That’s a question people may ask at different times in their lives! I’m sure that people who have lost a spouse often may ask this question. I know in the first few months after Claudia died, I found myself at least thinking about this. I imagined that if I were to die in my sleep one night, I wouldn’t be unhappy with that scenario at all! After all, then I would be with Jesus and reunited with Claudia, and very happy! ( although I’m sure my family might have thought differently!)  I’ve also visited many, many folks over the years who were seriously ill, severely  injured and incapacitated, or just very elderly, having lost bodily functions or mental clarity, who legitimately asked this question also. Just to be clear, in my situation, I’m not asking that question from a depressed perspective at all, now 14 months after Claudia moved on to live with Jesus. I’ll be 70 next year, and I’m hoping to have maybe another 20 healthy years or so to enjoy my family, life with friends, and to live in such a positive, faithful way, that I can influence others to join God’s eternal Kingdom and grow closer to him!

HOWEVER, THIS IS STILL A VITAL QUESTION FOR ALL OF US TO ASK OURSELVES!

If you are younger, change it to “Why am I here at all? What is my purpose in life?”

As we enter a new year in 2022, I challenge you to ask yourself this question as you consider who you will be and what you will do next year. After all, actually connecting with God and his plan for your life may be much more beneficial than making some silly New Year’s resolutions that you will probably give up on in a month or two anyway!

Let me share some thoughts that I have for my future, thinking about what my purpose for being here should be, and maybe it will trigger some thoughts for you as well!

1) I HOPE TO GLORIFY GOD BY GETTING TO ACTUALLY KNOW HIM BETTER EACH DAY, IN AN INTIMATE AND PERSONAL RELATIONSHIP!

Now, I know this sounds really “spiritual” to some, and what you might expect from a retired pastor! And, it probably sounds boring and unrealistic to many of you. But, what we fail to recognize, even as Christians, is that all the fun and meaningful and best experiences of life were given to us BY GOD to enjoy, and he created us to enjoy them WITH HIM! We were created by God for HIS pleasure, to live with him and actually know him personally and enjoy this world he created with him! And secondly, God wants us to share that relationship with each other as humans as we also share it with God.

 Remember what Jesus said when asked what the greatest commandment was?

³⁰  Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ ³¹  The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.”Mark 12:30-31 (NIV)

In Matthew chapter 6 , Jesus lists all the basic things in life we worry about and think we need, and concludes in vs.33, “But seek first his Kingdom and is righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well”. What he is telling us is that if you want the best and most fulfilling (and fun) life, start with God, not with the stuff and the cool experiences! The best experiences in life will come to us when we do them with him, and for him!

You see, life with God is much more than just “keeping breathing”! It is an amazing QUALITY of life that you can only have as you enter into a personal, intimate relationship with God! As Jesus was preparing to die for us, he prayed for his followers and also for us, his future believers:

¹  After Jesus said this, he looked toward heaven and prayed: “Father, the time has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you. ² For you granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him. ³  Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. ⁴  I have brought you glory on earth by completing the work you gave me to do.-  John 17:1-4 (NIV)

2) BECAUSE I KNOW GOD PERSONALLY, AND RECEIVE ETERNAL LIFE THROUGH THAT WONDERFUL RELATIONSHIP, I CAN LIVE MY FUTURE WITH FAITH AND ASSURANCE, AND NOT BE FRIGHTENED BY ANTHING IN THIS WORLD, NOT EVEN DEATH ITSELF!

People have been afraid of many things in these past few years, and especially the COVID pandemic has caused many to fear the possibility of death. While no mentally healthy person should want to die physically, (and certainly we are called to take care of our bodies because they belong to God), we should not let the fear of death ever paralyze us from living fully the life God has given to us now! The goal of life should never be to simply survive; it should be to thrive under God’s direction and plan for us. The truth is, we are ALL going to die physically, even though most of us struggle with the actual reality of that idea. Every generation and every group of people in history has faced times of great disease, war, starvation, and enslavement to others, and we are not unique. (For example, read Isaiah and Jeremiah and see what horrors those people faced, mostly because they refused to trust in and obey God!)

