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Life's Nagging Questions
If you visit a major theme park–one like Disney World or a similar place –you aren’t very far from some sort of sign which maps all the various rides, events and the like in the park. Every sign is exactly like the other one. And yet every sign is different–because somewhere on it is an indicator with a big bright arrow which says “You Are Here.” You see you can’t get where you’re going if you don’t know where you are.
Life is like that. No matter who you are there are certain nagging questions that must continually be asked–and answered–questions like:
Who Are You?
God has given you life. It is in “Him, we live and move and have our being” (Acts 17:28). Nobody is exactly like you, even your closest of kin. Thus it becomes your own personal responsibility to use what God has given you in a manner which glorifies Him. The Word of God tells us where we fit and how to bring the honor to Him which He had in mind when He gave us life, motive, and personality. Who are you? Do you know?
What Are You Doing?
There is a course of pursuit which exactly fits. “Teach me, O Lord, the way of Thy statutes and I will keep it unto the end” (Psalm 119:33). Just exactly how are you living your life–just what are you doing to make you life what it ought to be? Are you fighting against sin and disdain? Are you controlling your own fleshly inclinations? Are you constantly trying to grow up in your spiritual demeanor or is your thought time consumed with selfish choices and worldly inclinations? Do you sanctify Him as Lord? Are you ready to give an answer to all who ask why you are like you are? (I Peter 3:15). Just what are you doing?
Where Are You Going?
It is dangerous to not know where you are headed in life. Ironically, most of us have decided where we’re going, even before we reach adulthood; but if we are not very careful our desires for physical success can consume our thoughts and inclinations with such force that we relegate our spiritual pathway to second or even third place–if at all. Jesus said, “Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you” (Matthew 6:33). Seek ye first His rule. This is a pilgrim voyage, people. We’re not here to stay. Where are you going? Do you think you can stay here forever?
How Do You Get There?
Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh to the Father but by Me.” It is absolutely foolish to think you can map your own course (Jeremiah 10:23). It is also a futile failure to put your confidence in some man-made scheme for your redemption. God has spoken. You can’t get where you need to go without the God who conceived the course and gave His Son to die to insure and ratify it. “If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God–that God may be glorified” (I Peter 4:11) not man! You can’t get there reading from a man with an unskilled hand.
When Are You Leaving?
“What is your life? It is even as a vapor that appeareth for a little while than vanisheth away” (James 4:14). There may at times be indications that the end of a life is near; but even then the specific time of death’s invasion is impossible to predict. And so it behooves every person to be ready, no matter when his life on earth comes to an end. One thing is certain: “it is appointed to man once to die and after this the judgment” (Hebrews 9:27). When will you be leaving? You don’t know? Then you best be ready. So perhaps it is in order that we remember to say, “if God will, we shall live and do this or that” (James 4:15). The coming of death and the judgment should be reason enough to give special attention to the question “when are you leaving?” You just don’t know. We just best be ready.
What Will It Be?
We don’t know everything about how it will be there, but we must realize that we are merely faithful servants who are passing through this land to a better place. “Our citizenship is in heaven, from whence we look for a Savior who shall change our vile body that it be fashioned like unto His glorious body” (Philippians 3:20-21). “Oh death, where is thy sting? Oh grave, where is thy victory? (I Corinthians 15: 55). In that heavenly land beyond, we will be awarded the prize of “victory in Christ Jesus.” No sickness, no grief or dying. Only undying praise and thanksgiving for our redemption in Christ Jesus.
Where are you? Where are you going?
