The Real Meaning of Life

Before I begin my short message, I want to talk a little about a wind storm we experienced where I live last night.

I was read a story, a fictional story, and I recently searched for it on the internet but couldn’t find it. It was a good story, about God sending St. Peter to earth to see how well us humans were caring for the planet. As I said, too many years have gone by and there is very little I remember about the story, but St. Peter came to earth and surveyed everything, then returned to heaven to report to God.

The story was full of things like St. Peter telling God that everyone raked their yards every fall to get rid of the fallen leaves, and God responded with sadness saying the He had intended for the leaves to fall to create mulch for the winter grass so it would grow up greener and healthier the next spring, and St. Peter told God that we no longer used nature for that because we now had chemical fertilizers we used to make our grass green and lush. Then St. Peter would talk about all the tree rows the farmers were cutting down to make room to plant more crop, and God would respond that He intended for the tree rows to block the wind to prevent erosion of the top soil, and the story went on and on, St. Peter providing examples of how we had done away with nature and were taking things into our own hands. It was a brilliant story, and if anyone remembers it, I would appreciate you sharing it with me.

Now about last nights storm…a severe thunderstorm rolled through and I have not heard how strong the winds were, but they downed trees and broke tree branches off all over town. Even the fact that today is Sunday, the City opened the compost site on a normally closed day to allow for the citizens to dispose of the downed branches and limbs; the damage was that great and widespread.

My family and I took a drive around town so we could amateurishly survey the damage. And while most everyone was lamenting the storm and the damage, all I could think about was the story of God and St. Peter, and how the storm last night was God’s way of cleaning up the land. Most of the branches and trees and limbs that fell were decayed or rotten and would have fallen eventually, perhaps even hurting someone who may be relaxing underneath or walking past. Now the weak trees have been taken care of by the storm, leaving only the strong and healthy behind. What a wonderful way God has designed nature to be, and what a wonderful blessing that the winds came late in the evening, after sunset, and at a time when most people were at home and few were out and about where they might be injured by the falling trees. Isn’t God and His design laws wonderful?

Now on to Isaiah, of which I don’t have much to say that hasn’t already been said. Isaiah continues to prophesy about the coming invasion of Babylon, my opinion of which is a natural consequence of the children of Israel straying away from God. The children of Israel had turned their backs on God, were worshiping false idols, and committing other sins. And while Isaiah continues to talk about God’s anger, even quoting God’s own words reportedly, I have to tend to disagree with him.

Jesus said, “If you’ve seen Me, you’ve seen the Father”, and because of that, knowing that God and Jesus are one, I have no doubt that God may become angry, He never lets it dictate how He treats His children. I do not believe for one moment that God punishes people for their sins; He gives free choice for us to follow Him or to do our own thing, the latter of which has some dire consequences. When we separate ourselves from God and His love and protection, we are on our own in a cruel world, and bad things can happen to us. Sin introduced bad things into the world, things caused by Satan to make God look bad, but none of it is at the hand of God.

So, if you want the good life, love God and obey Him. Stay close to Him, and all will be alright.

One last thing…I was surfing Facebook today when I came across an advertisement, inviting me to order a free pamphlet explaining the prophesies in the Book of Revelation. It indicated that if I ordered and read this pamphlet, I would have more insight into when the Second Coming of Jesus would occur and what I could do to prepare for Salvation.

The only thing I could think of is that it is really an easy task. If you want to be saved, all you have to do is to LOVE GOD! Don’t fear Him, don’t fear the fictitious place called “Hell” that was established by man to scare people into going to church, just love and obey Him. If you do so, you’ll be able to withstand God’s Glory, the same Glory that frightened the children of Israel and made Moses’ face shine. If you love God and obey His commands, you’ll be able to withstand that Glory, otherwise you will perish from it’s brightness.

Am I suggesting you not read and study the Bible? Certainly not, it is full of stories like those told by Isaiah that provide valuable lessons on how not to stray from God and His Mercy that endures forever if you just turn back to Him.

God bless everyone reading this message!