What is life?

This is an important question for all of us to answer. What is life? The answer tells you what your life should be about. Different people have different answers. For some of us, life is about work, death and taxes. For others, it is to train till age 25, work till 65, and die at 80. Some may think life consists of milking their parents till 25, work and pay bills till 65, and then milk their children till they die. What about money, fun, movies, fun, sex, fun, vacation then more fun?
Conservative individuals may think life is about having moral values and raising a good family or being alive to see your great grandchildren. Some simply want to “make it”, whatever that means. A few will consider going to heaven.
If you really think about natural human life, it can be depressing. Why were you born? For what purpose are you here? Are you simply a product of 2 individuals with uncontrolled sexual urge? Does your date of birth have any significance?

"Why, oh why, did I ever leave that womb?
Life's been nothing but trouble and tears,
and what's coming is more of the same". Jeremiah 20:18

There are two important truths to keep in mind whenever you think about your life: it is very temporary and it is empty without Christ.

"Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow.
What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes". James 4:14

"We live for seventy years or so (with luck we might make it to eighty),
And what do we have to show for it? Trouble.
Toil and trouble and a marker in the graveyard". Psalm 90:10

The human life is very short compared to eternity. If you are now 35, you have only 12,000 days left. That is a snap of the finger compared to eternity. The best way to live is to live with the reality that you will live forever and make decisions based on that principle. The expected duration of an assignment impacts planning for it. For example, if you need a car for 3 months, you probably will consider leasing. However, if you need a car for the next 6 years, buying one is preferable.
Many of us live our lives as if there is no life after death. We allow ourselves to be bogged down by issues of no eternal value such as paying bills, gossip, peer pressure, pride, sports, pleasure, financial accomplishments etc. This is the low life approach to living. You cannot understand life by looking around you. Your parents, neighbors, coworkers, friends or relatives may not know the answer to life. Government and human institutions cannot help you either.

"So if you're serious about living this new resurrection life with Christ,
Act like it. Pursue the things over which Christ presides.
Don't shuffle along, eyes to the ground,
Absorbed with the things right in front of you.
Look up, and be alert to what is going on around Christ—that's where the action is. See things from his perspective". Colossians 3:1-2.

The best way to live is to first realize your life is not about you. Your life does not consist of your wants, needs, desire, pleasures, personal goals, ambition, and preferences. Life is not about things. It is not about net-worth.

"Life is not defined by what you have, even when you have a lot". Luke 12:15

"What good would it do to get everything you want and lose you, the real you? What could you ever trade your soul for?" Mark 8:37

Every time you and I focus on “stuff”, our lives become stuffy. Clogged. Messy. Suffocating. Unfulfilling. Confusing. We are primarily spirit beings and spirits cannot be satisfied with natural things. Hear these words from the Lord Jesus,
"What I'm trying to do here is get you to relax,
Not be so preoccupied with getting
So you can respond to God's giving.
People who don't know God
And the way he works fuss over these things,
But you know both God and how he works.
Steep yourself in God-reality, God-initiative, God-provisions.
You'll find all your everyday human concerns will be met". Luke 12:29-31

True life consists of letting go of you and letting God. You are not made to be self-made. You were created to be Jesus-made. Most of our anxieties, worries, sleepless nights, dissatisfaction and confusion come from the fact that we are the boss of our lives. We can’t handle the stress on our own but we are the master. We are no match for the devil, but we insist on being in charge. We have no control of our today but we remain the manager of ourselves. We do not know what will happen tomorrow but we try to do our very limited best. No wonder many of us require pills to sleep, pills to wake up, pills to keep us calm when awake and pills for memory and clear thinking!

"One day when large groups of people were walking along with him, Jesus turned and told them, "Anyone who comes to me but refuses to let go of father, mother, spouse, children, brothers, sisters—yes, even one's own self!—can't be my disciple". Luke 14:26.

Everyone has 2 types of life: the physical and the spiritual. Your physical life consists of your human body and soul. Your spiritual life is your real you. You are primarily a spiritual being living in a physical body. You are not an “it”, you are a person. Similarly, your life is a not an “it”. It is a Person. Jesus.

"......For the LORD is your life, ......Deuteronomy 30:20.

"Your old life is dead. Your new life, which is your real life—even though invisible to spectators—is with Christ in God. He is your life" Col 3:3.

The Lord Jesus is my life. He is my interest, my passion, my goal, my orientation, my success, my future, my educator, my counselor, my teacher, my healer, my pastor, my banker, my insurance agent, my security, my helper, my protector, my employer, my supplier, my moral standard, my owner, my king, my lord, my master, my savior, my everything! He is not part of me. He is all of me and I am His. This is why I can say with Paul,

"Indeed, I have been crucified with Christ.
My ego is no longer central.
It is no longer important that I appear righteous before you
Or have your good opinion,
And I am no longer driven to impress God.
Christ lives in me.
The life you see me living is not "mine,"
But it is lived by faith in the Son of God,
Who loved me and gave himself for me.
I am not going to go back on that". Gal 2:20

You were made for God. You will never find fulfillment without God. The human race was made to seek after God, not material things which will never satisfy the longings of our hearts.

"Starting from scratch,
He made the entire human race and made the earth hospitable,
With plenty of time and space for living so we could seek after God,
And not just grope around in the dark but actually find him". Acts 17:26-27

In summary, life is Jesus. He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. John 14:6. Your life is Jesus. Your body, soul and spirit are his. “You are not your own” 1 Corinthians 6:19. Let us stop stealing our lives from Him. He owns us. We are the sheep of His pasture. Life is meaningless without Christ. Give everything back to Him. Your past, present and future. Who you are and what you have. All are His, not yours. As you do this, you will begin to experience life at a level never before known to you. Let Him own your body. He is the Creator and the best Mechanic of it. Let Him own your mind.

"People with their minds set on you,
You keep completely whole". Isaiah 26:3.

Start your day with the Word of God. Meditate on His Word. Talk to God constantly. If you are born-again, the Holy Spirit lives in you. Maintain dialogue with the Spirit day and night. Stop running from pillar to post; you will never make it on your own. Stop running after things that should be running after you. Stop living a mediocre Christian life. It does not pay. You are neither useful to the devil nor to God.

“Father, today I declare I am yours totally, body, soul and spirit. My past, present and future I give to you. I dedicate all that I am and all that I have to you. Use me, mold me as you will. Take over everything from now and grant me the grace to remain yielded to you all the days of my life in Jesus name. Amen”