Fables and Faith : What is man that ‘you’ are mindful of him
Posted on Monday, September 8, 2008
URL: http://www.nwanews.com/bcdr/News/65517/
Lots of folks have pondered the answer to that question, me included. John Wesley said it much more eloquently than I could when he said: “ For what end is life bestowed upon the children of men ? Why were we sent into the world ? Then he said: “ We were sent for one sole end, and for no other, to prepare for eternity. For this alone we live... ”
When I was growing up, I often thought of someone who was 71 years old as being really, really old. The closer I got to that age, the less I thought those thoughts and began to think — “ They’re really looking young for their age. ” Since I’ve now passed that threshold I look in the mirror and think — “ How could you think such a thing ? ” Nonetheless, I’m glad to be 71, sad that I haven’t thought enough about the true meaning of life and death as I should.
I’m reminded of the quote from C. S. Lewis about true age. “ Christianity asserts that every individual human being is going to live forever. Now there are a good many things which would not be worth bothering about if I were going to live only 70 years, but which I had better bother about very seriously if I am going to live forever. ”
I can also relate to another quotation from Lewis about satisfying experiences. He said: “ If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world. If none of my earthly pleasures satisfy it, that does not prove that the universe is a fraud. Probably earthly pleasures were never meant to satisfy it, but only to arouse it, to suggest the real thing. ”
Lewis then stated: “ If that is so … I must keep alive in myself the desire for my true country, which I shall not find till after death; I must never let it get snowed under or turned aside; I must make it the main object of life to press on to that other country and to help others to do the same. ” You and I were made for another world. Once upon a time we lived in a garden; we lived in the place for which we were made. It was a place without death, a place where we could walk with God in the cool of the evening. God has pressed His eternal image on our souls and placed us in a world that testifies of our infinite heritage.
As I pondered the question of “ what is man and why is man” I came upon another quote that made such wonderful sense. It came from a book by my good friend Karen Chaffin — author and lecturer — who said that you and I were made for another world. “ Once upon a time we lived in a garden; we lived in the place for which we were made. It was a place without death, a place where we could walk with God in the cool of the evening. God has pressed His eternal image on our souls and placed us in a world that testifies of our infinite heritage. ”
Yet sometimes our understanding of Heaven is so distorted we have little desire for it. There is a story about a young boy who hated the idea of Heaven. He would puzzle his Sunday school teachers by stating quite boldly that he didn’t want to go to Heaven. Finally someone asked him why. He answered, “ I don’t like peas. ” He had heard the Christmas carol “ Silent Night” and thought the refrain “ sleep in heavenly peace” was actually “ sleep in heavenly peas. ” No wonder Heaven was unappealing ! Who would want to sleep in peas ? What is man that You are mindful of him ? A good question to ponder regardless of your age. Shalom !
• • • Bob Haynes ’ column appears on Mondays.