What would you say makes life truly worthwhile?
Many people give this response: a sense of purpose. I learned something about this as a college student when I read the words of Paul Tillich, a German theologian who was trained in psychology. Tillich said that contemporary Christians miss the mark if they preach the gospel as a way to avoid “going to hell” or “feeling guilty for our sins.” Some may worry about those things, Tillich said, but what most people fear more than hell or guilt is futility. We are only here on earth for a little while. Our biggest concern may be whether our lives will make a difference: Will it matter that we were here?
The author of the Gospel of John seems to get this: People don’t just want to have pleasant lives. They want their lives to count for something. Jesus says that his followers will be identifiable by the love they have for one another (John 13:35). People who love people are people who make a difference in this world.
This message is excerpted from the Bible study “The kingdom of God: Here and now” by Mark Allen Powell in the March/April 2022 Gather magazine. Today we commemorate George Herbert, hymnwriter, 1633.
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