What Is The Meaning Of Life?

When I was a teenager someone challenged my faith, and I reacted with a desire to defend what I believed, so I went home and grabbed the Bible, only to discover that I didn’t know anything about it, nor did I have a clue how to begin finding out. I had gone to Catholic schools through high school, and I had somewhat of an understanding of God, and a love for Him, but no real knowledge of things like why Jesus came, or other things the Bible talks about. I understood bits and pieces, but it didn’t come together for me. Now that I understand the Bible, it all comes together for me, and I love to tell people about the Lord, Jesus Christ, since the Bible has given me so much life. His Word truly does bring life.

So, what is “life”? What is the meaning of “life”?

Jesus, the Creator, breathed life into every living thing when He created them. The animals, the plants, the trees – every living thing lives because of the breath of life that comes from God when He creates. This breath of life, however, is in the soul, and there’s a higher form of life that comes from God that’s made to dwell in the spirit of man. Who was it that said “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life”? Jesus IS life. He’s the source of true life, which emanates from the spirit vs. the soul.

You are made up of body, soul, and spirit. The life of your soul manifests itself in everything that you are – the expression of your “self.” It contains your intellect, your will, and your emotions. This is the “natural” life.

There’s a part deep within you that was born dead. This is your spirit. The reason it was born dead is that when Adam and Eve sinned, death moved in to reign over the whole world. Adam and Eve were told that on the day they ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, they would die. On that day they didn’t physically die, but their spirits died. Their spirits had been alive with the life of God inside, but when they disobeyed, doing the one thing God asked them not to do, their spirits died and they lost the life of God within them. This “death” came over every person who would be born after that (Rom. 5), and became known as the “law of sin and death” (Rom 8). It became a law in the same way that gravity is a law. What goes up must come down no matter what anyone says about it. Likewise, every person is born under the law of sin and death, with a dead spirit, and the natural inclination is to go the wrong way, or away from God, rather than get close to Him and love His ways, because He is not there to make the heart good.

This death principle reigned over the whole earth until Jesus Christ. So, the big question of all time is “why did the Son of God, who lived in glory that transcends any glory on this earth, and which the human mind cannot even comprehend, come into this world for the purpose of dying on a cross?” What is the significance there?

The purpose Jesus came to earth to die on a cross was to reverse the effects of the “law of sin and death” and supersede it with the “law of the Spirit of Life.” He came to make the “great exchange,” much like the movie of the father and son swapping lives for a day, where the father becomes the son and the son becomes the father. I Cor. 5:17 says that He BECAME sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. On the cross He swapped natures with us, and took on all humanity, and the evil that dwells in the spirit, and all evil itself so that anyone who would believe in Him could share in His divine nature by faith. This made it possible for us to become “one” with Him, as two people become “one” when they marry, sharing everything in their lives.

When Jesus was on the earth He was approached by Nicodemus, a Jewish leader, who acknowledged Him to be a great person, and Jesus told Nicodemus that he must be born again to see the Kingdom of God. Nicodemus asked Him what He meant – did he have to go back into his mother’s womb? Jesus told him that flesh begets flesh, and spirit begets spirit, and that the spirit must be born again to see the Kingdom of God. A person is born naturally, but he must also be born spiritually to be truly alive. To be “born again” means to have the life of Christ enter your dead spirit and make it come alive by the power of the Holy Spirit coming in to live there.

And so, how can we apply this to us? How can we have the life of God come and live in us? We have been given one tool only to make this happen, and that’s faith. However, you can’t have faith without knowledge, because you won’t know what to believe in to make it happen. The Bible says that faith comes by hearing the Word of God. So, if you listen to the Word of God as it’s read and preached, your faith will grow.

What is the knowledge you need to make your faith work for you? You must first know that there’s nothing inside you that can cause you to reach the Kingdom of God on your own. You can’t be good enough, pray enough, do enough good works, etc. This is because God is spirit, and you are flesh, and they are in two different dimensions. The spiritual realm is outside the reach of human nature. Faith is the only tool God gives us to enable us to reach the supernatural realm.

