Understanding Life
INTRODUCTION
Where did I come from, why am I here, where am I going – are three questions most people will ask at some time in their lives.
Perhaps most of us ask these questions at some low point – but they are legitimate questions all the same. On the other hand some of us may ask these kinds of questions every day! What is the point of life anyway? If the scientists are right and we are just accidents of nature with no real purpose and no future is there any point in it all?
How about you – do you understand your life? Do you have purpose, peace, and happiness? Is life meaningful for you or is it time you took a break and asked some serious life questions?
If you’ll take the time to stick with us on this short quest you may well discover that there’s much more to your life than you think. You may also discover that there is something that will give you more purpose and pleasure in life than you ever imagined – so I challenge you - read on, you may be surprised at what you will discover!
YOU ARE MORE THAN YOU APPEAR TO BE
One of the fatal errors many of us make is to believe that we are only what we appear! You are in actual fact more than a flesh, blood and bone creature – more than an evolutionary accident!
There is abundant evidence – even in your own life’s experience that you are much more than you appear to be!
Have you ever walked in to a room and immediately been aware of an atmosphere between the people there? They may be smiling at each other and at you, but you sense intuitively that all is not well. What is intuition anyway? The dictionary defines it as – “knowledge or belief obtained neither by reason nor by perception.”
Perhaps on another occasion you have had a strong sense of what we call foreboding. You cannot account for it or explain it but you are as aware of it as we are of something tangible.
Some time ago a friend of mine left home to visit her nearest town some distance away. While there she had the overwhelming impression that something was wrong at home. Rushing to the nearest telephone she called her disabled husband only to discover that he was in distress. How do we account for these things? Body language may play a part with the people in the room but there is much more than that.
The truth is you are as much a spiritual person as you are physical. You have a spirit, as well as a body. If you ignore this fact then you will never make any sense of your life. Your spirit can be troubled, distressed, broken, traumatised, etc. This is important to grasp as it may well reveal much about why you are the way you are.
THE NEW CAR
Imaging for a moment that you have bought a new car - you are very proud of it and give it a lot of care and attention. You wash and polish it every week and this goes on for some time.
One day as you are driving down the road your car makes a loud noise and comes to a sudden halt. Smoke and steam start to pour from the front of your pride and joy. The breakdown vehicle eventually comes along and takes you to the nearest garage. You try to explain to the mechanic how you have cared for your car – polished, cleaned, and vacuumed it every week. You always made sure it had the best of tyres, the most expensive polish, and even a new air freshener every month. Then to your amazement the mechanic does something you did not even know was possible! He opens a large hatch at the front of your car and reveals something you have never seen before called an engine! He then proceeds to ask you what kind of oil you use and did you notice a red light on your cars instrument panel over the last few weeks. Well, yes, you did notice the red light but you had never realised your car had an engine – never mind having to put oil in it!
That is how many people live their lives! They give attention to looking good on the outside, to external matters, and any problem in life is attributed to needing a fresh makeover, a spending spree on some new tyres and air freshener, a change of scene or a new relationship – never realising that they are neglecting that vital component we call the human spirit! It is neglect of our spirit – that vital component of our being that is the root cause of many of the problems we face in life!
BACK TO THE FUTURE
To understand our present and future we must go back! When did your life begin? When I was born of course – most people would answer! But that is not entirely true for life begins before birth.
Medical authorities are agreed that an unborn child is affected by their surroundings. There is also strong evidence available today to indicate that a child in the womb has far greater perceptive abilities than many imagine! If expectant mothers feel the child in their womb reacting to music, which many do, imagine how stress, fighting and abuse, going on outside its home, might affect the unborn child. There is little doubt but that some of the damage your spirit can sustain occurs before your birth – for you are a spirit being before you are born.
If we accept that we have a spirit, the next problem is to discover where and how we came by having one! One of the oldest books known to man the Tanakh, (otherwise known as the Jewish Old Testament) could give us a hint. Two statements may give us our first clue - "The Lord who stretches out the heavens, who lays the foundation of the earth, and who forms the spirit of man within him, declares…." (Zechariah 12:1) "The dust returns to the ground it came from, and the spirit returns to God who gave it. (Eccl. 12: 7)
Of course this concept pre-supposes the existence of a supreme being many call – God. Your background may well govern how you perceive “God” at this point. However, apart from the discredited evolutionary theory there is not much choice but to believe in a supreme creative being. How else do we account for the complexity of life and nature?
WHEN DO YOU RECEIVE YOUR SPIRIT?
So when do we receive our spirits? Some suggest that you receive it at the time of conception. There is some evidence that appears to indicate that there is a flash of light in the womb at the time if conception – perhaps indicating the infusion of spirit.
