Life justifies living?

"I tried your religion for awhile," he said, "and I found it's just a burden to carry.  You know what I've figured out?  Life justifies living.  Life is its own reward and explanation.  I don't need some pie-in-the-sky mirage to keep going.  This life has enough pleasure and mystery and adventure in it not to need anything else to account for it.  Life justifies living."

Mark Buchanan, Leadership, (Winter 2004), 38

I have heard this so many times.  I was first confronted with it as a philosophy student as an undergraduate.  The person talking was trying to convince me that my childhood belief system should be discarded.  Little did they know when they started the discussion that I had become a believer at 18 for fairly non-childish reasons.  It was a great discussion.

Why?

In many ways I agree with the above statement.  I so enjoy life.  I love friends and laughter.  My biggest disappointment in moving is being separated from my friends.  Good friends are so important for enjoying life!

In addition, I find such peace and beauty when I am out in nature.  In fact, I do everything I can to get out in nature all the time!  I think more than most, I truly enjoy life.  I love its pleasure, mystery, and adventure.  I do pray it will never end!

That being said, I know it will end.  As my body settles into middle age, I cannot enjoy the food I once enjoyed.  My intestinal pain and other physical symptoms make eating what was once pleasurable very unpleasurable.  Now I have to watch carefully what I eat.  It does take some of the pleasure and adventure out of my life while adding a non-enjoyable mystery as to why my body behaves as it does with gluten full food!

What about those who begin life with a series of poor choices- choices that haunt and misshape them for the rest of their life?  What about those who experience incredible abuse that warps their entire life experience?  What about those who witness and experience trauma that haunts their dreams and paralyzes their waking hours?

"Life is its own reward and explanation" is a selfish observation from one who is blessed with health, strength, good-fortune, and financial resources that allow them freedom to find pleasure.

When times are good, I agree with the above paragraph.  When times are bad, I think that the above paragraph leaves room for little else than suicide.  At the very least, all that is left is frustration and anger.

What if the above statement was given some better context?  What if this life is often extremely good, but even at its best it is a mere glimpse or shadow of a better world, a better life, that we were created to enjoy?

Such a perspective would explain why we find such pleasure, mystery, and adventure in many events and experiences in this life.  It would also give an explanation for those who are suffering.  

Friend, there is more to living than just this life!  We were created for eternity.  All that is lacking in this world helps us understand and clarify what the next world will be like.  Life with God, in relationship with God, gives us a taste of what life will be like when our mortal bodies depart and our sinful nature is gone.

The hope in Christ is not a crutch for the weak.  It is the truth that explains our experience.  The here and now is not all there is.  We were created to enjoy so much more.  That is why we have such longing; why we have such a desire for peace, security, love, and respect.  

Don't be satisfied for the pat answers of the healthy, wealthy, and young.  Find the true meaning of life in a faith relationship with Jesus Christ.