WHY LIFE GOES NOWHERE FOR SOME

Life is amazing.  Yet, it is not a blessing for far too many.  Rather it is a daily meandering, ritualistic, and useless burden for the latter.

The problem is sin. 

The recovery is life in Jesus.

Referencing Adam and Eve's debacle, Malcolm Smith pegged it, From then on, this was where they would find their life and the meaning of their existence---in the realm of the creature flesh.  Men and women would now spend their lives searching for meaning within their magnificent brains, intellects, emotions, feelings, and passions, which all exist in the organs of their bodies.

But for every human being, the questions regarding the meaning of existence will not go away.  Men and women cannot forget the dream they cannot remember!  The human is plagued by "Why am I here?" "What is the point of my existence?" "What is the meaning of my life?"  Midlife crisis is due to looking at life and realizing that the elusive meaning has not been found and time is running out.

We simply cannot let the doctrine we cherish in new birth, reconciliation, and re-creation slip into the mundane religious tone of any given day.  Rather we must be perpetually aroused by the Spirit-treasure implanted within each of us that we be driven to the unfathomable highest of hopes even when in the deepest of pits. 

Remember Paul and Silas in prison?  Even when apparently set back it was found that they merely stepped forward.

Nothing is to steal again what the devil stole from us through Adam and Eve.  The reason life goes nowhere for some is they have not absorbed the message that Jesus reversed life's course once and for all and we are declared meaningful. 

When a world clamors for meaning to existence and purpose to one's walk, we know the answer with stunning precision.  His name is Jesus.

RELIGIOUS WANDERINGS

I was watching a YouTube piece by Malcolm Smith when I noticed a list to the right of other clips of other speakers.  I began to wander into one and out and then to another and out.

Very interesting.

John MacArthur was bashing Joel Osteen.  No sooner did I leave that video and I went next to a man I don't know with a Baptist church in Ft. Lauderdale.  He was bashing John MacArthur...severely.

Ah, my need to know more about what Jesus taught and thought.

Yes, so many of us believe our ways are so simple that anybody could believe them if they would just study their Bibles.  Yet, a difficulty the religious of us have is that we are so politically biased in many of the doctrines we think we can prove to come from the Word.  All groups possess the same blemish.

It isn't that the Word does not call us to facts and faith.  It is that we are flawed in both our search and development.  And yes, we do discover and mature in Truth.  However, it may be much more gradual about ourselves than one might assume.

The Bible clearly calls us to proper development of faith.  Error was called out.  However, a problem I soon developed in my Christian beginnings was my eyes were soon trained to see the errors of others while blind to my own.  And, does not the Bible also address that?

An angst arises from within for the community of unbelievers is thriving in lostness with hopes someone will throw them a lifeline.  We could do it.  But the religious world--me being a part of it--has gazed at our belly buttons so much so long that our neighbors walk about in a fog.

Recall Jesus speaking of making some twice the sons of hell as before?  Are church recruits in danger of finding Jesus to learn poor faith-system habits to the extent we do more harm as believers? 

Church.  It is the body of Christ.  It is neither God's Legal Court nor Business School.  It is, rather, a band of former rejects ourselves who turn on a dime to see that the lonely and the abused and the neglected discover the love of God....found within us; very average human beings who now try to shine via the Spirit of Christ. 

Religious wanderings are keeping a segment of society distracted, prideful, and dumb.  When our devotion is to work our religious orders with attentive defense while neglecting any who need moments of tender compassion, we have missed His calling...and begun to follow a self-made one.

MAY THOSE WHO HAVE EARS HAVE SOMETHING TO HEAR

We preachers will only have something of kingdom value to share on Sunday if on the prior Monday through Saturday we intensely learned of the presence and power of our transforming God.

BURDEN OF TRUTH

As time swiftly moves along I sense an unusual and constantly renewed burden for Truth.  I speak not of that old and musty grim-faced I'm right!  You're wrong!  And I can prove it! smugness that I and those of my schooling paraded.

I speak of the marvel, wonder, and immeasurable holy presence of God.

The burden of Truth is that we have no option but to get to know Him.  His utmost desire is that we know Him.  John 5:39ff is but one verification.  The Bible assumes something we easily miss; that we walk with God and He with us.

No, I spent my early decades of learning to not be about God; rather to be about why others didn't have their religious facts straight.  Yes, I could be hateful.  Yes, I could be smug.  And yes, I could deny my own deep and erratic ignorance.  None of that mattered to me for I operated in the name of You shall know the Truth....and I thought I did.

