Thursday, October 17

To listen to the audio version, click here. 

Matthew 13:23

But the one who received the seed that fell on good soil is the man who hears the word and understands it. He produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.

Last week I was checking my Facebook page when I noticed that someone posted what looked like an interesting video. The video was of a graduation speaker at a major university in the U.S. who was billed as both funny and “brilliant.”. 

So I decided to watch the video.

The speaker spoke with what sounded like an Australian accent and was, indeed, very bright and clever. He offered a number of pieces of advice to the large assembly of graduates before him, including: “Don’t seek happiness”; “Be hard on your opinions”; “Exercise”; “respect people with less power than you have”; and “Define yourself by what you love.” I kept listening because I liked his presentation and found myself agreeing with much of what he said, even though he was a bit profane.

Then he concluded by saying:

I said at the beginning of this ramble that life is meaningless. It was not a flippant assertion. I think it’s absurd: the idea of seeking “meaning” in the set of circumstances that happens to exist after 13.8 billion years worth of unguided events. Leave it to humans to think the universe has a purpose for them...

Life will sometimes seem long and tough and... tiring. And you will sometimes be happy and sometimes sad. And then you’ll be old. And then you’ll be dead.

There is only one sensible thing to do with this empty existence, and that is: fill it...

And in my opinion (until I change it), life is best filled by learning as much as you can about as much as you can, taking pride in whatever you’re doing, having compassion, sharing ideas, running(!), being enthusiastic. And then there’s love, and travel, and wine, and sex, and art, and kids, and giving, and mountain climbing … but you know all that stuff already.

It’s an incredibly exciting thing, this one, meaningless life of yours. Good luck.

While all the students cheered wildly at the conclusion of his speech, I found myself saddened as I sat in front of my computer.

I was sad because I had just heard the best that a worldview without God has to offer; and what the clever and “brilliant” speaker offered was “Life is meaningless.”

In the “Parable of the Sower” Jesus is telling us exactly the opposite! Our lives can and do have meaning because we are invited to participate in the great harvest of the kingdom of God!

But the one who received the seed that fell on good soil is the man who hears the word and understands it. He produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.

Imagine a farmer who scatters seed in his field but never bothers to harvest a crop. That would be meaningless and foolish. Or, imagine a farmer who harvests his corn but then allows the corn to remain in storage bins until it rots. That would also be meaningless!

But a good farmer sows seed with the harvest in mind. God created you with a purpose in mind. God saved you with a purpose in mind. And that purpose is that each one of us would be part of the great harvest of his eternal kingdom! And more than that, his purpose that each of us play a part in helping others know and share in that kingdom as well.

Don’t let anyone ever tell you that “life is meaningless.” Nothing could be further from the truth!

Pastor Brian Coffey