face socially, politically, economically, and militarily going to affect our goals?  How about death?  We can’t be so nearsighted as to get lost in today and tomorrow.  We need to think about where we want to be in ninety-five years and in a million and ninety-five. 

Second, if we’re worried about not having our needs met, we need to remember something.  We’re talking about God–Almighty God–Creator, Sustainer, Ruler of the universe, Savior of the world (of all who will accept Him).  Who could possibly know our needs better, be more perfectly able to meet them, or have a stronger desire to do so than Almighty God, who created us, gave us these needs in the first place, and loves us so much, that He was willing to die for our sins?  God wants us to come to Him not only for forgiveness but to obey His authority.  He wants to guide us.  He has a plan for our lives and promises that if we will fulfill it, we will have joy in this life, followed by an absolutely blessed eternity in heaven; and when God makes a promise, He cannot break it (because He is perfect).  Did you catch that?  Almighty God–Creator of heaven and earth–has made us promises that He cannot break!  He has also promised us eternity in hell if we reject Him and His sacrifice (if we reject His payment for our sins), and again, He cannot break His promise.  We can’t deceive ourselves into thinking that our loving God won’t send us to hell.  He died on the cross to keep it from happening, but it is up to us to accept it. 

At this point, we may wonder: “Why didn’t He just make us perfect in the first place?”  That’s the way we’re going to be in heaven.  Why did He create us with the ability to sin?  Why do we have free-will–the ability to desire what is good or evil and the freedom to act upon that desire?  Why do we have the ability to accept or reject Him? 

The answer to all these questions is simple:  He wanted children, not puppets or robots.  How many of us would be willing to trade our children for something less?  God loves us and He wants us to love Him too, but love forced is not love.  He has, therefore, given us this ability and this freedom–along with an overwhelming need for Him in all aspects of life.  God did not make us self-sufficient.  We are not equipped to make it through this life and into the next without Him.  His plan is for us to realize our need, call upon Him and, thus, be saved.  See, we call upon Him.  It’s our choice.  We choose to accept Him as God.  We go to Him for help, but before we do, we must first believe, acknowledge, and accept that He is God–that He is our God.  If we didn’t, then we wouldn’t be asking Him for help.  Whatever our needs–present, eternal, or both–God will take advantage of them to save us. 

After we accept Him and begin to rely upon Him to meet our needs (and to guide us through this oh-so-messed-up world), we experience more and more of the incredible love which He has for us.  As we do, our love just naturally grows.  (When we were born, did the love which we have for our parents not also begin with need?  So it is when we are born again.)  This is why God doesn’t reveal Himself to us personally until we come to Him in faith.  He wants us coming out of need, not coercion.  He doesn’t want us feeling compelled into the relationship by His presence. 

There is an important point here–about God’s care and provision in this life—which needs to be emphasized.  While He absolutely promises to take care of us–mentally, physically, and spiritually–and to always be with us, He does not promise to make all our problems go away.  Christians sometimes make the mistake of leading others to believe that He does.  Then, when they join a church and their problems don’t go away, or when they see people who have truly accepted Jesus, suffering heartaches and hardships, they become disillusioned and walk away.  They leave before ever entering into a relationship with Him, or finding out the wonderful ways He does help in times of trouble.

  This, no doubt, raises a question: If Almighty God loves us so much that He willingly died on the cross to forgive our sins and make us His children, and He has the power to end all of our problems, then why doesn’t He do it?  Why would He ever allow His children to suffer?  The answer to this question is “our world.”  We are surrounded by sin. We live in a fallen world, filled with sinful people, causing a world of trouble.  The only way that He could possibly protect us from most of the problems in this life would be to shield us from all the people.  He would have to confine us to a deserted island somewhere, where we would then suffer from severe loneliness.  Unfortunately, even this wouldn’t end all of our other problems.  Aside from the fact we would still be faced with death, disease, and decay–which came into the world with sin–we would still be stuck with ourselves.  You see, oftentimes we Christians suffer because of our own sin.  Yes, God totally forgives every sin we commit the moment we confess, repent, and ask Him to do so, and there is no sin which will ever be remembered in heaven.

