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It's About Me
Our world constantly emphasizes that life is “all about me.” We have it hammered into our brains daily with ad slogans like: “You are special. You deserve a break today. Have it your way. Because you’re worth it. We do it all for you. It’s everywhere you want to be.” So life is all about me and my wants and desires. Happiness means getting everything I want.
I believe such an idea can be attributed to two things. One is the battle with our own lusts - lusts of the flesh, lusts of the eye, and the pride of life (1 John 2:15-16). Flesh versus spirit is a battle we fight our whole life. God’s Word teaches us that self-denial and sacrifice are fundamental to a meaningful existence (Luke 9:27; Romans 12:1, etc.).
But secondly, we are told that life can be meaningful without a belief in a Creator God who is the source of all existence and to whom we will ultimately answer. Radical evolutionists have been at the heart of this idea, telling us that this world is here without the hand of God, and that its continued successful existence is up to man. In the evolutionist’s mind we are but one species in a long continuum of beings evolving into higher forms over billions of years. Our responsibility is to do our part to see that this evolutionary march continues throughout the millenniums ahead. I’m not sure why they think we should do this since we each live only one lifetime. Shouldn’t that one brief lifetime be filled with doing whatever I want, not with fulfilling any responsibility to future higher evolved beings? After all they will not care one bit about me and how I lived.
The evolutionist says that to find meaning to life, do not look up. Rather look around you and find something more important than yourself and work for it. Sounds good but I think someone long ago tried that. King Solomon recounted his quest for meaning in "something more." With great success he completed grand projects, amassed fortunes, and enjoyed mountaintop experiences, each failing to quell his heart’s deepest pangs. His life lesson: Lasting significance is not found in something, but in Someone (Eccl. 12:14).
Do not let this world fool you. Life is not just about “me.” It is about both God and others. When your life needs meaning, learn to look up. Have the heart of the Psalmist when he wrote, “As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God” (Psa. 42:1). There you will find life’s meaning.