Time has proven, as recently as my study today, that I am an ignorant man.  Mind you, God is willing to use ignorant men.  Yet, my heart is flooded with excitement of assuming every day that He lets me awaken that I am about to learn insights to knowing Him that I once assumed to be liberal heresy. 

After all I had the facts because louder voices than mine assured me...and we...that I did. 

Wrong. 

Simply wrong.

I knew a few things about the Word.  Those few things remain of the gratitudinal sense for me to this day.  But I did not know that I needed to know God.  I understood "we" needed to know we were the right ones.

God awaits our love for Him, our friendship with Him, and our worship of Him.

I'm just getting started.  What joy of excitement and hope we possess to live in the church as if it is a dream...that really lives.  The burden of Truth is the personal hunger and thirst to know the wow of our living God.

THE CRISIS

Challenge, disturbance, and problems; three things we don't want.  Therefore we guide our children to safer ground.  (Could this be a fundamental reason the bulk of our children leave the church by age 20?)  We fundamentally don't do trouble.  It may and does hit us.  So we hunt for the fastest exit.

Yet crisis is basic training for the believer.  We must have it.  The cross is neither gimmick nor decor.  It is a roadway to experience the Eternal Life of God.

Oswald Chambers wrote, The disciples approached Jesus by the way of sincerity, and he put them through crises until they discovered that they could never be disciples in that way; what they needed was to have the disposition of Jesus given them.

So fascinated with Jesus, the disciples left all to follow him.  Three years later it is recorded that they all fled to that which they had left.  Why?

Discipleship isn't about assumed victory and it is not about convenience.  It is about life in the center of crisis.

Even when we are having a bad day we are having a good day as faithful followers of this one who defeated even death.

I'M JUST SO INEPT

For any reader who feels rinky and dinky, let me make your day.

Ineptitarianistic is surely what I am.

How can I possibly be so flawed in so many, many ways?

Surely you don't think I work at it!  It just comes natural to me.

Today my sermon is to be in sync with The Story-line that classes and small groups studied throughout this past week.  My sermon is to ice the cake of this week's devoted studies.  The material is to be from Judges 2-4, 6-8, and -13-16.

Yes.  I know that.  I read every page from Lucado and Frazee's The Story for this week's drama.

So I've studied and let it simmer.  Yesterday I put the final touches by deciding exactly which Judges morsel I wanted to accentuate. 

I came in this morning, as usual every Sunday, to put all the parts of my fragmented study together.  I had it!  This will be great!  Until....

As I was preparing from chapter 3, I noticed at the top of the page the word Joshua.  What?  What?  Joshua?????  No.  No.  Not Joshua.  Judges.  Please be Judges.

Today's lesson is from Joshua.....which is so very close to Judges.

I am embarrassed, humiliated, and then....wondering what God has going this morning for the sermon really does have good stuff in it.  I'm just so inept.  Fortunately for me, this isn't anything new to this congregation....but they keep me anyway.

OUR LOVE OF GOD

Could it be that the simplest theme is our greatest need?

Could it be that the first and greatest command is truly our first and greatest need after all concurrent centuries?

Is the question about our couples, singles, teens, retirees, etc. in the church still, Do you love God with all your heart?

From personal experience I can express that our love of God is assumed.  But such assumption is blind-siding our efforts.  I was enamored with the Restoration Movement and how men came together from various denominations.  But I wasn't crazy about God.

For a long time I was devoted to time in prayer....which was agonizing for I didn't like to pray.  As a minister I felt obligated to engage in it.  When I shifted to truly loving God, I visit with Him at all hours over the slightest of details.  I just want Him to know that I know Him....with great delight.

So I had all of these lower-class gods: a capella singing, true church organization, and Bible-based sermons without my heart given to God.

This mistaken lack of love for Him continues to plague our efforts and energies.  What's in it for me? is so forceful among us that we might even slip into worshipping worship rather than worshipping the Father.

Our love of God remains the big question for each.  Attitudes and actions can be good and abundant while failing to be in sync with the greatest command.  It is a challenge for the 21st Century church, indeed.  And...we are grow to such a task.

May we be a people crazy about God!

HOW WILL YOU VOTE?

Will the turn-out be great?  Or, will some shrug shoulders of indifference and fail to offer personal support?

We have such a remarkable privilege.

