The Purpose of Life

Years ago I would listen to CRI's Bible Answer Man radio broadcast on the way home from work, and host Hank Hanegraaff would often say, "Christianity is so deep, you could drown in it; yet it is so simple, a child can understand it." I like his ability to distill profound truths into pithy proverbs.

That truth about Christianity resonates for me again after reading St. Teresa of Avila last night and Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger this morning. I like reading people with deep hearts and deep intellects so I can at least catch a glimpse of what they see and hopefully reduce it to language and concepts that I can understand, making it my own. They are good at seeing the complex and reducing it to words. I just hope to feed on the crumbs I'm able to catch from their table. I miss a lot.

But I do know the purpose of life is to be in right relationship with God, and the essence of that relationship is love. In love, God made us from nothing. Our response to that love, collectively and individually, has not been to reciprocate with all our love, but to have an inordinate love for ourselves and created things. And in love, He pursues us and picks us up, like a shepherd going down to free a wayward sheep that is hopelessly entangled in thickets. Only through His saving action can we be restored to right relationship with Him. We are not to be restored only to the original position of our first parents Adam and Eve, but to an even deeper and more perfect union with Him. Our "religion," therefore, is to rightly view the physical, natural world as good, but to view its Creator as better, and to respond accordingly—aligning our hearts and actions to this reality. Stripped to its simplest element, religion is rightly ordered love.

If we refuse this love, God will not coerce us. He's not a Cosmic Rapist. If we finish this life separated from God, in His kindness He will let us continue in the afterlife as we have chosen, forever reaping the same frustrating, miserable, painful effects of our disordered love. It's what we call hell.

On the other hand, if we die in a state of grace—that is, if we have even an imperfect love of God—He will allow that love to grow and reach its fullness, purifying us of anything that is not perfect love. Forevermore we will be able to see face to face the object of our love: the Lover of our souls, God our true Father. That's what we call heaven.

Old people: get ready. Sick people: beware. All other people: buckle up and look both ways before crossing the street, because you never know from one moment to the next when it will be your turn. Your duty, then, the only thing that makes sense, is to get real: to love God with all your mind, heart, and strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself. Really, it's so simple, a child can understand it.