Do we ever take our existence seriously enough? What is
the ultimate reality of life and our true existence? The meaning of life is a philosophical question
concerning the significance of life or existence in general. It can also be
expressed in different forms, such as "Why are we here?", "What
is life all about?", and "What is the purpose of existence?" It
has been the subject of much philosophical, scientific, and theological
speculation throughout history.
Look at the World around
us. What we see is nothing new. Life as we see it now has been going on since
the beginning of time. There is nothing new under the sun. What we have done
throughout our lives is no different than what many other persons have done
throughout their lives since life first came into being.
There are those of us
who believe that an intelligent being, a God, created this World and the people
who are in it. Then there are those who believe that humans evolved from some
minute’ cell that has always existed. Then there are those of us who absolutely
give life and the origin of life no serious thought at all.
I don’t believe that
anyone has the belief that they are going to live forever on this Earth because
death of our human bodies is a reality that we experience throughout our lives.
Even when armed with that knowledge there are those of us who just ignore the
reality of death and live our lives for whatever we can experience for our
pleasure from one day to the next. Life is like a vapor of smoke that exists
today and vanishes tomorrow, eventually to be remembered no more.
When we are very young,
we look forward to the excitement that life has to offer us. As we become young
adults and grow into our middle age we begin to treasure our possessions like
cars and houses and the many things that we can acquire. These are all temporal
things that we find pleasure in, but only for a certain time. Only when we
reach our senior years do we begin to see what life is all about. It is not
about what we have gained in the order of personal possessions, because when we
part this life, none of those things that we formally possessed will be of any
value. Life is not about all the fun and excitement we enjoyed in our younger
years because just the memory of those things is not enough to sustain
ourselves in our twilight years of life.
So considering all of
that, what do we have to look forward to as our life on Earth draws to a close?
The Bible tells us that it is appointed unto all persons once to die, but after
that the judgment. What if you don’t believe that the Bible is of any
consequence. If you don’t believe what it says and you reject it, then what
will you look forward to when your life ends?
Seriously, what is your
life worth? Our lives are as a vapor of smoke that appears for a little while,
then vanishes away never to be seen again, for out of the dust of the Earth we
were born and back into that dust we shall return, with nothing gained by our
lives except for the memories of us that have been retained by others, but
these memories also will eventually be lost in the passage of time.
