MEANING TO MEDITATE TO CONFORM: “LIFE” 

This series of blogs on “MEANING TO MEDITATE TO CONFORM” is our invitation to you to come along and slowly think through these words so that we conform to the nature and character of God.  We will present a word each week to meditate on and conform our hearts.  

WORLD DEFINITION 

The word ‘life’ means ‘living,’ ‘to exist,’ ‘to be,’ and ‘the series of choices that make up a person’s existence.’  This life is all there is… ‘eat, drink, and be merry because tomorrow you die.’  Life is ‘here and what is going on with you.’  The ‘good life’ is getting what you can out of what is around you.  It is focused all on created things.  Life is ‘be.’  Quality life is ‘here and now’ and survival-oriented. 

CHURCH/FOLK DEFINITION 

In the Church, life is often talked about in two spheres.  First, the area of earthly life which is flesh, temporary, the sinful nature, choices, difficulty, and some happiness.  Second, the area of eternal life which is given by God through Jesus Christ which is spiritual, eternal, sinless, free, absolute joy, and without any suffering.  For church folks, life is focused on because of the source… source of light.  We have no life without God.  This is a huge shift and difference between the world and the Church.  Life existed before creation because God is the source of life and He has life in Him.   

BIBLE/THEOLOGICAL INFLUENCE 

In Genesis (the Old Testament), God is the creator of all things, all life, and is the foundation of light and life.  This is a theme/metaphor carried through all the Bible.  God is light.  God is life.  God speaks forth His breath and created things live and move and have their being.  King Solomon speaks about finite physical life being pointless existence apart from the Living God because in Him is meaning and actual life.  This then folds into the New Testament where Jesus is light and life and is even described as the Word and the door to life with God.  In the New Testament, John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life” and Romans 6:23 “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” are two verses among many that speak of the truth about ‘life.’  The Bible speaks about the difference between life in the world separate from Him and life connected with God (and Jesus).  God is the unconditional eternal source of life and extends that life to created beings.   

MEANING 

God is the source of life.  He is not only the Creator of physical life, but He alone is the source of Eternal life which He shares with those who accept His Son Jesus.  Things do not just become living creatures but have a cause in Him.  Life is more complete and infused with eternity when believing in Him. 

For the person who pushes God away and rejects Him, the life they live is more like grass (it blossoms and grows and then it’s gone).  Their life comes and goes and much can be made of it, but there is no connection to the Eternal. They live, but it is not the same as someone who abides in Christ.  The believer in Christ has so much more.  Do you want to share in the glory of God or do you want to share in the glory of grass? 

To fully understand ‘life’ (an abstract word)… you will need to connect with our other blogs about the abstract words ‘unconditional’ and ‘eternal.’ 

This series of blogs on “MEANING TO MEDITATE TO CONFORM” is our invitation to you to come along and slowly think through these words so that we conform to the nature and character of God.  We will present a word each week to meditate on and conform our hearts.