INSIGNIFICANT

We all jump out of bed every morning and head out to force our agendas on the world. We neglect our health and the relationships with friends and family because somehow we just know that the tasks set before us each day are more important than anything else. The "tyranny of the urgent" rules our lives. Being the son of a funeral director, I have always known that everyone will one day die and (unless you are cremated) you will be put in a casket and there will probably be a visitation by family and friends (which you neglected because of your important agenda) and as folks pass by your coffin, sooner or later, these three statements will be heard: 1) "He sure does look natural." 2) "I have never seen him look better." and 3) "He looks like he could just sit up and start talking!"

Don't get me wrong, there is certainly nothing wrong with having a purpose in life. Human beings can accomplish great things which often make life better for others long after their death. As a friend once told me, "There is nothing wrong with planting a tree whose shade you will never enjoy"! But, if everyone is running around wildly with their agendas, surely some of the agendas will clash. Just look around at the world situation today; personal agendas are clashing everywhere.

Let me just say a few things about how INSIGNIFICANT we really are. Hang in here with me for a few moments. Let's start by looking at a few facts of astronomy:

A "light year" is a measure of distance. If an object could travel at the speed of light (186,000 miles per second) for 1 year; the distance covered is one "light year". Do the math yourself: 60 seconds in a minute, 60 minutes in an hour, 24 hours in a day, 7 days in a week, 52 weeks in a year and so on! That's a lot of distance! Get the picture?

We live in the galaxy called the Milky Way and our solar system is situated well away from the center of our galaxy; about 30,000 light years from the galactic center to be somewhat exact. The body of our galaxy is shaped like a great disc (pancake) 300 light years thick and 100,000 light years across. Ours is a spiral galaxy and the Sun is about two-thirds of the way out from the center along one of several spiral arms. We HUMANS like to think that we are important; but in the vastness of the Milky Way, our earth is like a grain of sand on the beach and the Milky Way is only one of millions of galaxies whirling through space. The galactic corona, an enormous outer halo which is now believed to contain most of the mass of the galaxy, may extend as far as 300,000 light years in radius. Remember that two times the radius is the diameter. So if we measure the diameter by the galactic corona, then the Milky Way is 600,000 light years across. Once again! If we have an object traveling at 186,000 miles per second for 600,000 years, that distance would be the diameter of the Milky Way and THERE ARE MILLIONS OF OTHER GALAXIES! What was your agenda again?

In 1970, I was a freshman at the University of Georgia trying to figure out what I would be when I grew up. In the meantime, I decided to be a science major (eventually becoming a pharmacist) and found that I was spending an inordinate amount of time involved with labs. One of the first things any science major learns is the FIRST LAW OF THERMODYNAMICS. Of course, I had learned this in high school, but we had to "learn" it again anyway. It goes like this:

Energy can be changed from one form to another, but it cannot be created or destroyed. The total amount of energy and matter in the universe remains constant, merely changing from one form to another. Energy is always conserved; it cannot be created or destroyed.

Now that I had this "truth" placed in my mind, I went to an astronomy (not astrology) class and heard the professor say, "Fifteen billion years ago, the universe exploded into existence." Of course, one should not doubt this because it was taught in college and I had to state this stuff back on tests in order to pass, but even as a young man, my mind was churning thoughts like, "If matter and energy cannot be created or destroyed but 15 billion years ago the universe exploded into existence, then something doesn't add up here!"

Here's a truth for you that you will not hear often: IF THERE WERE EVER A TIME WHEN THERE WAS NOTHING, THERE WOULD STILL BE NOTHING!

So where did our Milky Way galaxy, our universe and all of the other millions of universes originate if energy and matter cannot be created or destroyed? You don't get something from nothing (even my grandmother knew this)!

This is why there are people who believe in God! Not those who have created a god they can control and manipulate, but those who are struck dumb with wonder at His Majesty. It is not illogical! Christianity is not about whether or not Jesus loves homosexuals! It is about God's becoming one of us and dwelling among us full of grace and truth. The Word made flesh! The only God we got to see was Christ and the truth of his life has been captured not only by the Scripture but by non-Christian historians as well (Josephus e.g.). Christ was a real person who lived and breathed just as we but at the same time He was fully God also (the hypostatic union: fully man but fully God). He was sent not to do a random act of kindness, but to propitiate the wrath of God against sinful man on behalf of His people (not everybody). His finished work was totally effective for the elect; those who are called out of the world through the gospel (the power of God unto salvation)!

In light of our insignificance in the overall scheme of things and the futility of our "purpose driven agendas", I am reminded of what the Psalmist stated:

When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers,
The moon and the stars, which You have ordained,
What is man that You are mindful of him,
And the son of man that You visit him? Psalm 8:3-4

George Goddard