A flow of information floods our lives like water pouring from a firehose! Pundits tell us about public policy. Doctors inform us about the latest health trend. Podcasts bring us ideas about every conceivable subject. Conversations with dozens of people each week require more thought and evaluation.

We absorb information about the economy, wars around the world, the corruption in our government, the failure of higher education … and a thousand other things. Much of it is presented in terms that demand changes unless I want to witness the end of life as I know it.

My question is – how do we evaluate all this information?
How do we make the best choices with such an array of options before us?

If left to human wisdom alone – be it my own or that borrowed from others – I realize that I am in real peril because the so-called ‘experts’ have failed me too many times. The ‘wise’ have turned out to be fools; the ‘righteous’ revealed as frauds; last year’s ‘truth’ was replaced by this year’s discoveries.

The late Dr. David Wells wrote that when we turn from a God-centered life to a man-centered one, “everything drifts apart. It begins to resemble confetti – a myriad of experiences, none of which is related to the others…. and which can mean anything. The human being becomes ‘homeless’ adrift in a world that is beyond comprehension.”

Solomon tried making sense of life with various philosophies. In Ecclesiastes we read his cynical conclusions. “Come on, let’s try pleasure. Let’s look for the ‘good things’ in life.” But I found that this, too, was meaningless. …I decided to cheer myself with wine. … In this way, I tried to experience the only happiness most people find during their brief life in this world. I also tried to find meaning by building huge homes for myself and by planting beautiful vineyards. . .. I collected great sums of silver and gold, the treasure of many kings and provinces. …. I had everything a man could desire!

So, I became greater than all who had lived in Jerusalem before me, and my wisdom never failed me. … But as I looked at everything I had worked so hard to accomplish, it was all so meaningless—like chasing the wind. . . . This is all so meaningless!” (Ecclesiastes 2:1-15, NLT)

How easily we can slip into that kind of cynicism. When we attempt to make sense of life without an anchor in the truth of the Living God, the Creator and Source of life itself we will inevitably be cast adrift in a sea of contradictions. With age and experience we can lose touch with good, with beauty, with the joy of a life that rests on a solid foundation.

Are you attempting to make sense of your life with pleasure, money, technology, control and/or organization, education, or something else in this present world? Those things will, in the short term, give us some bright days and social benefits, but they will certainly fail to provide a life with meaning and hope as our days come to an end.

Perhaps you have taken yet a different path attempting to live ‘above it all’ retreating from engagement with the wider world as much as you can. Maybe you have made this your philosophy – “I don’t ask the questions! I just retreat into my little world and forget the rest.”  Even that choice ultimately fails because eventually the world we have tried to ignore will invade our little circle and we will know the consequences of choices made on our behalf by others.

Here is the best choice, one recommended by Solomon, near the end of his life. Solomon, after all his efforts to satisfy his inner longings, to understand life as meaningful, comes to this conclusion:  “Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. For God will bring every deed into judgment, including every hidden thing, whether it is good or evil.” (Ecclesiastes 12:13-14, NIV)

My friend is the True Center of your life the Lord Jesus Christ?

Jesus promises that He will be with us ‘even to the end of the age.‘   He gave us the gift of the Spirit of God Whom He said would not just be with us, but Who would live in us, when we choose to submit ourselves to Him in faith. He said – “If you love me, obey my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor, who will never leave you. He is the Holy Spirit, who leads into all truth.”  (John 14:15)

 Of Himself, Jesus says, “I am the Alpha and the Omega—the beginning and the end,” says the Lord God. “I am the one who is, who always was, and who is still to come, the Almighty One.” (Revelation 1:8, NLT)

This is not a simplistic answer to the complexity of life. In Him, in His wisdom, and by the Spirit we find an anchor, a point of reference, and access to a way of living that supersedes all the things of this temporal world. As He guides us, our lives become meaningful; even the pain we suffer useful in the hand of God for His eternal purposes.

The word from the Word today reflects the certainty found in our trust and faith. May these words grant us peace in these tumultuous times. “Overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us. And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from his love. Death can’t, and life can’t. The angels can’t, and the demons can’t. Our fears for today, our worries about tomorrow, and even the powers of hell can’t keep God’s love away. Whether we are high above the sky or in the deepest ocean, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.”  (Romans 8)

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