There are, however, other consequences.  Continuing to sin after we have accepted Jesus still causes all kinds of problems.  It hampers the closeness of our relationship with Him and may hinder His help in times of need.  It makes us detrimental to the expansion of His kingdom and results in the loss of eternal treasure.  It can also wreak terrible, and sometimes, irreparable (temporal) damage in our lives and in the lives of the people around us.  Having a wreck while driving drunk can be forgiven by God, but that won’t heal anybody, buy any new cars, or keep anyone out of jail.  Smoking, drinking, and eating unhealthy food all one’s life can be forgiven by God, but that won’t stop the onslaught of disease.  Sin is destructive.  It always hurts us, someone else, or both.  That’s why God hates it.  Don’t we also hate what hurts our children?  The unfortunate reality is, that in order for God to end all of our problems, He would have to let us die and take us to heaven (which is going to happen once we have fulfilled our earthly mission). 

God is not helpless, though, when it comes to His children’s earthly problems.  Like everything else in our lives, He sovereignly uses them for our benefit.  In addition to the individual blessings which He so often brings out of our troubles–which are rarely understood until “after the fact”–there is one blessing which is immediately obvious, overall, and constant.  Remember that God’s ultimate goal is to develop a loving Father and child relationship with each of us.  If He could remove all of our problems and could give us everything we would ever need the moment we accepted Him, when would we ever call upon Him?  How would our relationship develop?  What if our children never had to call upon us for anything; what would our relationship be like?  What if they never needed to be held when they were sick, hugged when they were scared, never needed a broken toy fixed, a skinned knee bandaged, or a tear wiped away?  What if they could do their own homework, build their own bicycles, fix their own cars, and find and provide for their own way?  What would our relationship be like?   

It is by providing for our needs as they arise, as opposed to all at once, that God draws us near to Him.  He is always available–ready, willing, and able to help us through each and every situation.  He wants to provide us with knowledge, understanding, and wisdom to help us to live each day successfully.  He offers us strength when we’re weak, encouragement when we’re struggling, comfort when we’re hurting, and an inner peace that will carry us through the worst of circumstances.  He also wants to guide us through every step of this life (and around most of its dangers).  This will only happen, though, once we have accepted Him and are earnestly trying to live according to His will.  He will always love us, but to bless us while we are living in sin would do nothing to deter us from it, and again, sin always hurts us, and usually the people around us too.   

God loves us, and He wants a personal, intimate, and eternal relationship with us starting now.  He doesn’t want to be a stranger to us when we get to heaven.  In fact, the Bible tells us that one of the things which He will say to people before they are cast into hell will be, “I never knew you!”  God’s love is also a perfect love.  He’s not like so many earthly fathers who try to provide for their children materially but never realize that what they need most is a father.  He offers us Himself, and as it is with our earthly families, no amount of possessions could ever bring such joy and happiness or make up for the loss of such a relationship.  Thus, while He may not give us riches (at least, not in the financial sense), He will take care of us perfectly from the eternal perspective.   

Unfortunately, rather than calling upon Him with our needs, our society is doing everything it can to get rid of Him.  We have removed the Bible, prayer, the Ten Commandments, and any mention of Jesus from our schools, government, and from most of the public realm.  (Remember when Christ-mas was about Christ?)  We may still be able to use the generic term “god,” but if we begin to elaborate about who “god” is, society either freaks out, shuts us off, or gets up in arms about “separation of church and state” (a phrase which is not contained in the United States Constitution). 

