Editorial April 4, 1994 Issue

How do we find the meaning of life?

Richard C. Bergenheim

Many who read this magazine have known what it is like to feel totally unsettled spiritually. One feels a need to make sense out of life, to understand one's purpose for being. Why are we here? What is the underlying Principle of being?

We are engaged in a deep-down searching for the meaning of life. Money, career, family, even good health don't seem to be enough. Debt, unemployment, divorce, or broken health may intensify the questioning.

A long time ago a group of small businessmen in Galilee began to hear and see something that caught fire in their hearts and changed the whole course of their lives—and human history. They heard the preaching of Jesus. It's certain that they had heard others speak, but something about his message caused them to acknowledge, as another listener did, "Is not this the Christ?" (John 4:29). They also saw the impact of his message: lives renewed. Christ Jesus didn't just talk about God as so many others had. Somehow he revealed God to them. He brought them face to face with the power and authority of God. This in turn caused them to see life from a new basis. Jesus preached that the kingdom of God is at hand; he made it evident that the reign and power of God are here right now. His listeners discovered that they were in the middle of it. From that moment God was neither distant nor uncertain. What they felt stirring within them was so compelling that nothing was more natural than to accept Jesus' call to leave everything else behind and to follow him.

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