There's a famous Dean Martin song that goes 'You're nobody until somebody loves you'. Those lyrics reveal our deepest longings. We want our lives to be worthwhile, to have significance. Our greatest fear is to go through life without anyone noticing. We are most concerned about our lack of education, our economic situation compared to others, and our physical appearance. That's why we get upset when a friend forgets to call us, a teacher doesn't remember our name, or a co-worker takes the honors for something we've done. We seek attention, drop names of prestigious people into conversations to give ourselves importance, and put flashy stickers on our cars. Fashion designers tell us 'If you wear our jeans you'll be somebody' . So we go to the store and spend half our paycheck on Italian jeans. But then - how awful - the style changes, they are no longer worn tight but baggy and pale instead of dark. So we're left wearing yesterday's fashion, feeling like we're old news.
To the point: You can't acquire a sense of transcendence with external things; it's internal. What gives your life meaning is someone you trust, who will never change; someone who knows the worst about you and yet always believes the best. And there is only one such being: God. So read the following: "Now thus says the Lord, your Creator... and your Maker...: 'Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have named you; you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and if through the rivers, they shall not overflow you. When you pass through the fire, you will not be burned, nor will the flame burn in you. For I, The Lord, [am] your God... For you are highly esteemed in my sight..." (Isaiah 43:1-4).
"THANK YOU FOR MAKING ME..." (Psalm 139:14 NTV)
We look for meaning in life in different ways. We think that if we can relate to someone special we will become someone special. Or we try to make something of ourselves last after we die. When the billionaire realizes that his years are going to run out before his money does, he creates a charitable foundation. For the same reason we have children; we think that when we die, our descendants will remember us as "My dear daddy" or "My good mommy" and so we prolong our life through theirs. The famous atheist Bertrand Russel said: 'I know that when I die, my bones will rot and nothing will be left of my ego'. Maybe you think he's not right - of course not!
Jesus said: "...Even your hairs are all numbered" (Matthew 10:30). We check a number of things: the amount of money in the bank, the amount of gas left in the tank, the pounds on the scale, etc. And what about the hair? We comb it, we dye it, we cut it, but we don't count it. God counts our hair. God had you in His mind, He knows everything about your life and He loves you. The psalmist wrote: "You created the delicate inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother's womb. Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your fine work is marvelous, I know that very well. You watched me as I secretly took shape, as my par tners were woven together in the darkness of the womb. You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in your book Every moment was designed before a single day passed. How precious are your thoughts about me, O God..." (Psalm 139:13-17 NTV).
"...THE AFFLICTIONS OF THE PRESENT TIME ARE NOT COMPARABLE WITH THE GLORY TO COME, WHICH SHALL BE SHOWN IN US" (Romans 8:18).
When Viktor Frankl was taken as a prisoner to the Auschwitz concentration camp, he had been writing a book about "the meaning of life". But he was stripped of his clothes and taken away, including the manuscript he had hidden in the lining of his coat, which made him question whether life really had meaning. Soon after, something happened: the Nazis gave him the rags of a prisoner who had been sent to the gas chambers, and Frankl found in his pocket a piece of paper containing a Jewish prayer (Deuteronomy 6:4-5): "Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength." 'How to interpret such a coincidence?' he wondered. 'The only way is to live my thoughts, instead of simply putting them down on paper.'
Later he wrote: 'Nothing in this world helps you survive more than knowing that your life has a purpose. He who has a reason for living can endure any adversity." Charles Dickens was lame; so was Handel; Homer was blind; Plato was hunchbacked; Sir Walter Scott was paralytic. And Paul spent almost all of his ministry (except for seven years) in prison. What gave these people the courage to overcome all those circumstances? Purpose! Each of them had a yearning and lived driven by an inner fire that was not only a desire, but also a desire to live a life of purpose.
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