Soldiers have paid the price for such uplifting moments.

Other countries don't have what we tend to take for granted.

Every person matters.  Each individual vote counts.

Dollars are spent with the hope all will be touched.

Travel criss-crosses our nation with the idea that hearts will be rewarded.

How will you vote?

Will you vote to attend the Tulsa Workshop in March?  Will you vote to hear Francis Chan and others at this huge event that packs a mighty kingdom wallop?

I hope so!  Vote with your intentions to be here March 20-23!

And, would you pass this information along to ten other would-be/could-be/should-be voters?

www.tulsaworkshop.org

RELIGION'S RUB

There is a vast gulf increasing within communities over the concepts of God and what such might entail.  While this isn't good, it is correctable.  I know because at one time I was against the very things I now live in with incredible enthusiasm.

It seems that both sides--believers and unbelievers--blur the truth about God by our confusion of which is Christianity and which is Churchianity.  Are we called to follow Christ or are we merely wrapped up in following our church?  The answer makes a difference to all who are pondering becoming believers in God.

Christians have slipped into a deadening pattern anytime we believe we are going to change our lives and "now go to church".  Going to church is not the definition of a believer in God.  It surely includes it; but there is very much more.

Churchianity focuses on how the church is doing; where it stands, what it believes, how it looks, what are the attendance numbers as well as the contribution count.  Christianity focuses upon the lost and the poor and the downtrodden and the dying with hopes of offering legitimate new life which is only embedded in Jesus.

Churchianity shuns dark sinners while Christianity embraces us.  Churchianity builds borders to keep people out while Christianity opens her arms wide without criticism and invites us to come in.

In my younger years I wanted nothing to do with church.  But I was mistaken.  I now want everything to do with it.  The transfer came when I learned that church isn't God.  God is.  I am to worship God; not my church style.  And one of the best things I have learned during thirty-eight years of ministry is the truth about my own sinfulness. 

Until I realized this one fact about myself, I was busy trying to build the church.  When God finally broke me down as to my own arrogance, all of a sudden the desperate need for Jesus has remained renewed. 

My mission is different.  My purpose is different.  Judgment and criticism of others is subsiding and I am discovering a whole new life right in the center of my inward focused church.  It is called Christianity.

Religion's rub is that people equate the shallowness of church building with the brilliance of God.  This must be corrected for it is keeping the masses at bay when God wants to draw us into Him.

JUST FOR FUN

When my Cardinals bit the dust at the hands of San Francisco's Giants in the playoffs this week, I emailed co-baseball fan Philip Yancey yesterday morning.

"No need to send flowers.  Just donate to a local charity."

His reply is typical.

I'm in Croatia, and just got this news!  My brother is a Giants fan, so grief is tempered...

Oh....he thinks he's so funny.

YO-YO CHRISTIANITY

We would be such a funny sort if we weren't such a sad sort.

Take me for instance.

I walk every day of my life feeling inferior to all and superior to many.  This causes me to think of the song, How Can It Be?

Would this register with any of you?

I think I am the least in every room; yet I wish others could be half as sharp as me in evaluation and estimation of any given moment.  How can I esteem myself to be the best thinker in the room while simultaneously feel ashamed of how nothing I am compared to others...in the very same room?

I'm weird....but in a good way...I keep telling myself.

Jesus.  Oh we know very well what he said about judging others.  We know it's wrong.  But, good grief, sometimes (well, maybe a lot of the times) I just can't help it.  Their lack is too obvious!  You see it don't you?  Ah, me too.

And then Jesus through Paul.  Romans 5:1-5 is an ego killer.  Oooooh, this one stings.  Well it should.  Whatever we judge wrong in others, we are guilty of the very same thing.  I ask you, Is that fair?

All religious brands and doctrinal students may spout book, chapter, and verse more effectively than the next.  One truth remains.  Very few of us master the ability to avoid being yo-yos in this amazing kingdom run by God.

TURNING POINT: THE ONE ANSWER FOR ALL CHALLENGES

Life is not for sissies.

We experience first-hand destruction, depression, and desperation.

Everywhere we turn we find acquaintances giving up.  They've thrown in the towel.  It is most probable each of us has occupied this practice.

There is a turning point. 

I write about this because I have to practice it so much.  Life in the public eye is not easy; especially for one who shouldn't be in the public eye.  Yet, I saw something one day in the Bible that is the ideal reminder that I/we can make it.  We must not quit.

