THE FIVE QUESTIONS OF LIFE
Who am I?; What am I?; Why am I?; Where am I?; and How am I?
Though not exhaustive, anyone who in trying to “figure out this living thing” (to quote one of our outstanding and brilliant grandsons), has the answers to these five questions, will certainly have a head start on anyone who does not.
1. WHO AM I?
I am a child of the King, and thus a Prince.
My Father is the King of an eternal Kingdom and I am one of His Sons.
I am loved by Him and have been given all the rights and privileges that are due a Prince.
I will continue to possess them and enjoy them for as long as my life reflects my submission to Him, as my Sovereign.
2. WHAT AM I?
I am a magnificent creation because I was created by a loving God in His image.
I am two beings in one body.
I am a spiritual being and a physical being.
My physical being (or fleshly nature) was created to be a temple, a dwelling place for my Creator’s soul or spirit. It was to enable me to rule over the earth and subdue it.
Through the five senses I was given, I am able to enjoy all the physical blessings I have been given by my Creator.
This physical nature is what permits me to pro-create.
My spiritual being (or nature) is what enables me to be in relationship with my Creator and Him with me.
It was God’s intent for His Holy Spirit to live in me and to so empower my spiritual nature that in all things I will seek to do His will rather than my own.
But when Adam and Eve disobeyed God, that disobedience corrupted both their physical and spiritual nature and God, being Holy, could no longer live in them.
Yet, being the loving God that He is, His Holy Spirit is still at work in the hearts of those who love Him, who have surrendered their lives to Him and acknowledge Him as the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
3. WHY AM I?
The Bible says the greatest commandment is:
…to love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. And the second greatest commandment is for me to love my neighbor as myself. (Matthew 22:37 & 38)
The Bible also says:
God is love.(1 John 4:8)
God has an infinite capacity to love and to receive love.
That is why I am unique…one-of-a-kind. There has never been another human being exactly like me and there never will be.
God gave every human being the ability to love Him like no other creature He ever created could love Him.
In the words of St. Benedict: “You and I were created to give and to receive love.”
If He knows the number of hairs on my head (which He does) and If He knows when a sparrow falls from its nest (which He does), then He most certainly knows when each one of His beloved sons and daughters are loving Him as He created them to love Him AND when they are not.
4. WHERE AM I?
Where am I, is a relationship question.
According to the record we have, it is the first question God ever asked.
It is important for me to know where I am…in relationship to God, to myself, and to others.
Where do I need to be? Am I there? If not, why not?
What am I doing that is keeping me from being where I need to be?
(If my life is not based on my relationship with my Creator, through His Son and the power of His Holy Spirit, on what IS IT based?)
5. HOW AM I?
St. Augustine of Hippo, an early 4th Century Numidian Christian theologian and Neoplatonic philosopher, is reported to have said:
we can only know God to the extent that we can know ourselves.
The How Am I? question is the challenge.
In the quest to live a life that is worthy of it being created in the first place, we have to check in every once in a while and simply ask, how am I doing?
Life has a way of slipping away from us sometimes. No one lives the life they were created to live accidentally.
According to his student Plato, the ancient Greek philosopher Socrates made the following observation:
an unexamined life is not worth living.
Consequently, I must continually monitor my life.
I must continually ask: How am I doing?
Am I living this life I have been given with intentionality, with purpose, and with worthy objectives?
But the most important question of all is, does my life honor and glorify my Creator?
OH! REALLY? Hmm….
