What Makes it Matter?

By Martin Vervloet

I have noticed a trend with my own children as my wife and I have endeavoured to
homeschool them. It doesn’t matter what the subject is, but they continually ask us,
“Why do I need to know this, and will it matter when I grow up?” It’s a valid question and I
must admit there is a lot that I learned while in public school that was completely
irrelevant to anything I might do as I grew older. So, we focus on the basics; reading,
writing, arithmetic, and added to this we stress godly character and hard work. It is a
system that works for us and our grown children are doing well in their chosen field of
work. However, there is a broader question here that needs to be considered. That
question is, “What makes anything matter?”

After much thought I have concluded that there are five things that must be in place for
anything to matter.

1. There must be a God.
   • It only stands to reason that if there is no God and the atheist is correct, then life here on
     earth is only the random chance processes of evolution and we are only the end product of millions of years of time and circumstance. Life can have no meaning and death is the end of all life. Not all atheists are willing to concede this point but there are some who understand the meaninglessness of existence in a world without God.

2. This God, whoever He may be, must be actively involved with that which He created.
   • If God is aloof from the universe, either by disinterest or because He cannot do anything for it, then once again we are left with a circumstance that makes life pointless at best and futile in the extreme. I will add that a God who would use evolution over millions of years, as His primary means of creation could not be interested in His creation even in a general sense. He started the clock and now just watches it wind down.
3. God must be interested in each of us personally.
   • It may be that God is interested in humanity in a general sense and that He cares about the overall outcome, but does not care overly much about the individual components of humanity. His attitude might be- you win some, you lose some. Oh well, in the end I get what I want. This is cynical I know, but this idea exists in the minds of many people, the concept being that, “God does not care about me.” If this is true, then yes, even though there is a God who seeks out some overall end to our existence, in the end my life is not overly important and does not matter in the overall scheme of things. I will argue that for life to matter then God must care about me as an individual within His creation.
4. There must be eternity, either Heaven or Hell.
   • If all roads lead to Heaven, as some are inclined to believe, it really makes no difference what happens here in this life and so we must remove any ultimate meaning to what we experience while here. If on the other hand there is no Hell, then those that do not meet up to the divine code of entrance are simply eliminated. We came from nothing and to nothing we return. Well and good. Even the atheist is happy. I say, “No.” To remove eternal consequences will also remove any motivation that we might have to seek out the truth and pursue it. The scripture says that we will never seek God in our own effort, but even if God should show Himself to us, there would be no need to serve Him. I do not like using Hell as a motivation while I preach to encourage sinners to repent and much prefer the sights of glory, but the truth still remains.

5. There is one final prerequisite to finding lasting meaning in life. God must be able to deal with the problem of man’s sin.
   • It is not enough that God should simply overlook sin or excuse it. He must deal with it. The cost of sin is high, it is eternal separation from Him who is good. If we are separated from the good then there can only be the evil left to us. You will not find the solution toman’s sin, save in the Cross of Christ. He died, that we might live. His death is the payment due upon our sin, and I might add that His resurrection is the receipt upon that payment.

My conclusion is simple. In order to find meaning in life, we must come to the Cross, where the God of the universe came to die for each of us, that we might live and find true meaning and purpose in life. The Cross Is What Makes It Matter.