The good news for us who trust in Jesus and know God personally is that physical death is not the end for us, and the fear and sting of death was removed for us by Jesus’ sacrificial death for us on the cross. Jesus explained this amazing truth to Martha after her brother Lazarus had died and she was mad at him for not coming in time to save him!

²⁵  Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; ²⁶  and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?” – John 11:25-26 (NIV)

After watching Claudia die in the last few months of her life, I have a different perspective on death now. I really have no fear of death itself any more (although I’m not looking forward to any pain or suffering that may come before it!). But, I see death now as a transition into a far better and amazing life, as I shed this failing body (or tent, as Paul and Peter call it). I know that I will step into a future world that will be amazing beyond our imagination, again fully reunited with God, in his presence (and I will see Claudia again, and that will be amazing)! Either way, live or die, I’ve got it made, and so do you if you trust in Jesus! As Paul said eloquently in Philippians 1:

²¹  For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. ²²  If I am to go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labor for me. Yet what shall I choose? I do not know! ²³  I am torn between the two: I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far; ²⁴  but it is more necessary for you that I remain in the body. ²⁵  Convinced of this, I know that I will remain, and I will continue with all of you for your progress and joy in the faith, ²⁶  so that through my being with you again your joy in Christ Jesus will overflow on account of me.  -Philippians 1:21-26 (NIV)

All this leads me to the third thought about my future, which is the best of all!

3) I’M GOING TO LIVE FOREVER IN AN AMAZING NEW HEAVEN AND EARTH COMBINED, IN WHICH GOD WILL DWELL WITH US FOREVER!

The best is yet to come for us who trust in Jesus and desire to know God personally!

In both the Old and New Testament, there is the promise for those who trust in Jesus that God will redeem us and the world in the final chapter of history! He will restore and purify the world from all sin, and he will combine Heaven and Earth into one new world. All evil will be banished, we will get new bodies that will never get sick or die, and we all live with God in this amazing new world. An amazing description of this is found in Revelation 21 and 22.

SO, WHY AM I STILL HERE?

My purpose is to actually know God better and better each day, and as I do that, I will see my life, this world, and other people through Jesus’ eyes and heart more clearly.

And whether I live here 20 more years, or only 6 months, everything I do will be influenced for the better because of that relationship!

That means:

– I’m going to seek to use every experience in life to share the hope and great future that God offers to anyone who will trust him

– I’m going to appreciate and try to enjoy every aspect of life that comes my way, and every relationship, because God meant them to be good and enjoyable (and perhaps, God willing, share life with another wonderful Christian woman in the future!)

– I’m going to try to live each day with God’s peace and assurance in such a way that it appeals to others and wants them to experience this new Kingdom life also

– I’m going to attempt to live each day without fear of what may happen, knowing that nothing, not even death itself, can separate me from God and his love forever!

– I’m going to have fun and joy telling others about their chance to enter into an amazing future with God that will last forever, with a new body in an amazing new Heaven and Earth combined.

As I look at my future, I have nothing to lose that can’t be redeemed and restored by God in the future, and I have already gained everything that I need in Jesus.

So, I look forward to 2022 and getting to know God better, and be used by him to share his hope with others. What a great future and life he offers to us!

How about you? I pray you will come to know God in a personal way, if you haven’t already, and trust him with your future as well! There’s nothing better than that!!

I close with a beautiful prayer of Paul’s in Ephesians:

¹⁴ For this reason I kneel before the Father, ¹⁵ from whom his whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name. ¹⁶ I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, ¹⁷ so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, ¹⁸ may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, ¹⁹ and to know this love that surpasses knowledge–that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. ²⁰ Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, ²¹ to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen. -Ephesians 3:14-21 (NIV)