Life has a purpose and that is because God sent us all to earth to receive a physical body, to face challenges, and to become more like Him through faith in Jesus Christ. Our life in God also includes living by the instructions given to us by God. You can also say that by following the commandment of God which says, love one another, the call to deny our desires and follow Him and also to take care of the poor and the needy amongst us becomes necessary. In Mark 12: 29- 31, Jesus said, “Listen, Israel! The Lord our God is the only Lord! Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind and with all your strength, the second most important commandment is this: Love your neighbour as you love yourself. There is no other commandment more important than these two”. Thus, the life we live should be that which glorifies the name of God.
We should pursue God with our entire being, soul, heart, mind and strength so that we can abide in Him and therefore act like Him. Consequently, we find a clue to the meaning of life in God because God created us in His image and likeness. We are specially created by God and this gives us an intrinsic value hence we have a purpose to glorify God and nothing should be more satisfying to us than that. Nevertheless, the pursuit of many things have made people lose sight of the meaning of life. They think that by acquiring wealth, enjoying good relationships, sex, entertainment and doing good to others will help them find the purpose and meaning of life. They have to realise that they are wrong.
A lot of us are still operating with the faith our parents introduced to us as Catholics, we probably were baptized after three months and have been operating with that faith without even understanding the meaning of faith or what it is to have faith. The bible tells us about the Samaritan woman who met Jesus at the well when she came to fetch water. We were told that she had an encounter with Jesus and Jesus told her everything about her life. Right there, she believed in Christ as the savior and trusted Him. From the story, Jesus was waiting by the well when the Samaritan woman came to fetch water from the well, that means that she was not expecting to see Jesus but behold Jesus was there seeking her as He always seeks us. So, no matter our religion, no matter our status life and no matter our sins, Jesus is always seeking us. The question therefore is, are we ready to make ourselves available? Are we ready to open up ourselves to Jesus just as the Samaritan woman did? When we continue to hide ourselves and our sins from God, we can never make it or see Jesus Christ. Jesus is seeking us, let us open our hearts and make ourselves available.
When the Samaritan woman had an encounter with Jesus, she knew that she needed conversion and so do we. No matter who you are or how well placed or religious you think you are, we all need to have an encounter with Jesus and be converted. The bible says that after her encounter with Jesus, the Samaritan woman went into the village to tell the people about Jesus. This was a woman who prior to that day, was hiding from the public and only went to fetch water when no one was there because she was ashamed of her sins. However, after her encounter with Jesus, she boldly went about the village telling people about Jesus and how Jesus told her the story of her life.
Jesus brought the Samaritans (Gentiles) to God and when they eventually saw and heard from Him, they said to the Samaritan woman “We believe now, not because of what you said but because we ourselves have heard him and we know that He really, is the saviour of the world”- John 4:42. Many of us are good at hiding our problems, we find it difficult to open our hearts to God and if we continue like this, we may not be able to have that personal encounter with Christ or find God. The point is that when the Samaritan woman encountered Jesus Christ, her life in God changed for good. So, the question goes to all of us, have you seen, have you heard, have you experienced a one- on – one encounter with God? Not the one that the Priest told you, not the one that you read somewhere but the one that you have found out yourself with the special encounter with Christ. The life of the Samaritans challenge us today to have a deeper relationship with God and to go into maturity so that our life in God will be purposeful.
Isaiah, 55: 1- 3 said” come to me all who are thirsty and l will give you water”. That is God calling us. Our life has a purpose, our heavenly Father wants us to find happiness and joy. He wants us to grow in spirit, live by faith and return to Him someday. God has a plan for us and the only way by which we can know about this plan is by praying, following His commandments, seeking Him truthfully and always reading the word of God. By prayer, silence, study, and conversion we can come to a greater sense of awe and wonder at God’s grandeur and presence in our life. (www.opusdei.com) . There is a vacuum in our hearts and it is only God that can fill it. A contemporary writer said that, our hearts have a God- shaped -hole in them and can only be filled by God. That is why many of us seek joy or happiness or love elsewhere and where it is not found, we are restless and feel empty because we know that something is missing which we are looking for. That thing that is missing, is Jesus Christ, and that is God. And it is only when we find Him that we will have rest, experience inner joy and our life in God would be complete and meaningful.
Those who wish to live in God must seek Him in His Word. We must seek the guidance of the Holy Spirit to apply the Word to our lives. Living for God means giving up ourselves and desiring God’s will above all else. As we draw nearer to God and come to know Him more, His desires will more naturally become ours. As we mature, our desire to obey God’s commands increases as our love for Him increases. As Jesus said, “If you love me, you will obey what I command” (John 14:15).
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