The yin-yang of it all is this ...

... youth turns into elderly ... beauty turns into wrinkles ... life turns into death. Then what? What has really mattered and what has really been important during your time on earth?

Let’s think about this for a few minutes. There are a few things that each person has in common and that we are all searching for. For example, we all want to be happy, we all want to be loved, live meaningful lives, and have a purpose. We want to be successful, respected, achieve something, leave a mark, and we’re always on a search for that next something that is sure to be just what we’re looking for! Young people want to look older, older people want to look younger, balding people want hair, people with hair shave their head, and it just goes on!

Think about your friends and your family. How many of them are on a search for something? Think about yourself, your life. Do you have what you want, the purpose you’re looking for, the love you want?

Okay, you’re thinking, yeah, this is a Christian site and this is going to say “I need Jesus” or something like that. Boring!! Sure, maybe you do have a good paying job, beauty, friends, living life your way and such, but how much of this has really mattered? How successful have you been in living life your way?

You say you believe in God, but if you did and had taken the time to read the Bible, you would have learned a few things about living a successful live from an experienced veteran, King Solomon. Solomon was the wisest man to ever live, worth billions of dollars, highly educated, powerful, and had all the women he wanted. Solomon was living the good life by today’s standards, and everybody’s dream life! And Solomon had taken out the God factor!

But you know, as Solomon was living the good life, he was learning a few things along the way, such as what is the meaning of life, what is man's purpose for living, what is life without God. In Solomon’s pursuit of living the good life, he had dropped God out of the picture, and in the end, Solomon wasn’t happy, having found no purpose, no meaning in life. Can you imagine having Solomon’s wealth, power, material possessions, success, and pretty much the ability to have anything you wanted, and end up discovering your life was meaningless?

So, you know what Solomon said at the end of his quest for meaning and purpose in life? Solomon said “Fear God and keep His commandments, because this applies to every person” (Ecc 12:13)”. Here is a man who had everything he wanted, but without God his life was meaningless, empty and pointless, and comes to the final conclusion that if you want to have a full life with meaning and purpose then “Fear God and keep His commandments.” When the Bible tells us to “fear” God, the word can be translated to “reverence”. We are to reverence, honor, and respect God.

Most of us don’t like commandments. We see them as being told what we can and what we can’t do. And yes, the Bible says there are things we should and should not do. We can snub our nose at God's commandments and say I’m not going to obey those; I’ll never have any fun, I want my freedom, God doesn’t understand, so you continue to live life your way! But God’s commandments are not to make our life miserable; they’re God's Moral Law for living life.

Solomon was able to come to the realization that there is no meaning or success in life without a relationship with God, after having tried living life his way. And just as Solomon was not able to find fulfillment in his wealth, power, education, relationships, etc., no one else does either.

Now, let’s get back to you. You’ve been living your life your way. How’s that working for you? Is your life full of meaning and purpose that you want? Or, maybe the life you’ve been living sounds somewhat like Solomon’s ... empty, meaningless, with no purpose. The only difference between you and Solomon ... he realized what life was without God and what it is with God!

What if you died tomorrow, then what? As you know, everybody dies at some point-in-time, and it’s something we all think about as we get older. Why do we think about it? Probably because of the reality of it, probably because of the unknown, probably because of the “then what” question.

For sure, there is nothing more important than the “then what” question because there is nothing more important than what happens to you after you die. Let’s face it ... you can’t undo choices you have made during your life when you’re dead. There is no turning back, there is only the here and now in which we live, and the choices we make will have eternal consequences.

The Bible says it is appointed to man to die once and then the judgment. Remember those commandments? God will judge you by those, and you know at least what a few of them are; you shall not lie, steal, murder, take God’s name in vain, and have other gods before God. When you have your conversation with God, what will you say in your defense? Can you say you have obeyed God’s commandments, or will you have to say, you did it your way?

It’s great to think that we’re a good person, moral, haven’t really done anything too bad in our life, and that should be good enough to get us into heaven. But you know what, it isn’t good enough. God is holy and perfect, and uses that as His standard. As you can see, we all fall short of His standards. Who do you know who hasn’t lied? No one. Even if you think you haven’t murdered, you’re wrong. God sees hatred in the heart the same as murder. Sure puts that in perspective! Who can stand before God and say they haven't sinned?

See why God says everybody has sinned and came short of His glory... and He is God, so there’s no doubt that we do fall short. God also says that the payment for sin is eternal punishment, and total separation and isolation from God. The place of eternal punishment is Hell. However, to ensure that we don’t have to face this eternal punishment, God sent His son, Jesus Christ (who is God too) to die for all of us, so that whoever accepts Jesus as their Savior will have eternal life. It’s God’s gift to us. If you believe in God, not to acknowledge Jesus Christ is not an option. Christ is God’s perfect sacrifice for our sins ... to put us in right standing with God.

You know what the hardest part of it all is? It’s about humbling yourself before God and acknowledging that you have sinned against God. It’s acknowledging that you aren’t perfect; it’s about looking at yourself in the mirror and knowing in your heart that you have sinned against God and that it’s Him that you will ultimately have to answer to one day. It’s about making the choice to ask for forgiveness and accepting God’s gift to you, which was Christ’s death on the cross.

Don’t let pride stand in the way of making the most important choice of your life. If nothing else, ask God if He is there you need to know, and if He is there to change you into the person He wants you to be. No matter what the sin, God will forgive you and love you as if it had never happened because He has seen everything you have done and will do ... and He still loves you.

So, the yin-yang of it all is about life and death, and then standing before a holy and righteous God one day to give an account of your life.