The Real Meaning of Life

There is no doubt about it, Israel has sinned. And it’s not surprising because sin was introduced into this world in the Garden of Eden. Satan is a liar, a very cunning liar. Satan knows scripture better than anyone but God; he used scripture against Jesus in the wilderness, but Jesus knew scripture better than Satan did. And since the time Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit and introduced sin into the world. And man has sinned since.

It is no doubt about Israel’s sins. Prophets have been telling them for centuries now. Idolatry. Sexual immorality. Murder. Lies. Deceit. And the list go on and on. And most of what Jeremiah says in this chapter is more of the same, once again what I perceive not as a threat to Israel, but a reminder, a warning, of the natural consequences of sin.

Here is the verse the impressed me in this chapter, Verse 35.

“Yet you say, ‘Because I am innocent, Surely His anger shall turn from me.’ Behold, I will plead My case against you, Because you say, ‘I have not sinned.”

Recently I saw a FB post on a religious page where one commenter make the remark, “There is no sin. Jesus died on the cross for our sins, so we are no longer sinners.” Was this this gentleman’s interpretation of scripture, or was it something he learned in church? Because in my opinion, that is a lie. There is still sin in this world. I don’t believe Jesus came to die on the cross to give us a pardon on our sins. I believe Jesus came to earth to teach us how to live, how to live by God’s laws, because we simply weren’t getting it any other way. God writing His laws on stone with His own finger wasn’t enough; Jesus had to come and show us how God wants us to live.

And I don’t believe Jesus died on the cross to pardon us for our sins, I believe He died on the cross to show us that God Himself loved us so much He was willing to die for us. Jesus loves us so much that He gave His life to show us just how much His love is. Now His resurrection from the grave was His victory against Satan. Satan wanted Jesus dead. It was Satan that made man misinterpret God’s character, Satan put the wrong thoughts into the heads of the Pharisees, Satan made the people choose Jesus over Barrabus, all because he wanted Jesus dead. He wanted Jesus’ throne. And when Jesus died, he thought he had won. Until that Sunday morning when the stone was rolled over and Jesus walked out of His tomb.

Still, people believe that all you have to do is believe in Jesus and you will be saved, despite your actions. People believe that if you proclaim Jesus to be your Savior, you will be saved despite your actions. People believe Jesus died on the cross and thus, gives us Grace to sin. And all of these are wrong.

Just like Israel who believed they were innocent of sin, or that God was so loving He would grant them a pardon. And we are doing the exact same thing today.

The fact is, I don’t believe God or Jesus has anything to do with our Salvation. I believe our Salvation is in our own hands. We either love God, not out of fear, but truly love Him for the love He shows us, and we follow His laws because we love Him and don’t want to hurt Him, or in the end, we will not be worthy of His Glory. His Glory is so bright it is perceived as fire. His Glory is so bright it made Moses’ face shine, despite the fact the Moses even cast eyes on Him.

And unless we prepare ourselves to be ready to withstand that Glory, we will not be able to survive it and we will perish. It’s in our hands whether we prepare ourselves or not, not the hands of God or the hands of Jesus.

I remember as a child sitting in church listening to a church elder give a sermon. I don’t recall his exact words, but my perception at the time, the perception of a child, was that there was a stairway to heaven with a light at the top, and we had to keep our eyes on the light or we would fall from the stairs. Kind of like being at a great height and you’re okay unless you look down and get dizzy or frightened. The key though, was to keep your eyes on the light.

My perception has now changed. When Jesus returns, we are going to have to look upon Him. And the Glory of our Heavenly Jesus is the same as the Glory of God. If we are able to keep our eyes on Him, throughout life, then we will be prepared to keep our eyes on His bright light at the end. And if we don’t, if we aren’t prepared, that Glory will consume us like fire.

But it’s in our hands.