You surely noticed Jesus' closest of colleagues?  The twelve and then the three within the twelve and then the one within the three?  You surely noticed these to be a tight group.  Until.  Until the stress mounted and all hope (being Jesus) died. 

When hope died, Jesus' closest of brothers-in-the-kingdom-life bailed.  They gave it up.  Outta here!

One thing reversed course.  There was a turning point.

Jesus was resurrected.

We encounter and possess the identical turning point. 

I get very weary of trying to deal with a finicky brotherhood and a childish me.  Quit, though, is never a temptation for we personally know the turning point.  Jesus said to the cold bossy grave, OUTTA HERE!

When you feel cornered by task too large and criticism too close to home, remember your turning point.  When you don't know what to do any longer to make ministry flow, remember your turning point.  When you are up against all odds and it even feels like your labor is dying, recall that you do have a significant turning point.

Hebrews 12:1-3 admonishes us to fix our eyes on Jesus, the creator of faith....for his daring resurrection from the grave was his and is now our TURNING POINT.

Live in it.

I DON'T KNOW WHAT TO SAY...MAYBE "YIPPEE"?

I am awestruck by God.

I had no idea living in the kingdom and still knowing so little about God could cause such enormous enthusiasm for both.  I can't describe it, can't understand it, and find myself utterly clueless.  His ways surely are higher.

In the 70s Mary and I were converted.  I had never heard anything like what I was learning about Jesus building his church.  I intend to never get over it.

In the 80s I learned--against my own will--about the inner personal working of the Holy Spirit.

In the 90s I learned I was nothing.

In the 00s I discovered that I was not a worshipper; therefore the riches of praise toward God have become emphatically important.

In the 10s I'm learning the power of praying with thanksgiving; plus the nature of living in covenant with God.

Each stage remains crucially important.  Because God is becoming more personal to me, I am shrinking in what little knowledge, talent, and influence I thought I possessed.

I feel so vividly awestruck about the minuscule things I'm continually learning about God at the present.  The more I see of just a smidgen of revelation about Him, my already microscopic existence becomes even more devalued.  It turns out I really am not much.  Christ in me must carry on the work.

I'm so excited to be 65 years old and still learning gnats and hairs about God that I hardly know what to say.  YIPPEE! would be one place I could begin.

IS THE HOLY SPIRIT WELCOME AMONG US?

The Church of Christ has had a problem.  What's weird is that the solution has been denied; which is our problem.  Great fear coupled with erroneous teaching has caused members of the church to deny the very power which God intended for us; Him...in Spirit form.

What's even weirder is the Word of God---used by loud voices to steer us away from believing the Spirit is for our age---expresses with incredible clarity that those who avoid the Spirit will develop a form of godliness while being ultra mean in spirit while, at the same time, denying the power of God.  And he finishes off a portion of II Tim. 3 with and avoid such men as these.

The Holy Spirit is not a threat to the church.  His absence clearly is. 

I've lived in both camps...with great vigor. 

The one without the Spirit is at best a Positive Thinking Rally.  It is up to us to get it done and we search for leaders to pump us up for the labor stands before us with great intimidation.

The one with the Spirit grows to step out of the way trusting God through Fatherhood, God through Jesus flesh, and God in Spirit form roams earth today; not only with us...but inside of us.

A matter that helped me make the transition was to shut out the chatter of fearful brotherhood leaders and look at His fruit.  Look at His fruit described in Gal. 5:22-23.  What section of that orange is radical, off-the-chart risky, and extreme?

All of them.  Love.  Joy.  Peace.  Patience.

The fruit of the Spirit is for any who cannot bear this on our own.  So each slice of this fruit is to be produced within us when we are under such pressure we cannot produce it on our own.  Our self-joy may have been robbed by insult; yet the Spirit knows exactly how to yield such "through us" in a very unsightly field. 

Self-control is offered/provided by the Holy Spirit when our flesh wants to verbally mow down our opponents because they are causing excessive pain.  Calm (peace) comes out of our flesh due to our counting on the Holy Spirit when otherwise we would have given a tongue-lashing.

The Holy Spirit is not the church's enemy.  Those who believe Him are not doing so to take the church in a liberal direction.  No, the Holy Spirit and those who believe He works are simply trying to say that trying to do church from the flesh is back-breaking, deal killer.  The law kills; but the Spirit gives life.

According to the Word, the Holy Spirits works; but is so tender and careful with us that He will not push Himself upon us if not welcomed. 

