In the beginning, God…

Hmm…I think I said earlier that this wouldn’t be a verse-by-verse commentary. Yet here I am, and I can’t get past the first four words. But I have to say that those words brought me to a complete stop as soon as I read them.

In the beginning, God… (Genesis 1:1)

Why do these words stop me short? I think they’re a reminder to me that everything starts with God. If we want to find meaning in life, it all starts with God. If we want to find true satisfaction in life, it all starts with God.

Yet so many people’s starting point is not in him, but in themselves. They’re always thinking about “How do I make my life work?” “How can I be happy?”

And they bounce from one thing to another, trying to find something that brings satisfaction, but they can never find it because their focus was wrong from the very beginning.

As one writer has put it, “It (your life) is not about you.” You are not the center of the storybook. You are not the lead character. But as long as we think that way, all we’ll find is what King Solomon found in the book of Ecclesiastes: meaninglessness.

Meaningless! Meaningless…Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless. (Ecclesiastes 1:2)

Why? Because the starting point of everything is God. God is Life. And if from the start, you walk away from the one who is Life, your life becomes an empty shell. Utterly meaningless.

I have to think, though, is God the beginning with me? As I live my life every day, does my day start and end with God? For that matter, is he a part of everything in my life? Or do I kind of leave him out of parts of my life.

It’s so easy to do, I must admit. I suppose it’s one of the problems when dealing with an invisible God. He can be so easy to ignore.

Far too often, I’ve found that things like sports, or books, or the internet have come to dominate my day.

But as Solomon pointed out, even if we spend our time on good things, learning things, working, or just enjoying the life God’s given us, they all become empty if we leave God out of them. These are the gifts God has given us.

Yet the gifts are temporary. The Giver is eternal. That’s why the gifts can never satisfy for very long. The gifts God gives us on this earth should never be the focus of our lives. Our focus should be on the Giver of the gifts.

And if we put our focus on the Giver of the gifts, then we’ll find meaning in everything we do. We’ll find something that truly satisfies. Because he is forever.