Life 101

It is a terrible thing to live a life not knowing the purpose of it.

In the song, "How" John Lennon (1940-1980) asks:

"how can i go forward when i
don't know
which way i'm facing?
how can i go forward when i
don't know which way to turn?
how can i go forward into
something
i'm not sure of? oh no, oh no."

On his death bed, his wife Ono said, "Oh, no, oh no."
Obviously John Lennon did not know the purpose of life.

More or less the same thing happened to a man named Lao Tzu, supposedly the founder of the Chinese Taoism, an ancient Chinese philospher who allegedly lived about 5 centuries before Christ.

In his book Tao Tse Ching, he said, "Tao (the way) that can be called Tao is no longer Tao." Obviously he did not know why he ought to live and for what he was to live.

Later, again according to one tradition, he felt sick and tired of what he observed going on in this world especially among government officials, particularly their corruptedness, he suddenly became silent, then disappeared into a mountain and committed suicide.

Why then did God give you life? What is the purpose of life - your life and my life?

Isaiah 49:5-6 gives out the answer, that is, to restore man back to God himself. We've wandered off of him. But he is seeking after, so we be restored back to him.

⁵ And now the Lord says—
he who formed me in the womb to be his servant
to bring Jacob back to him
and gather Israel to himself,
for I am^[a] honored in the eyes of the Lord
and my God has been my strength—
⁶ he says:
“It is too small a thing for you to be my servant
to restore the tribes of Jacob
and bring back those of Israel I have kept.
I will also make you a light for the Gentiles,
that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.”

The Bible categorizes all peoples of all ages into two categories: Jews and Gentiles.

Jews are often called Jacob or Israel. Gentiles are all peoples on earth minus Jews.

The differences between the two classes are that the former is the direct recepient of the Revelation (God's word) whereas for the latter the Revelation (such as the will of God in regard to everything on life, like the purpose of it) is given second-handedly.

Isaiah who lived about seven centuries before Christ was one of the prophets who were given direct access to God's revelation. And in Isaiah 49:5-6, God revealed to him the purpose of sending him to the Jews and the Gentiles, that is, to restore you and me back to Himself.

About 7 centuries after Isaiah, God sent Jesus His Son who in turn made the purpose of life clear, when he said in John 14:20, "On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you", or as in John 17:21 says, "[A]ll of them may be one, Father, just as you and I are one."

This is "LIFE 101."

I think the Lord reconfirmed this being the case with every one including myself, by allowing me to check into a room no. "C2101" at tbe Viva Wyndham Hotels and Resorts at the Grand Bahamas. On my way back home from Africa, which involved 17 hours of airplane ride, I grew weary so in order to give myself a little break, I found one good all inclusive (flight, hotel, meal etc.) package deal, dropped by the Freeport at the Grand Bahamas. The guy at the receptionist had a hard time to find the reservation. Finally he tracked down my reservation, and assigned me to a room way back there in the corner: C2101.

Why did the Lord arrange the room number this way? Here is my interpretation: C stands for Christ. 2 stands for two to be united into one, that is, Jesus Chrsit the head of the church, and myself, the member of the church called the Bride of Jesus Christ. What does 101 signifify? The two individual one's becoming "0", that is, a complete merge.

Why should "C" stand out upfront? It must be so for it states the means by which to make this heart-beating purpose possible, that is, Christ who died for all of our sins (or failures) and rose again to transform them into victories in life.  

So life 101 which is the gospel (or good news of life) 101 can be summed up with "C2101", that is, God sent His Son Jesus Christ in order to (thus the number 2) form the two (Jesus the husband and the church the bride) (thus the number 2) to become one (thus there is a number '0' that stands for oneness in the sense of nothingness that hinders the two from becoming one]  still with each of the two ones maintaining individuality (thus 1 and 1).

This makes me to stop 'wandering' around and start 'wondering' on the 'wonder of life' in the Lord who is the sum total of all the wonder of wonders. So stop wandering start wondering.