2008 Woodie Awards
LIFE: a small fraction of an infinite picture
By: Ben Stevens
Issue date: 2/7/07 Section: Opinion
Ben Stevens
Staff Writer
Life. What is the purpose of it? If God were real, why would he put me in the mess I'm in? I have asked myself these questions over and over again. It all boils down to one thing. God. No if's, and's, or but's about it. God is the ultimate answer to every question imaginable. If I were asked the question "What is the meaning of life?" I would say only God knows that and he reveals it to me only as much as he deems necessary. Even if we were to continue learning the meaning for all eternity, we would still be getting a small fraction of an infinite picture.
You see God put us here initially for three things: to know him, to love him and to be like him. God put us here to know him. Now we may fool ourselves and say that we know him, but it seems to me that all we know is that he exists. So what do we do then? Do we walk around blindly straining and striving to know that which we cannot perceive? No. Although we cannot even begin to visualize the raw power of God; our Creator himself came to us. He came so that he would not be this untouchable thing on a pedestal. He came in the form of a baby. Now that we have established this, how does this help us? It gave us someone to relate to. Even when God came to us through Jesus, he didn't come as a conquering king, or as a great ruler, but he is one, and he felt it good to come and be one of us. He felt that we were important enough to come to earth as a lowly carpenter, to wash our feet, to carry a cross and to be nailed to that same cross, and die a terrible agonizing death for us. He went through all that because God wants to know us in a personal and intimate way.
Not only does God want to know us, but he also wants to love us. Love is a word that is often thrown in the mix and loses its meaning and potency. When I say God wants to love us, I'm saying that he wants to have a love relationship with us so badly that he came and died for us. Now I said that he came and died for us before, but that's not all he did. He took the sins that we have committed, are committing and will commit, and went through hell itself to be so real, that we would not be intimidated by his love. Now if we are, that's understandable. God's love is more than even the all the angels in heaven could comprehend, but that shouldn't keep us from reciprocating that love. I have enough problems getting over the dying for us part, but swallowing that is hard. The bottom line is this, God loves us, more than we could imagine, more than we deserve, and more than we could give back to him in all eternity.
Finally, He wants us to be like him. I know that I am created in the image of God. If God wanted to know us so bad he left Heaven and came to earth as what we would consider today to be a total loser, loved us so much he went through hell and back for us, and is real enough to be loved by us, don't you think we should try to reciprocate that? I mean, come on people. The guy died for you the most agonizing death you could think of. Shouldn't we give something back like our lives?
As I said before, I have often wondered about the meaning of life, and I have found that these truths are my feeble attempts explain my small piece of God's infinite puzzle of life. If God can reveal to me even in the small things, then I wonder what the Master's plan is for you.
Staff Writer
Life. What is the purpose of it? If God were real, why would he put me in the mess I'm in? I have asked myself these questions over and over again. It all boils down to one thing. God. No if's, and's, or but's about it. God is the ultimate answer to every question imaginable. If I were asked the question "What is the meaning of life?" I would say only God knows that and he reveals it to me only as much as he deems necessary. Even if we were to continue learning the meaning for all eternity, we would still be getting a small fraction of an infinite picture.
You see God put us here initially for three things: to know him, to love him and to be like him. God put us here to know him. Now we may fool ourselves and say that we know him, but it seems to me that all we know is that he exists. So what do we do then? Do we walk around blindly straining and striving to know that which we cannot perceive? No. Although we cannot even begin to visualize the raw power of God; our Creator himself came to us. He came so that he would not be this untouchable thing on a pedestal. He came in the form of a baby. Now that we have established this, how does this help us? It gave us someone to relate to. Even when God came to us through Jesus, he didn't come as a conquering king, or as a great ruler, but he is one, and he felt it good to come and be one of us. He felt that we were important enough to come to earth as a lowly carpenter, to wash our feet, to carry a cross and to be nailed to that same cross, and die a terrible agonizing death for us. He went through all that because God wants to know us in a personal and intimate way.
Not only does God want to know us, but he also wants to love us. Love is a word that is often thrown in the mix and loses its meaning and potency. When I say God wants to love us, I'm saying that he wants to have a love relationship with us so badly that he came and died for us. Now I said that he came and died for us before, but that's not all he did. He took the sins that we have committed, are committing and will commit, and went through hell itself to be so real, that we would not be intimidated by his love. Now if we are, that's understandable. God's love is more than even the all the angels in heaven could comprehend, but that shouldn't keep us from reciprocating that love. I have enough problems getting over the dying for us part, but swallowing that is hard. The bottom line is this, God loves us, more than we could imagine, more than we deserve, and more than we could give back to him in all eternity.
Finally, He wants us to be like him. I know that I am created in the image of God. If God wanted to know us so bad he left Heaven and came to earth as what we would consider today to be a total loser, loved us so much he went through hell and back for us, and is real enough to be loved by us, don't you think we should try to reciprocate that? I mean, come on people. The guy died for you the most agonizing death you could think of. Shouldn't we give something back like our lives?
As I said before, I have often wondered about the meaning of life, and I have found that these truths are my feeble attempts explain my small piece of God's infinite puzzle of life. If God can reveal to me even in the small things, then I wonder what the Master's plan is for you.
Viewing Comments 1 - 1 of 1
Paul Stevens
posted 2/09/07 @ 8:31 PM EST
Ben,
Just to let you know that we are very proud of you and of your writing ability. The article is very good and speaks of much thought and meditation. (Continued…)
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