Thomas Nelson - Start! The Bible for New Believers

From the moment you were born, you have been on a Quest. At the beginning, you probably didnt have a clear idea about what you were after; but you knew you wanted your life to have some kind of purpose. You wanted to know the meaning of life and you wanted to be happy.

All of us want exactly the same thing.

A philosopher named Hugh Moorehead once wrote to 250 of the best-known philosophers, scientists, writers, and intellectuals in the world, asking them, What is the meaning of life? Some offered their best guesses; some admitted they just made up a purpose for life. Others were honest enough to say they had no clue. Several even asked Moorehead to write back and tell them if he had discovered the purpose of life!

Clearly, we all need to know where we are going in life and why. If you have no goals, no purpose, and no guiding principles, you will waste your life (and many have!). If youre young and looking ahead to life, you should be asking these questions because life goes by so quickly.

We search for meaning and happiness in relationships, sex, possessions, accomplishments, fame, drugs, drink, and even religion. We are all searching for meaning and purpose in life.

Because thats true, Id like to relate a famous story that Jesus told some 2,000 years ago on this very topic. His story tells us what God is like. Thats important, because some people envision God as an angry, hostile, uptight Supreme Being who is perpetually in a bad mood, just waiting to nail you to the wall when you fail or sin. But nothing could be further from the truth.

Others look at God with a jaded eye because they have seen hypocrites who also claimed to be Christians. May I apologize for all those people right now? That is not who God is.

So, what is God like?

A little girl once decided to draw a picture of God. When she proudly announced her intentions to her mom, her mother replied, But honey, nobody knows what God looks like.

The little girl looked up sweetly from her crayons and paper and said, They will when Im done!

So, what is God like? Is He a smiling God or a frowning one? How does He look at us? Does He approve or disapprove of us?

Because the Bible often refers to the Almighty as Father, we normally associate our earthly fathers with Himand that can be good or bad, depending on what kind of father we have or had. If your father was distant and aloof, or even harsh and abusive, you may feel that God is, too. But if your father is kind and approachable and fun-loving, then you may transfer those positive associations to God. But regardless of how good or poor a job our earthly fathers have done with us, we must look at God in an entirely different way. We must look at Him through the pages of Scripture, where He reveals Himself most clearly. In fact, we need to go to an expert on the subject. And who is a better expert on this topic than Jesus Himself?

In a beloved story, Jesus gave us a clear snapshot of God that shows us He is personally and deeply interested in every aspect of our lives. Its called the Parable of the Prodigal Son, but it could better be called The Parable of the Loving Father. In this story, Jesus portrays God as a loving heavenly Father who deeply loves us and greatly misses us when we sin or go astray.

As the story begins, we see a young man deciding to leave home. This boy came from an affluent family with many servants. Despite the love in this home, the young boy wanted nothing to do with it. He grew tired of the rules and regulations and decided his dad had been keeping him back from enjoying the life he wanted. When the boy saw the bright lights of the big city calling his name, he wanted to experience everything this world had to offer. No doubt he thought, What could Dad know about this sort of thing?

Perhaps you have come from a broken home or you have suffered through a divorce. You feel betrayed and hurt. You are out on your own, trying to find meaning and purpose in life. You feel lonely and isolated. You are looking for someone or something to fill that void in your life, but have discovered that this world doesnt have the answers to lifes deepest needs. Why not? Because the heart of the problem is a problem of the heart.

In fact, the problem is inside of you. Thats why it is almost laughable when people say, The answer is within. The Bible plainly teaches that the problem is within! A lot of people think that if they could just escape their problems, theyd be fine. ThenSURPRISE!they find their problems following them!

Thats because we all have a heart problem, which is part of the lesson Jesus wanted to teach us through His story about the Prodigal Son. Listen to Him tell it:

A certain man had two sons. And the younger of them said to his father, Father, give me the portion of goods that falls to me. So he divided to them his livelihood. And not many days after, the younger son gathered all together, journeyed to a far country, and there wasted his possessions with prodigal living. But when he had spent all, there arose a severe famine in that land, and he began to be in want. Then he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country, and he sent him into his fields to feed swine. ()

This boy thought his father was keeping him back from the Good Life. Over time a strong curiosity about the outside world grew within him, a restlessness to go out and sample the forbidden. He wanted to break the taboos and see for himself. So he told his father in so many words, Dad, I figure youre going to drop dead one day, but I dont want to wait around before I get my inheritance. So give me my money now!

This kid was a spoiled, selfish brat who couldnt have cared less about hurting his fathers feelings. That father could have stopped his foolish son, but he did not. The boy had something we all have, namely, free will.