One of the men who knew the historical figure Jesus better than anyone else, his cousin John, made two very interesting statements about him. He said – "In Him (Jesus) was life, and that life was the light of men." (John 1: 4) "The true light (Jesus) that gives light to every man…." (John 1: 9)
Jesus, who Christians claim to be God in the flesh, is seen in these verses as both The Light and the Giver of Light to every person born in to the world.
The same books, the Tanakh (Old Testament), which is of Jewish origin and the New Testament which is of Christian origin appear to indicate that physical life can only exist in union with the spirit - "As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead." (James 2: 26) "When their spirit departs, they return to the ground." (Psalm 146:4)
If we accept these statements we can conclude that if you have no spirit you have no life. Consequently, human life even embryonic and foetal life has a spirit. You are by default born a spiritual person. And with your spirit you perceive many things that your body alone is incapable of perceiving. This fact is accepted, not only by Jews and Christians, by people of many and even no faith.
But if we accept the view of the human spirit as expressed by the two books referred to above (commonly known as the Bible) we run in to a problem, for they teach that although every man and woman has a spirit – it also teaches that the spirit, though alive to many things and other people - is dead towards God – the supreme being of the universe.
In what sense is it dead? It is dead, according to these books, in the sense that at birth your spirit has no relationship/connection with God – who is also seen supremely as a spiritual being.
This form of death is hinted at in the creation story of Genesis in relation to Adam and Eve - "You must not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die." (Gen 2: 17)
Adam and Eve did not die physically, although perhaps the seed of physical death entered at that time, but more importantly they appear to have died relationally. In this concept we discover that the human spirit is modelled on the Spirit of God. However relationally, by nature we have no connection with Him. This though is found in the New Testament where we find verses such as the following - "As for you, you were dead (relationally and spiritually) in your transgressions and sins…." (Ephesians 2:1) And – "But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive (spiritually) with Christ (Jesus) even when we were dead (spiritually) in transgressions…." (Ephesians 2:4)
HOW DOES MY SPIRIT LIFE DEVELOP?
When we are born we begin to feed our natural bodies. As spiritual beings we begin to feed spiritually, although we may be unconscious of the fact. We develop spiritually as well as naturally.
As we grow in to adulthood and mature in our spiritual perception (although we may not recognise it as such) some of us may experience a strange longing perhaps an emptiness we cannot explain.
There is a desire for something to truly satisfy – some refer to this as a God shaped void in our lives. We may attempt to fill this emptiness in a variety of ways – perhaps by seeking material things, popularity, success, or something else.
It may be we have discovered that our real needs are not material or emotional and that only a spiritual remedy will satisfy. We may try religion and perhaps go to church but come away disillusioned. We may try alternative religion; new age philosophies, fortune telling or some other spiritual guru who comes our way, but nothing seems to work.
WILL THE REAL JESUS PLEASE STAND UP!
One of the major problems toady is the confusion of religion. Who is right, why are there so many, where do I turn, may all be questions we have asked.
In fact much religion is a misrepresentation of the truth. Add to that the hypocrisy of many religious people and it is no wonder so many of us want to have nothing to do with it. Interestingly when the historical Jesus appeared on the scene he found the same and it appears his major task in life was to redefine what God was really like - for religion in his day, as in ours, had grossly misrepresented the Father heart of God. It presented him as a harsh, demanding and fearful figure. Yet Jesus, who claimed he was the embodiment of God, presented himself as one who loved unconditional, and with such a passion that he was willing to die, even for his enemies! Incidentally if Jesus was not who he claimed to be then he is the biggest fraud in history and not a good man in any way, shape or form!
THE BORN AGAIN BUNCH
Most of us will have heard the term “born again” in relation to Christianity. What is that all about? Well, it has in reality much to do with our subject although the term has been much used and abused. It is simply a picture of the necessary relationship between us, as spiritual beings, and God, who, as we have already indicated, is in essence also a spiritual being. It was Jesus, who, while in conversation raised the subject with a religious leader -
"Jesus answered, "I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. 6 Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. 7 You should not be surprised at my saying, 'You must be born again.' 8 The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit. (John 3: 5 - 8) What is Jesus saying? Simply that the spirit of this religious man required to be born relationally to the Holy Spirit (of God) if he was ever to know true meaning and purpose in life.
This Jewish leader was religious all right but his religion, like so many, was focused on externals – being in church every week, putting his money in the collection, appearing to conform in every way – but he was dead relationally to God the Holy Spirit.
FIND OUT FOR YOURSELF
When relationally your spirit connects with the spirit of the living God – life will take on real meaning and purpose. You will discover life as it was always intended to be! You will also discover wholeness, satisfaction and direction. In a mysterious way your spirit will come alive to God and he will reveal himself to you as a loving Father - one who longs to live in a day by day relationship with YOU.
Only in this place can we truly understand the purpose and meaning of life. If you have never done so before ask Father God to reveal himself to you. Find a modern version of the bible and read the book of John – the fourth book in what is called the New Testament - and discover all that the Spirit of the living God has purposed for you!