This is a mistake!  Attempting to rid ourselves of God not only ignores the eternal problem of hell, it also creates all kinds of problems here and now–problems which are tearing our society to pieces.  Technology may be improving, and knowledge may be increasing, but look at people’s lives.  Look at what we’re doing to ourselves.  We could come up with all kinds of statistics showing the condition of our society, but do we really need statistics to know we have a problem?  Just look around.

For now, though, rather than exploring the problems associated with a godless society, let’s take a look at it from a personal perspective–what it means to us as individuals.  If we are going to reject God, there are many questions that must be answered and many voids that must be filled.  We can’t just get rid of Him; we have to replace Him with something.   

First, if not God, what is the purpose and focus of our lives?  What do we live for?  We all choose something as most important and ultimately all of our decisions will revolve around this thing.  It may be the “almighty dollar,” our possessions, a job, a relationship, or whatever, but something is going to rule our lives.  If we reject God, we must settle for something less — something which has been created, and something which will someday disappear. 

Second, if we don’t put our faith in God, what security do we have?  What in this life is certain?  Can our investments be any more secure than our federal government, with its multi-trillion dollar deficit?  Can our possessions be adequately and unceasingly protected from theft, loss, and deterioration?  Are we and the people we rely upon guaranteed to be here and healthy tomorrow?  Think of all the things that could happen, any one of which could instantly change or end our lives: accidents, disease, heart failure, stroke, violent crime, natural disasters, even something as simple as choking.  Think about how little warning any of these may give. 

No, being a Christian will not provide security for earthly treasures, and it won’t protect us from physical death.  God doesn’t promise us a healthy, wealthy, and trouble-free life here on earth.  He doesn’t even hint at it.  What He does promise is that once we accept Him, all things will work together for our eternal good, all the treasures which we store up in heaven (by living for Him here) will be ours forever, and death will be the most wonderful thing that ever happens to us. Now, this is security (which sure makes life a lot easier to enjoy). 

Third, if we don’t view our significance from God’s perspective, then why are we important?  Is it because of money, a title, a car or house?  Is it what we do or what we wear?  Are we really no more important than what we own, do, or can afford to buy?  These things are even temporary.  Our money can disappear (investment failure, medical expenses, or lawsuit), we’re all going to grow old and retire, and our possessions are wearing out while we pay for them.  What happens when we lose these things, are we worthless?  God says that we are of value because we have been created in His image to become His children and once we are saved, because we are a part of His plan.  We are eternally important, each with our own individual gifts, talents, and pre ordained jobs to do. 

Fourth, if not to God, where do we go for help?  We’re going to need help!  Again, we were not created self-sufficient.  Do we go to other people- to other sinful, fallible, messed-up creatures like ourselves?  Do we go to chemicals- like alcohol and drugs, or to other diversions–like sleep, work, food, or shopping?  Realistically, don’t most of the things people turn to for help end up becoming part of the problem?  [Psychology, if it is grounded entirely upon Biblical principles, may be beneficial, but I wouldn’t step one foot inside a non Biblically based counseling center.  Most of the so-called help available in these places is a bunch of atheistic gibberish which comes ultimately from the pit of hell.  Besides, understanding why we’re messed up may not tell us anything other than, it’s OK to be this way, and most of the time spent “getting in touch with ourselves” would be better spent getting in touch with God.  After all, we’re where the problem is; He’s the cure! 

Fifth, if we don’t seek happiness and contentment from God, if we don’t attain these things through Him according to His will, then how?  What will make us happy?  Will wealth?  Are the richest people you know the happiest, or does the accumulation of wealth simply create an insatiable desire for more?  How about our jobs?  Some people are happy with their jobs (some polls estimate it as low as ten percent), but nobody works all the time, and there is always the possibility that circumstances will change.  Besides, we are all going to retire.  How about alcohol and drugs?  Nothing really needs to be said about these–the aftermath of the pleasure–whether it be addiction, drunk driving, verbal or physical abuse of another person, or health problems, something is wrong when our pleasure harms or endangers us and/or other people. 

