To be alive

I asked the voice on my husband's iphone what she thought the meaning of life was.
"42."  She deadpanned immediately.
"Thanks," I sniffed at the device that has me programmed as "wife." "I read the book."
"No problem." She returned mechanically.

Maybe its not a problem to the cheeky minichip computer voice.  But it is a conundrum that most of us flesh and blood mortals have to reconcile.

I asked my six year old the same question.  "What is your purpose? What were you made for?"
He answered immediately, "God made me so I can keep Him company and eat popsicles for breakfast on the beach in heaven forever."

I asked my four year old for his opinion.  "I don't want to think about it."  He grumbled, fiddling with toy trains.  "But is it really a beach in heaven?"

A nice, but not quite heaven, beach.

We don't just exist by accident.  I refuse to accept that.
God formed us carefully, fearfully, wonderfully - Psalm 139.
He has good plans for us - Jeremiah 29:11.
He set up a standard and guidelines for life - to love the Lord with all our heart, mind, soul and strength and our neighbor as our self (Luke 10:27); to do justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with God (Hosea 6:8); and to be holy (1 Peter 1:16).

But I don't always do that.
Well, ever.

Whoever keeps the whole law, yet stumbles in even one little point, he is guilty of breaking the law - James 2:10.
I know I'm not alone.  No one is guiltless - we've all broken the law at least a little bit, at least once - Romans 3:10.
There is a price for breaking the law.  There must be a consequence for all the folks who have wronged me, so I must accept the same for my own wrongs.  The price of doing wrong is death forever - Romans 6:23.

I don't like to admit I'm not perfect (as obvious as it is to everyone else!)  But since I am not, I cannot stand in the presence of a perfect God.  To be apart from the God of life is death.  I can pay for my wrong by dying.
But then I'm dead.  Forever apart from God who is life.  So what do I do?  Live in my sin till it eventually kills me anyway?  Bummer of bleakness.  I'm stuck.

Except... Can I share a secret?  There is one way out.  God will accept a substitute.  The price of my wrong must be paid to the just and fair Judge.  The score must be settled.  But who can, or would want to, accept my death sentence as their own?  That's crazy suicide.

But someone did it.
God demonstrated His own love toward me while I was still a sinner - Jesus the perfect son of God and human child of Mary - He died for me.  (Romans 5:8)

I call it the great trade.
It makes me cry even now when I think about it.
Scarcely for a good person would someone want to trade their own life - Romans 5:7.
But He did it for me as I was still rolling in the filth of my own selfishness and stubborn wrongness.  I looked disgusting before a perfect Being.
But He loved me enough to trade.

Its a gift, mind you.  He didn't rip my nasty life out of my hands and force His perfect one on me.  He didn't charge me anything; I couldn't afford it anyway.  Jesus gave me life for free.  Ephesians 2:8.

Its called grace.  Its free to you too, if you want it.

Wanna trade?


For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.  John 3:16