Everybody Has to Live for Something

I have been reading from Tim Keller’s book, The Reason for God.  I would strongly recommend it if you are looking for a book that will help you interact with folks who are asking the “BIG” questions of life (how can a good, all-powerful God permit evil, where did everything come from, why am I here, is there such a thing as truth, don’t all roads lead to God – and so on).  I would also recommend this book if you are a believer who wants to think well about mankind, sin’s effect on mankind, and God’s power in rescuing mankind.   While I think it is a wonderful book, there are areas that I don’t find total agreement, but the overall message is compelling and thought provoking.  What I really want to do in this entry is simply share a few paragraphs that I found very encouraging and caused me to want to make much of God.  I thought I would share them with you…

“Remember this – if you don’t live for Jesus you will live for something else.  If you live for career and you don’t do well it may punish you all of your life, and you will feel like a failure.  If you live for your children and they don’t turn out all right you could be absolutely in torment because you feel worthless as a person.

“If Jesus is your center and Lord and you fail him, he will forgive you.  Your career can’t die for your sins.  You might say, ‘If I were a Christian I’d be going around pursued by guilt all the time!’  But we are all being pursued by guilt because we must have an identity and there must be some standard to live up to by which we get that identity.  Whatever you base you life on – you have to live up that that.  Jesus is the one you can live for who died for you – who breathed his last breath for you.  Does that sound oppressive?

“You may say, ‘I see that Christianity might be just the thing for people who have had collapses in their lives.  But what if I don’t fail in my career and what if I have a great family?’  As Augustine said, if there is a God who created you, then the deepest chambers of your soul simply cannot be filled up by anything less.  That is how great the human soul is.  If Jesus is Creator-Lord, then by definition nothing could satisfy you like he can, even if you are successful.  Even the most successful careers and families cannot give the significance, security, and affirmation that the author of glory and love can. 

“Everybody has to live for something.  What that something is becomes ‘Lord of your life,’ whether you think of it that way or not.  Jesus is the only Lord who, if you receive him, will fulfill you completely, and, if you fail him, will forgive you eternally.”  (page 172, The Reason for God)

Just something to think about…