Over the past couple of years I have heard a few random people start a sentence with words like, "What's important in life is," then complete the sentence with something like, "family," or, "giving and receiving love," or something of that nature. I always hate when I hear that because it could either be something that is mostly true or it could be self-serving garbage, and it is hard to tell which. I tend to think that the person making the statement is being self-serving without realizing it. Fair or not, that's where my mind goes. The following are the arguments the statement being true and for the statement being hooey.
Why it may be true
The reason a statement like, "What's important in life is family," sounds noble is that it implies loyalty and sacrifice. While family should not take the place of God, the family unit is the main means that God has chosen to illustrate our relationship with Him. Furthermore, leading or caring for a significant other and/or family represents the greatest responsibility most people will ever have. For many people the purpose of their lives is tied up in their family.
Likewise, I believe that love if it is defined properly is more or less synonymous with sacrifice. God is love and God showed His love in that Christ died for us while we were still sinners. Love isn't about emotional responses, but about what I am willing to do for someone else. I love my family because of what I would sacrifice for their well-being rather than because I get the warm fuzzies when I think about them.
If you say that the important thing about life is love, and by love you mean selflessly sacrificing yourself for the cause of Someone greater than yourself, then I agree. If you say that one of the most important things about life is growing in your relationship with God through your relationship with your family and the sacrifices that entails, then I agree.
Why it's probably hooey
The problem is that a lot of people determine things are important because they desire it for themselves. If someone said that the purpose of life is sex (forget the reproduction argument for a moment), most would assume that person was allowing his or her own desires to mess with his or her sense of proportion. This would be the same if someone decided that the purpose of life is notoriety, wealth, good looks, or excitement. They are all so obviously self-serving that, while anyone is free to believe that one or more of these things are the central focus of life, society will not let them act noble about it. That's kind of how I feel about putting love or family in this list.
If someone says that love is what is important in life because they desire love from others, that is a bit self-serving. If family is important, not because they are worth sacrificing for, but because it looks good when you show up to church or other social events together as a cohesive unit, that is a bit self-serving.
If you are a Christian who believes in and agrees with what the Bible says, you do not have the option of making the purpose of your life be self-serving. The common thread in the Bible in both the Old and New Testaments is that those who God accepts are those who surrender, sacrifice, and humble themselves out of fear and reverence. Therefore, what is important in life is the opposite of satisfying our desires. It is rather surrender, sacrifice, and humility before God.
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2 comments:
I think we do tend to say what is expected or what we think is supposed to be said. No one wants to say, the most important thing to me is self satisfaction. Of course often we don't admit those things to ourselves either. Maybe it is a matter of saying it outloud to continue convincing ourselves it is true inside us (like love is important). I read another article today that spirituality is not these things but more the idea of being willing to follow God's plan and not our own - sacrifice. (Roger posted that article on facebook.)
Thanks for sacrificing things for us. You give me warm fuzzies and maybe that's self serving for me sometimes. : )
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