The Most Important

The most important aspect of my life is my faith.  I love my family very much, but before my family I had God and because God gave me my family, He knows how much they mean to me.  Yes, I think of God in the masculine gender, which I suppose is the traditional in me, but I am simply echoing the words of Jesus.  In my mind, God seems beyond “gender”, a combination of the very best characteristics of father and mother, but it is easier to choose the masculine pronoun than to quibble over English semantics.  Besides, we are all made in the image of God, so obviously God must embody all those qualities that are most admirable about men and women.

On the other hand, applying human characteristics to a being so incredibly powerful and creative is very simplistic indeed.  The universe is immensely mysterious and seemingly limitless.  It is really beyond human understanding.  Even if it began with a big bang as scientists believe, what was the initial source of all that energy?  Surely the answer is God.

The universe, infinite or not, is not the sole basis of my faith.  I believe in Jesus of Nazareth, and his ministry.  When I was very young I used to wish that I had been born during his life on earth so that I could have heard his teaching for myself and have had seen the miracles he performed.  I am no theologian and I won’t pretend that I don’t have some dark nights of the soul, but in the final accounting I find more to believe than disbelieve.  The Bible is a treasure trove of literature, so even if a person didn’t believe it only makes sense that it should be read by everyone.  The prophesies about the Messiah are plainly  pointing towards Jesus as are many of the beautiful psalms.  I love reading the epistles as well.  They are so very real, full of human emotion and practical advice.  Relevant, I would say, to anyone’s daily struggles.

I do not wish to force my faith upon anyone, but I think that it is well to know what another person finds important in their lives and upon what they base their morality.  “Seek” God says, “and you will find.  Knock and the door will be opened.”  I have found this to be true.  Everyone is seeking, not that they know what they might be looking for, but everyone is looking for meaning in their lives.  I believe that we are here on earth to learn to love one another and that takes a whole lifetime.  We need to progress beyond self-preservation to selfless service.  What a different world that would be!