Today’s Reading – Hosea 1-3; Matthew 16
Nearly every man and woman that has ever walked this earth, at some point, asks themselves the question, “What is the meaning of life?”
How do I find happiness? How do I find contentment? How do I feel good about who I am? Why am I unhappy and how do I fix it?
People read books, hire life coaches, seek psychiatric help (sometimes this is very necessary if clinical psychological needs), attend conferences, go on pilgrimage trips all over the world, and the list goes on.
“I have money, boats, vacation houses, exotic cars, private jets, and I am still not happy.”
“I achieved the highest levels of accolades in my profession and worked my entire life for it, and I am still not fulfilled.”
“I can go anywhere, live anywhere, live any type of life I want, and I am still lost. I am not happy.”
I believe the lack of happiness in our society today is based on humans seeking satisfaction from this life, rather than focusing on the satisfaction that can come from knowing where they are going in their next life. God never promised in any scripture, from any prophet, or in any form that our lives on earth would be fulfilling.
What scripture tells us over and over is that we should seek to glorify the name of God and follow the teachings of our Savior Jesus Christ. We should knowingly learn, pronounce publicly, that Jesus Christ was the Son of God. Knowing Him, understanding His guidance and lessons, enables us to try to understand the challenges and tribulations of life on earth that will ABSOLUTELY occur. We come to know that satisfaction and fulfillment will never happen in this life, at least to the level we expect and want, because God wants us to seek fulfillment through Him and rely on the promise of spending eternity with Him. If we love it so much on earth, why would we be motivated to follow Him and go to Heaven?
Matthew 16:25-26
25 For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. 26 For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?
None of this is easy. Please know this is my aspiration as well. It is a daily challenge for me, to not focus too much on achievement and obtaining “things” on earth and take my focus off my faith in Christ. My prayer is that by reading this, it will raise questions in your mind about how you might examine your life and explore how you can gain fulfillment through Jesus Christ. What I have learned is that faith and belief in Jesus is the only thing that will truly bring us happiness.
