Joe: Welcome to our series on the "Basic Elements of the Christian Life".
My name is Joe and I'm joined today by Mark Niu.
And our topic for today is The Mystery of Human life.
Mark, in this chapter it talks about the purpose of man's existence,
and actually, this is a question that many people have.
They wonder what the purpose of their existence is.
So can you explain why people have this question about what the purpose of their existence is?
Mark: The reason why people ask concerning the purpose of their human existence
is that, ultimately, they are seeking satisfaction.
Satisfaction with their lives, satisfaction with their accomplishments, satisfaction with themselves.
And those who've been around for a little while realize
that many things that we think might satisfy us ultimately do not satisfy us.
We find out the money may be temporarily convenient,
but ultimately does not satisfy.
The more you get does not necessarily mean the more you're satisfied.
Same thing with education, that does not necessarily satisfy you.
Pleasure, success, fame and fortune are all things that we think might satisfy,
and we try to attain these things in order to satisfy ourselves,
but they don't satisfy.
And the reason according to the Scriptures they don't satisfy is that
we weren't made to contain those things.
We were not made, according to Genesis 1:26, we were not made in those things' image.
We were actually, according to Genesis 1:26, made in the image of God.
And that kind of phraseology "made in the image of God" is quite important.
One can illustrate it with a glove and a hand.
A glove was made in the image of a hand.
And the reason, the purpose, for the existence of the glove is to contain a hand.
You can try to fill that glove with many other things:
this book, some pencil, some jewel, some money.
But ultimately, in order for that glove to fulfill the purpose of its existence,
ultimately, for that glove to be really satisfied (if it could have feelings),
is to be filled with the hand to contain a hand.
So, man was made in the image of God in order to contain God.
That's it!
Anything else will not satisfy man.
So, just as the glove was made to contain a hand,
man was made to contain God.
Anything short of God will not satisfy man.
Joe: So, in this segment, we've seen how the only thing that can satisfy man is to contain God,
because man is created in God's image.
This has been very helpful.
For everyone who is watching, in our next segment we will cover how man can be filled with God
to contain Him and ultimately to be satisfied by being filled with God.
Thank you all for joining us and we look forward to the next segment.