Why Do We Exist? Why Live?
I start with a pretty tough question for many of us… why do we exist? I have thought about this question at various points in my life. Sometimes the answer is clear… I exist to be here in this moment, being of service to ____. Or … I exist to witness this amazing ____.
Then there are times when the answer isn’t so clear… like when there is a loss, a failure, catastrophe, disease, tragedy or something just not ok…. Like being a witness or subject to cruelty, abuse or neglect.
So we question our lives at various times and places and what is the answer we come up with? What is even a good answer to these questions ?
I believe that most of our answers, if we have them, might be only partially correct. To limit our value by circumstances, either good or bad, is to sell ourselves monumentally short. If we define our value by our worst mistake we have ever made then the Apostle Paul would have never written most of the New Testament. After all, he was killing Christians before he met Jesus on the road to Damascus. King David had blood on his hands, committed adultery and ran from the King to the enemy. So how was David remembered? Have you ever heard of the City of David? Jerusalem! The lineage of Christ is marked as the line of David.
What about Abraham Lincoln? Do you know how many elections he lost? He lost at least 8 elections, failed at business, had a nervous breakdown and he was engaged to be married to his sweetheart and then she died. What is he remembered for? Oh yeah… the President of the United States!
I use these examples to say something about who we really are…
We are far more than the worst thing we have ever done or for that matter, even the best thing. I am remembering high school and being so proud of the letterman’s jacket. I covered mine with accomplishments from football and believe it or not debate. I wore it any chance I could. But then I graduated… I never wore that jacket again. It use to define who I was but even the day after graduation it was not me anymore.
So who am I and why am I here? I am a child of God, created in His image for a mission and He calls me a Masterpiece (Ephesians 2:10). This is who I am and why I am here… period.
But the same applies to you. You are His Masterpiece, when you say yes to Jesus. You were created anew by Him for a mission called life, that is to be filled with the amazing and the tragic. Each mountaintop is followed by a valley, but each valley beckons you to climb the next mountain.
I want you to remember something… do not let the world define you. Do not let your past define you. If your past has been a mess, let God turn it into a message. You can begin again today and have a life that’s completely different from anything you have known to date… better, more fulfilling.
You are here in this moment and #YourLifeMatters
Dr Cliff Robertson, Jr
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