It’s the age-old question: What is the meaning of life?  To answer this question, I think we have to re-state the question and ask, “What really matters in this life?”  People run after everything under the sun trying to find meaning, add meaning, and find the best life possible, but the wisdom of Solomon reminds us that everything under the sun is meaningless (Ecclesiastes 1:14).  Those things that are eternal add real meaning to our lives today. Faith, hope, and love exist outside the earthly realm and remain even when everything else under the sun has passed away. But don’t we already know this?  I mean, seriously, haven’t most people figured out that the meaning of life is found in loving one another, being loved, spending time with our children, laughter, memories, and heartfelt moments? If we understand this, why do we have such a hard time prioritizing those things?  And that brings us to the Verse of the Day:

Philippians 1:9-11

And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God. (NIV)

The Apostle Paul prays for the church in Philippi and for us.  He teaches us the power of love. Love that abounds becomes knowledge, insight, and wisdom that we might be able to discern what is best.  But what is love? Love has been kidnapped and held captive in the prison of our emotions. Love has become about being loved, but to be loved is not loving.  Love is doing what is best for others. To love is to change our mindset from what we want and desire to what do others need in their life and how can I give that to them. Loving is not spoiling.  To give someone what they want all the time is not love. To give them, as much as we are able, what they need is true love.  

Love is a lifestyle that requires a paradigm shift in my day.  It must become the highest priority. Most of us wake up every morning with pressure.  We feel pressure to get things done in order for people to appreciate us, love us. We are pressured at work to get things done so we can continue to cash our paychecks.  Outside pressures kill love. Deceased love has no wisdom. It never knows what is best.  

The first step in finding the meaning of life is to force our mind each morning, each evening, every day to shift from a pressure-filled existence to make everyone happy for our benefit to a love-filled vision for ministering to the souls of others.  This will change our focus, our emotions, our actions. We will see the power of love and wisdom will find us. Whether we are loving our neighbor, our enemy, our co-workers, or our spouse when love abounds, wisdom appears, and we do what is best.

Leave me a comment.  How do you keep your priorities in the right place to add meaning to life?

Live blessed and be a blessing!