July 22: THE POLITICS OF MEANING

Writer Michael Kerner was recently quoted as saying that “human beings have a deep need to have their lives make sense.” He coined the phrase “the politics of meaning.” The basic idea is that the American people are not hungry for the things that politicians offer: economic entitlements and political rights, but for meaning in their lives.
That sounds like something a Christian minister would say, rights and privileges and justice are, of course, basic needs, but you can have everything the government provides and be lost without meaning in life. The obvious examples of this are the alcoholics, drug addicts, and suicides from the “privileged sector” of our American society who are plagued by meaninglessness.
Not so obvious is the bored or depressed or cynical person on your street who is not going to do anything drastic but is just as desperate on the inside.
How do you find meaning and purpose in life? Buy a self-help book? Many have tried that. Jesus said, “I have come that you might have life and have it more abundantly.” John 10:10)
Paul made a profound statement in Romans 5:17, “for if, by the trespass of one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God’s abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ.” God’s abundant provision for us is to have a meaningful life. Jesus said to the Pharisees, “You refuse to come to me to have life.” (John 5:40) People want meaningful life but keep looking in the wrong places.
It is strange how many people automatically rule out the possibility that God could give them what they need. “They have rejected me, the fountain of living water and dug for themselves cisterns that can hold no water” (Jeremiah 2:13) is God’s evaluation.

“We hunger for meaning in life, O God, and we miss the obvious offer
that You daily make. Forgive us our blindness. Amen”