And so, when you begin to recognize that nothing inside you compares with the true life of God, then by faith you can offer up to Him those things in your nature that you want to exchange for things in His nature. He took all the death that reigned over the world upon Himself on the cross. This does not mean that you won’t die physically, but that by having His life in you your dead spirit will come alive. By believing this and inviting Jesus into your life, He then becomes in you those things you need, like love, goodness, peace, joy, and everything He desires to be in you, as He begins to change you to be like Him, as the Bible says the potter molds the clay.

So, that’s why God sent His Son into the world to die on a cross to bring the supernatural nature of God Himself down to us in a way that we can receive Him, since He is beyond the reach of human nature. He has made it possible for us to become one with Him, which is what He wants. That’s why all true believers are part of the “Bride of Christ.” In a marriage, two people commit their lives to one another out of love. Likewise, if you commit your life to Christ, He will become your spiritual husband, your God, and you will be His bride. This is why the first commandment says “thou shalt not have any strange gods before you.” As your husband, He will not share you with any other god. Either you belong to Him alone, or you turn away from Him. If you turn to Him, then you can go to Him at any time and tell Him about what’s happening inside you, because you now understand that depending on yourself is not where it’s at, but that true faith is depending on Him to supply you with everything you need to live the spiritual life. If you open yourself up to Him, He moves in and changes your very desires, and you will find yourself becoming more like Him and desiring the things He desires as you grow. You will also find yourself hating the things He hates as well.

There are a few things that will keep this whole process from taking place. In the parable of the Sower and the Seed, Jesus tells His disciples that the Word of God falls on different kinds of soil, and it depends on the condition of the soil (heart) whether it will take root or not. If your heart is shallow, or proud, or the cares of this life are too important to you, or if riches have deceived you into thinking you don’t need God, then your heart will reject Him, and He will not be able to move in. If, though, your heart is soft towards Him, and you love His Word and feed on it, desiring more and more of Him over the things of the world, then you will find Him there. If your pride seeks to elevate your soul (self), then your spirit will remain dead, because the two cannot live side by side. The soul and the spirit are in constant warfare to win you over. Only love of God will make you choose Him over your self. This doesn’t mean that He doesn’t want you to succeed in life, but that He doesn’t want it to go to your head. That’s what He always feared would happen with His people in the Old Testament when He prospered them, and guess what, that’s exactly what did happen. As soon as they started to prosper, they forgot about Him every time.

And so, what I would like to ask of you is to think of a future with God. Walk with God, and allow Him to enter your heart; turn your whole life over to Him so that every decision you make is made with Him, and you might have a fruitful life. If you keep Him out of your life, you might be successful, but you will never have the happiness that comes only with His life being lived in you. Your spirit will remain dead, and you’ll go through the mechanics of life without any real life.

REFERENCES
Matthew 16:26
What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?

John 14:6
Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

John 14:16-17
And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever-
the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you.

John 14:21
Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him."

Mark 12:28-34
One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, "Of all the commandments, which is the most important?"
"The most important one," answered Jesus, "is this: `Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. The second is this: `Love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no commandment greater than these."

"Well said, teacher," the man replied. "You are right in saying that God is one and there is no other but him. To love him with all your heart, with all your understanding and with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself is more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices."

When Jesus saw that he had answered wisely, he said to him, "You are not far from the kingdom of God." And from then on no one dared ask him any more questions.

John 3:3-8
In reply Jesus declared, "I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again."

"How can a man be born when he is old?" Nicodemus asked. "Surely he cannot enter a second time into his mother's womb to be born!"

Jesus answered, "I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit.

Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit.
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."

Galatians 5:17
But the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want.

2 Corinthians 5:21
God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

2 Peter 1:3-4
His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.

Romans 5:12
Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned--

Romans 5:14
Nevertheless, death reigned from the time of Adam to the time of Moses, even over those who did not sin by breaking a command, as did Adam, who was a pattern of the one to come.

Romans 5:17
For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God's abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ.

Romans 5:19
For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous.

Romans 5:21
so that, just as sin reigned in death, so also grace might reign through righteousness to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Colossians 1:12-14
…giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light. For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.