What is Life About?

In 1982, Paul McCartney released what's commonly acknowledged to be one of his best LPs, Tug of War. It was the former Beatle's first project after the 1980 murder of his onetime bandmate, friend, and composing partner, John Lennon.

Several songs on the album seem to have been inspired by that tragedy, including the title track, which appears to describe the complicated relationship McCartney had with Lennon. There, one line, appearing in the bridge, says:

In years to come
We may discover
What the air we breathe and the life we lead are all about
But it won't be soon enough, soon enough for me

Tomorrow, I'll preside at the funeral of a man I got to know three years ago through our mutual community activities. I didn't know him well. But I look at his death at far too early an age, at the widow and two twenty-something children he leaves behind, and at the hole he leaves in the community service organization for which he worked and the rock and roll oldies band of which he was a part and I understand the sense of futility some may feel. We may wonder: What is the "air we breathe and the life we lead" about?

King Solomon, among the wisest people to ever live, writing in the Old Testament, had similar questions. He lamented:

Vanity of vanities, says the Teacher, vanity of vanities! All is vanity. What do people gain from all the toil at which they toil under the sun? (Ecclesiastes 1:2-3)

(I love the honesty and forthrightness of the Bible. Imagine the audacity of God, inspiring a Biblical writer to use words of doubt about the meaning of life to lead off a book of faith! God isn't afraid of our doubts and He encourages us to be honest when we have them. Maybe that's because You can only doubt someone or something you believe in. If you didn't believe in God, you couldn't doubt Him; you simply wouldn't believe in Him or give Him a thought.)

Is life futile? The Bible says, "No!"

In spite of the mysteries and questions I can't answer, life, the Bible teaches, has a purpose. The New Testament book of Ephesians says:

It's in Christ that we find out who we are and what we are living for. Long before we first heard of Christ and got our hopes up, he had his eye on us, had designs on us for glorious living, part of the overall purpose he is working out in everything and everyone. (Ephesians 1:11-12, The Message)

So, who are we? We're children made in God's image. Though we and our world have fallen away from God, God loves us too much to simply give up on us. That's why He's become one of us in Jesus Christ. And, having lived a sinless life in Christ, He went to a cross, taking our deserved punishment for sin. Having died in our places, He now offers new life to all who will turn from sin and entrust their whole lives--from the womb to eternity--into Christ's hands.

When we do that, God sends His Holy Spirit our ways to guide us, helping us to understand what we are living for. It turns out that we're living to enjoy relationship with God and with others. That's why Jesus says that the greatest commandment is to love God and to love others.

That's it--believe in Christ, love God, love neighbor. That's what human life is meant to be about.

God will show each of us our own unique ways of doing these things. We may do them as rock stars, kings, contractors, police officers, social workers, pastors, poets, writers, housewives, presidents, athletes, restaurant servers, engineers, teachers, gymnasts, accountants, entrepreurs, farmers, nurses, attorneys, doctors, whatever.

But we don't have to wait to discover what the air we breathe or the lives we lead are all about.

• We are children of God who, through faith in Christ, can live with God forever.
• Once we believe in Christ, God will help us to have life as it's meant to be lived: in love for God and love for others.
  

Whether we live a long time or a short time on this earth, if we follow Christ and heed His call to love, we will have truly lived. (Simple as that seems, I realized as I wrote that last sentence how desperately I need to pray that God will help me to do just that today and each day.)