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What is our purpose in life? Are we on this Earth to do nothing more than grow, learn, work and eventually die? The bible tells us there is more to life than this. The purpose of life is to live in a right relationship with God and eventually spend eternity with him, in heaven.
Sin (making ourselves the boss instead of God) separates us from God and as a result we live in a broken relationship with him, each other and creation. The biggest problem with sin is that as sinful people we have no way of fixing our relationship with God. Sounds pretty heavy… well check this:
God’s one and only son Jesus Christ bridged the gap between God and people. He took our sins upon himself and was tortured, punished and died. He gave his life for our sake! Three days later God raised Jesus from death and the penalty for our sin had been paid. Through Jesus we can now get across the great divide caused by sin, bringing us back to God. Once again we may share a close spiritual relationship with God and be at peace with creation. Our purpose in life to live in a right relationship with God and spend eternity with him is all done through Jesus. We must trust Jesus as our savior and submit to Him in our lives. He is the way to fulfill our purpose. “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” – John 3:16.
What if you’re suffering?
One of the coolest things the Bible says about suffering is that God wants us to ask him “why?”. This is because it's natural to ask “why?” because suffering seems so unfair. For most people, even people who don't believe in a god, they are already asking God “why?”. And why wouldn't they? Who else is there to ask?
You may not know this but the fact that God wants us to question him is pretty different to other religions. If I were a Buddhist, asking God 'why?' would mean I was unenlightened; if I were a Muslim, it would mean I was questioning a god who can’t actually be questioned; and finally if I were an atheist, it would mean I was wasting my time.
So turn to God rather than away from him if you’re having a rough time. Pray to him and ask him “why?”, ask him to help you to get through it (remember that he’s been through suffering too when he came to earth to die). Be comforted that it won’t last forever and that everything will be perfect in heaven.
For more info on this topic check out John Dickson's book "If I were God I'd end all the pain"
The Crew...
A big part of what we do at Skate Mission is the talk. Each Skate Mission, as well as ripping it up during the session, we break to tell the crew about God and what he's done for us. Specifically what God did for us when he came to earth to die for the sins of everyone... so we can all be in a right relationship with God. Faith in the death of Jesus is all we need to be ok with God. It's the greatest news anyone can tell.
What has God done about it?
At present we live in a world full of suffering, but this doesn't mean God will let us live in a world like this forever. The Bible says that God has set aside a time when he will act. Every man, woman and child will be judged. It seems heavy and cruel of God to judge us, but really judgement from God is the time when he seeks to right wrongs and punish those who have done evil. It's justice to those who never received it in this life. Judgement is a consequence of God's love for us... not a bad thing.
So how does God save us from the world of suffering? Has he done anything about it yet?
The answer is "YES"!! The crazy thing about God is that he himself has wounds. He himself suffers as we do... in fact worse than we do! Jesus' (who is God as a man) whole purpose was to die on the cross to take care of the sin WE brought into the world. How crazy is that?! We brought sin into the world... We deserve death and separation from God as a punishment... But God takes care of it by dying on the cross and being separated from himself fur us!
If we have faith in Jesus' death in our place, then we can be certain that God has a place waiting for us in heaven... where all suffering will be gone forever! God says that in heaven...
"He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away." Revelation 21:4
This is his promise to us. So trust that Jesus has taken care of your sin and be certain of you place in heaven.
Stay tuned for part three...
At present we live in a world full of suffering, but this doesn't mean God will let us live in a world like this forever. The Bible says that God has set aside a time when he will act. Every man, woman and child will be judged. It seems heavy and cruel of God to judge us, but really judgement from God is the time when he seeks to right wrongs and punish those who have done evil. It's justice to those who never received it in this life. Judgement is a consequence of God's love for us... not a bad thing.
So how does God save us from the world of suffering? Has he done anything about it yet?
The answer is "YES"!! The crazy thing about God is that he himself has wounds. He himself suffers as we do... in fact worse than we do! Jesus' (who is God as a man) whole purpose was to die on the cross to take care of the sin WE brought into the world. How crazy is that?! We brought sin into the world... We deserve death and separation from God as a punishment... But God takes care of it by dying on the cross and being separated from himself fur us!
If we have faith in Jesus' death in our place, then we can be certain that God has a place waiting for us in heaven... where all suffering will be gone forever! God says that in heaven...
"He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away." Revelation 21:4
This is his promise to us. So trust that Jesus has taken care of your sin and be certain of you place in heaven.
Stay tuned for part three...
We see wars raging around the world on the news every night, we hear about people starving in Africa and sometimes our friends or family get sick or get into terrible car accidents like my cousin and uncle did during the Christmas holidays about 10 years ago. Surely an all powerful and loving God would want to and would be able to put a stop to these things?
Some people come to the conclusion that an all powerful and all loving God can't exist. This doesn't work though, because you first have to prove that a loving God does not have good reasons for letting suffering continue. Perhaps the real question about suffering is NOT, Can God exist in a world that suffers?' but 'Why would God allow it?' and 'What has he done about it?'. The Bible gives some pretty decent answers to these questions. I'll do my best to explain them.
The Bible teaches us that from the beginning we blew it, sin entered the world. So why did God let it happen? Why does he continue to let bad gear happen? Why doesn't he simply override our wills when we try and do something bad? Surely as God of the universe he is powerful enough. The best way to answer these questions is to ask another one: What if God did step in to change our will every time we attempted to mistreat each other? Would the world be a better place?
Yes is one answer. We couldn't hurt each other. We would be generous and nice to each other and the planet, etc, etc. However, if we think about it some more, the answer is No. If God stepped in on every evil action where would our free will go? I think we would stop asking God why is there suffering and start asking him to give us a break. We would lose any expression of our own and be more like Robots, simply going through the motions. So this might answer why God lives in a world with suffering, but then comes the question: Has God done anything about suffering?
Stay tuned for the answer in part two...
Some people come to the conclusion that an all powerful and all loving God can't exist. This doesn't work though, because you first have to prove that a loving God does not have good reasons for letting suffering continue. Perhaps the real question about suffering is NOT, Can God exist in a world that suffers?' but 'Why would God allow it?' and 'What has he done about it?'. The Bible gives some pretty decent answers to these questions. I'll do my best to explain them.
The Bible teaches us that from the beginning we blew it, sin entered the world. So why did God let it happen? Why does he continue to let bad gear happen? Why doesn't he simply override our wills when we try and do something bad? Surely as God of the universe he is powerful enough. The best way to answer these questions is to ask another one: What if God did step in to change our will every time we attempted to mistreat each other? Would the world be a better place?
Yes is one answer. We couldn't hurt each other. We would be generous and nice to each other and the planet, etc, etc. However, if we think about it some more, the answer is No. If God stepped in on every evil action where would our free will go? I think we would stop asking God why is there suffering and start asking him to give us a break. We would lose any expression of our own and be more like Robots, simply going through the motions. So this might answer why God lives in a world with suffering, but then comes the question: Has God done anything about suffering?
Stay tuned for the answer in part two...