How about our relationships, can they bring us happiness?  Unfortunately, now that we are taking God out of the picture, our relationships–one of the most precious and wonderful gifts that He has given us for joy and happiness–are some of the major weapons with which we are tearing each other apart.  Since we have ceased to accept His control over and, thus, His help in our relationships, look at how many people are suffering.  How many people have been hurt by a supposed ‘loved one’ through abuse (mental, physical, or sexual), rejection, divorce, abandonment, or immoral relationships?   

Finally, if we are going to get rid of God, where do we get our laws?  God’s laws are not terrible and restrictive.  He loves us, and He knows what’s best.  Is our society better off now that we are deciding for ourselves what is right or wrong?  Imagine what our world would be like if we obeyed Him.  If we worshiped God above all else and could never lose our reason for living, how would that affect us?  How many suicides would there be?  If we honored the Sabbath–reserved a day to rest and worship God (to remind us of what is important and what is not)–how much less stress would we be under?  How many fewer heart attacks would there be?  If we honored our parents, grandparents, and other elders, how much more love would there be in families?  How many heartaches would be prevented by children following rules and obeying authority?  How much better would we know how to honor our Heavenly Father?  If we adhered to God’s sexual standards, how many people would be dying from AIDS or have any of the twenty-plus sexually transmitted diseases ravaging people today?  How many unmarried pregnancies would there be?  How many abortions?  How many people would be devastated by incest or rape?  If nobody ever got drunk or high, how many addicts would there be?  How many people would be killed or injured because of people driving under the influence?  How many people would get drunk and abuse their loved ones?  If nobody got divorced, how many people would be suffering because of it and how many children’s worlds would be shattered?  If people were honest (they didn’t steal, cheat, lie, or deceive), how many human and material resources could be freed-up for the betterment of our world, rather than being spent monitoring, guarding, and fighting against each other?  If we loved God the way He loves us, if we treated each other the way we would like to be treated, if we truly obeyed God in every way, what would our world be like? 

God gave us laws to live by–guidelines for a successful and enjoyable life–but we are abandoning them, and the consequences are mounting.  We can argue with God, we can ignore His laws, we can even deny His existence, but we’re still suffering the consequences.  The condition of our society is horrible, it’s continually worsening, and there are no indications that it is going to do anything except continue its descent.  Unfortunately, without God in our lives individually, we don’t hit bottom until we drop into hell. 

It’s important to mention here, that even though God is allowing us to do this to ourselves and He will send people to hell–this is not His desire.  He wants every one of us to be saved, and He suffered a horrible death in order to make it possible. It must, though, be our decision.  God is not going to force anyone to accept Him.  Unfortunately, because we have this freedom (to accept or reject Him), most people are going to choose to remain their own gods.  The Bible tells us that the majority of the world’s population is going to reject God and spend eternity in hell.  

So this is life and these are the options:  We can accept God–His authority and forgiveness–or we can reject Him.  We can have a position of royalty (as children of the King), the peace of eternal security, the purpose of serving the Creator, and the power to make our lives successful or we can foolishly try to create our own reality within His universe.  We can choose the love of God with the eternal pleasures of heaven or the loss of God with the eternal pain of hell. 

So please, I urge you, if you have not accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior, if you have not accepted the reason for your existence–your position as a child of the living God–do it now!  You don’t have to go anywhere, you don’t have to be with anybody, and you don’t have to be good enough to do it.  Remember, nobody is good enough!  We don’t become righteous to be accepted by God, we accept God to become righteous. 

I have included–if you feel you need it–a precise prayer to pray to take this oh-so-wonderful step.  It is in the chapter titled “So What Should You Do?”  (You can, of course, say it in your own words.)  So do it: Accept the Lord!  Receive Him as the Father He wants to be, with the love He has to give, the forgiveness He died to provide, and the plan He has for your life.  Become what you were created to be!  And let me tell you, from the voice of experience, it is beyond wonderful!!!