We...must increase our willingness to welcome Him.

WHAT NIKE GETS THAT WE COULD BENEFIT?

Do it.

Nike.

Simple.

The Nike company gets in slogan what the church is benefited by in direction; Do it---obey God.

Obedience is to approach or be approached by an opportunity for God with a decision moment.  Do we or don't we?  Will we or won't we?  Could we or should we?  Do it.  Obey God.

From the very simplest of major biblical acts, it was the virgin Mary who said to God, Do it. 

Jeri Williams projected in her book, The Perfect Heart, a keen observation.  Even the God of the universe needed a co-laborer to manifest His will in the earth.  He is still seeking those who will give birth to His Word in the earth by faith.  The virgin Mary had hold of a principle that allowed the living Son of God to be birthed against all human feasibilities.  In spite of overwhelming odds of impossibilities, and no other capabilities than a pure believing heart, Mary stood at attention to obey the spoken Word of God.

And Mary said, Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word.  And the angel departed from her.

To Nike it is a slogan.  To Mary it was a practice of obedience.  To us?  We will benefit from her example.

BIBLE SPIN

Although quite a novice, I love politics.  For my Cardinals to be in the playoffs and for there to be presidential debates, well I'm living a great month!

The following spin of each debate intrigues me.  Just last night I turned to FOX to get their take of the moment.  They were observing the facts regarding Romney's challenge to the President that he had curtailed oil drilling permits in the U.S.  FOX said Romney was correct; that the President had cut permits by 62%.

I went next to CNN to see what they were championing. Ah, the very same issue.  And their facts were that Romney was wrong and that the President was right as oil production in the U.S. had increased.

Two positions and two opposing claims to facts; all over one issue.

Spin.

And what about the Christian nation? 

Have relatives and neighbors gone deaf to our competitive spin over differing doctrines?  Could it be the world is not being evangelized because churches are selfishly lethargic; that our preconceived spin seems to void the potential of truth, the strength of truth, and the hope of truth? 

Yes, the Bible matters.  Our honesty with it is always in question.

Is it our honest goal to assist others with gaining a relationship with God or is it simply our motivation to fill pews and meet the budget?  Are we driven to see that people are baptized or that they meet Jesus?  There is a difference in both cases.  Individuals can only give their personal answer; but both scenarios fight for the spin cycle.

Of course the answer is the Truth must stand.  Our challenge is that we refrain from doing what the politicians and media seem to do with debate.  It is a constant work for us to offer the Word of Good News to others without blurring our message with a bias that simply fails to find endorsement from God.

For me, I believe I will always be challenged to avoid spinning the Bible to say what I want it to say more than what God wishes I would believe. 

WHAT HOLDS THE CHURCH BACK FROM SUCCESS?

Oh, how I write as if I know everything.  You know I don't.  I just want you to know that I know you know it.

So I have this thought today regarding church growth.  That growth, by the way, may be in the form or increased numbers, decreased numbers, individual maturity, and/or the simple escalation of faith in God.

I experienced a matter as a preacher that I wonder if others did or do.  I speak of the fear of believing.

We tend to look upon Jesus surfacely.  Nice.  Obedient.  Effective.  Faithful.  Saviorilistic.

The church tends to stress these traits plus another; balance.  Let there be balance between law and grace, faith and action, etc. In general the church spells balance s-a-f-e-t-y.  The question is not regarding whether a move is of God; but rather is undermined by the bigger question of Will I come out all right in this?

My earlier doctrine was said (by me) to be from the Word.  In honesty, it was what the large voices of the brotherhood said I was to believe; what I better believe.  Being me, I gladly obeyed for my goal was balance spelled s-a-f-e-t-y.

However, Jesus believed and did many things not balanced; not safe.  He stood up to the church leaders of the day who believed they owned Truth.  He defied their threats.  He was executed because he refused to abide by the rule-of-thumb balance which is really spelled s-a-f-e-t-y. 

Being a die-hard people-pleaser, it was a major gulf for me to dare to stand for grace when the church bullies yelled foul from their courts of law.  It was an incredible mountain to climb to say the Holy Spirit absolutely, Word-approved, works in our lives.  Neither was it safe to say, regarding our doctrine against instrumental music, that we made it up. 

Look, our land is suffering for lack of the breath of God.  We have a choice.  He is willing to let us damn up the works or let us allow free flow.  We will not promote the kingdom of God, ever, in the name of balance and safety.  It will take gulping courage to believe God over believing what cowardly man tells us to believe.

