The Meaning of Life

Ancient Greek philosophers debated for centuries over what was the meaning of life, or the Logos, as they called it.  The Logos was the ‘the impersonal rational principle governing the universe’ which humans must adhere to or ‘life is devoid of dignity and meaning’ (Kostenberger, ‘Encountering John’).  The Stoics said there was no Logos, because the universe is a big cosmic accident.  Yet they advocated for living as though there was meaning, by living a moral and generous life.  The Epicureans on the other hand said the Logos was to suck as much enjoyment out of this life as possible, because this is all there is.

Then along came the Apostle John, who stated that there definitely is a Logos, contrary to the Stoics.  Yet that Logos wasn’t a pleasurable thing like money, or a pleasurable activity like sex, or a pleasurable identity, like one’s gender or sexuality.  The Logos, according to John, is a person: the Lord Jesus Christ.

The reason God created the universe was to share his goodness and love and grace with others.  His ability to do that was damaged by the Fall.  God chose to rectify this by sending Jesus, whose death atoned for our sin and reconciled us to God (Rom 5:10-11).

The big question is … how does one fulfil the meaning of life if the meaning of life is a person?  It is by cultivating the deepest, most intimate relationship with that person we can.  And like any relationship, we cultivate it through regular visits.  The meaning of life is to spend time with God regularly (every day), to listen to him (Bible reading), understand him (Christian meditation) and share your life with him (prayer).  Simply reading a passage of the Bible to tick a box, then throw your shopping list at him before running off into your day is not cultivating a close relationship.

May we rather be encouraging one another to be cultivating the best relationship with God we can, so that we can fulfil the meaning of life.