So, I would briefly like to say that I'm kicking myself because I haven't written in so long. Okay...moving on!
So I read articles like crazy, and a lot of times the articles on Yahoo! distract me while I'm going to check my e-mail. That being said, they had an article up today that had an excerpt from an interview with Stephen Hawking. It was probably one of the most depressing articles that I've read in a good while! It was also pretty depressing to read through the "comments section" at the end of the article as well.
I found myself thinking "this man has the most bleak outlook on life that I could imagine, it is so joyless." But as I was thinking this, I realized "hey wait, every person who doesn't have Christ leads and incredibly unfulfilled and joyless life!" Now there is temporal joy, and its temporary pleasures could even seem to outweigh the pains of this life in the here and now...but there is always eternity. Hawking doesn't believe in eternity, God, or pretty much anything that he can't wrap his mind around. But what really caught me off guard and what I really wanted to just throw up here last minute was this - his take away from all of life is this, "we should seek the greatest value of our action". That's what he sums up to the point of human life and existence, "the greatest value of our action." So whatever I DEEM to be the greatest value of my action is what is I can do to "lend meaning to my experience" (this was the question posed by the writer, to which Hawking's answer was "we should seek the greatest value....").
Realizing that my action is not going to solve any great world problems or anything like that...I know what the greatest use of my time is, it is to glory in and praise the risen Christ, and to derive my joy from doing so. Glorify God. The God that Hawking is willing to gamble his entire life on that He doesn't exist. This God EVERYTHING that exists. I do not want to live my life for some "good cause". I do not want to live my life to be a "decent person". Because frankly, there are no "good causes" if they do not involve Christ. There are no "decent people." If you're a believer, take joy in the fact that you have been given the chance to serve and glorify God. He doesn't need you. He doesn't "have to have" you. He WANTED you! He has given us the opportunity for fullness and joy. But also, read this and see how dark and hopeless the life of a non-believer is. Allow this to push you to pray for the lost. Share the Gospel. Don't be content with "trying to be a decent person" because that is crap. Revel in the greatness of God!