Dare...if you can...to try to lean upon Him.  I must do a better job myself.

THE BASIC BASIC

God created man.

Man can't walk by man's strength alone.  Somewhere(s) the darkness of the world will buckle our human knees.

Therefore, God infuses Himself into any who would infuse themselves into Him in baptism.

We walk a new life....a new kind of life?

New like in conquering nations?  New like in accomplishing the magnificent?  New like in becoming famous?

No.

New like in becoming joyful in disturbing circumstances; joyful when under duress, and joyful when days are tough. 

Unbelievers are not in need of being informed of how mighty we are.  They need to find someone on their block who doesn't lose their cool every time something goes terribly awry.

The basic basic is to let the light shine from atop of our hill when those without God would have naturally cratered in the name of stress or anger.

...strengthened with all power, according to His glorious might, for the attaining all steadfastness and patience; joyously giving thanks to the Father...Col. 1:11. 

If I were given one message to help the church become more evangelistic it would be to quit throwing the gasoline of moodiness and nasty attitudes upon the good seed sown in our communities by others who are trying to save the souls of our neighbors.

That move would be a basic one of all basics.

WHAT I REALLY WANTED WAS TO BE A BIG PREACHER

When I entered preaching school my intent was to be one of the big boys.  There seemed to be no indication I could reach such scale.  Nonetheless, I wished.  I loved the idea of leading out in the church.  To develop a sound and a style of robust impressiveness was on my front burners for I really wanted to be a big, effective preacher.

Therefore, I write this to all who battle for a similarly self-centered position or any who are wannabe big preachers.

I learned a secret.

There are no big preachers.  In case you didn't hear me, THERE ARE NO BIG PREACHERS.

Why?

There is this big God whom little preachers are to point toward.

There is the huge Savior that all small preachers are to promote.

There is an amazing Holy Spirit that all puny-minded pulpiteers will never totally grasp; but are privileged to encounter.

And then there is a glorious church that has suffered self-imprisonment in places.  It struggles to breathe freedom and to eat from the table of fellowship Jesus sets. 

With big, huge, amazing, and glorious embedded in the grand scheme of God, His secret is to call weak men to be willing vessels for His residence.  We may begin wishing to be big preachers.  Yet, if we stick with Them long enough, we will be whittled down to truthful size; dinkier than we had first imagined....worse than we had ever wished.

However, we are not to be depressed.  Rather, we are to be quite elated.  

We get to bring the Best News that can ever be heard by human ears!  God created--died for His creation--and returned to abide within every loser.....that we could all cross the victory ribbon.  Go out and tell it...with great enthusiasm. 

Great size is about God. 

Never is it about we fumbling preachers trying to tell the Story.

MOST PAINFUL: LIFE WITH NO MEANING

The church possesses the greatest news for every generation; how to experience life with meaning. 

People are lost.  They are not just hell-lost.  They are earth-lost.  The reason?  These just cannot figure a way to take this present existence and fit into an elusive (to them) matter called LIFE.

Life is not that things go right or work out okay.  Life is brimming with assurance that external injuries and internal disappointments are not to define who we are nor how we are doing.  The inner man is the true us.  The outer man begs the question and, therefore, bullies all of us into grave meaninglessness.

Man really must be sharper than to just go through life without paying attention to the factors which rob individuals of ultimate freedom to enjoy breathing in and out; existing.

I share at length Malcolm Smith's comments; Our first parents, Adam and Eve, did not become "as God," as Satan had promised them, but instead became the slaves of the one who had lied to them and promised ultimate freedom and independence.  Life now was lived on the meaningless treadmill of trying to make the lie of Satan work in life.  They were doomed to fail at meeting their goal of being as God, yet in a blind and insane belief have been spurred on to attempt to achieve it in every succeeding generation of humankind.

Note his next strike of accuracy.  Dead while physically, mentally, and emotionally alive, the sad parade of humanity moves through existence toward physical death, the dissolution of the body, being separated even from physical existence.  Created to rule the universe, humankind has ended up being absorbed back into the dust from whence he came.  And the first man and woman believed they would be gods!

Unlike lower creatures, men and women know that physical death is inevitably coming, which makes their existence meaningless.

The most painful thing about relatives and neighbors is their battle for meaning.  The good news of God is that Jesus came that we might find meaning and find it abundantly.  He calls it LIFE!