The Meaning of Life Part 6


The Meaning of Life Part 6 - In Serving Others Do I Attain the Meaning of Life?

“Co-operation…makes it happen, Co-operation… working together… dig it!”. 

For some of you that took you back to memory lane, didn’t it. 

It is true though that something about not being alone, just being a help to others, or devoting yourself to the service and betterment of your fellow man brings life in perspective and certainly adds meaning to one’s life. 

Even Solomon agrees. In [Eccl 4:7-12], he reinforced that it is not good for man to be alone or to be isolated in his life. Man was created to be in a community, a family. He gave the example of a man who neither had a son nor a brother but was feverishly working night and day. That man was not content with wealth. Something was missing. Solomon predictably concluded that this was pointless. His main question was “For whom am I toiling and why am I depriving myself of enjoyment?” That was a very good question. His conclusion? Two are better than one. If one falls down his friend can help him up. In additional a three strand cord is not quickly broken. Yet in the same breath when you do find someone that will benefit from your toil, even that is not a guarantee that life would not be pointless.

There is also nothing though like being able to help and seeing that you are making a difference. 

[Eccl 11:1-2] “Cast your bread upon the waters, for after many days you will find it again. 2 Give portions to seven, yes to eight, for you do not know what disaster may come upon the land. “ 

It is very rewarding to know that you are useful, seeing people’s lives change and making a difference.
Yet at a macro, meaning of life level, are we really making a lasting difference? 

Look at Haiti. So many attempts made to assist the people, so much money poured in, yet no lasting relief, only whispers of corruption, only little lasting impact. 

How many charities are there in the world? Why aren’t we more coordinated to make a truly lasting difference?

Look at the atrocities in Syria. Why are we so helpless to even make a difference there? It only took two nations, Russia and China, under the pretense of Sovereignty and protection of national interests, to block any declarations of oppression and bring lasting humanitarian assistance to the people. We run once more into some vanities that rob us of a guarantee of lasting impact, specifically, lots of activity, apparent progress, but nothing in the long term – 

[Eccl. 1:6] “The wind blows to the south and turns to north, round and round it goes ever returning on its course” 

That is the problem. Again the question of the meaning of life is not as much concerned with short term advances, impact and meaning but more so with a commensurate universal, long term application, else it will be just as meaningless in the long term as the others: wisdom, happiness, pleasure, wealth and power. 

Does this mean that we don’t make an effort? Certainly not, for short term meaning, a short term advance is better than none at all. As the old story goes, even when millions of helpless starfish on the beach you are still making a difference to that one star fish you have thrown in the water.


Service to our fellow man gets us closer to defining the meaning of life, even though it isn’t. 

When Christ came to earth and declared that the Kingdom of God is near, He demonstrated the nearness of the Kingdom by healing the sick, bringing sight to the blind, even feeding the hungry and generally was of ultimate service to his fellow man. 

Yet it would all still be pointless if he healed someone only to have them die again and that was the end of it. Yes Christ raised Lazarus from the dead, but only to die another day. This too would be pointless…unless all there was more to life that what was found under the sun. Hmm. 

Also what if it does impact a life beyond the sun? We see that the Christ separated nations based on whether you acted appropriately when your fellow man needed you to as opposed to always being concerned about your own personal or national interests and ignoring others in need. So how you respond is part of the criteria that will result in either gaining immediate entrance into the Kingdom to experience eternal [aionios] life or separation to fire [pur] to experience eternal [aionios] punishment. 

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