The winter of 1777-78 was unbelievably harsh for the Continental Army encamped at Valley Forge during the Revolutionary War.
Jammed tightly into their hastily constructed log huts, 12,000 freezing, exhausted soldiers sheltered from historic snowstorms and freezing rain. In March of 1778, almost 3,000 men were listed as unfit for service because they lacked sufficient clothing and footwear. Food was scarce. After days without eating, some men resorted to prying bark from trees and boiling it in water. Some ate leather. Disease was rife; smallpox, dysentery and typhus infiltrated the camp. Two thousand men ultimately died at Valley Forge.
Most of these soldiers endured all this for little in return. Some were paid a pittance; many received nothing at all.
Yet remarkably, of the 12,000 soldiers, fewer than 10 percent deserted. Ninety percent of the Continental Army remained loyal to Gen. George Washington and stayed at Valley Forge. Why?
The answer gets down to these soldiers’ understanding of the meaning of life.
These men didn’t live for food, a comfortable home, warm clothes or money. They stayed because their purpose in life extended beyond their material well-being, even physical life. They lived to serve a greater cause. They lived to advance freedom from tyranny. Their purpose in life, at that moment, was America’s independence and all it would bring.
Yes, they were still serving the self—the empirical self, which included the community and the fledgling nation that would ultimately serve their personal interests. But the Continental Army at Valley Forge survived, even thrived, because the men lived to serve a purpose beyond the self.
War-thinking requires an understanding of the meaning of life!
Though their definition of life was limited and flawed, it shaped their decision to stay at Valley Forge. It fueled their courage, their perseverance, their sacrifice, their teamwork and their loyalty to the cause. Two thousand soldiers died because their purpose in life was greater than self!
This example illustrates a powerful lesson: A man’s understanding of the meaning and purpose of life shapes his behavior, his thoughts and decisions, his relationships and his character. It shapes who we are and what we do.
What Life Isn’t
What is your definition of life? It’s one of the most important questions we can answer and understand, because it will impact the way we live day to day.
Understanding the meaning of life is the difference between salvation and death. It’s the difference between conquering sin and being conquered by sin. It’s the difference between growth and stagnation, between success and failure, both in our physical pursuits and in our spiritual calling.
Every decision we make, every interaction we have, is impacted by our understanding of the meaning of life!
In this world, life means many different things. Dictionary.com provides 28 definitions for the word. One of those explains life as “the condition that distinguishes organisms from inorganic objects and dead organisms.” Another dictionary says life is “any system capable of performing functions such as eating, metabolizing, excreting, breathing, moving, growing, reproducing, and responding to external stimuli.” Merriam–Webster has slightly fewer definitions. One says life is “the sequence of physical and mental experiences that make up the existence of an individual.”
How does God, the Life-giver, define life? This is the only definition that really matters.
“And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul” (Genesis 2:7). The Hebrew word for soul here is nephesh. This same Hebrew word is used three times in Genesis 1 to describe animal existence. Translators, recognizing that animals are different from humans, tried to distinguish between the creation of animals and humans by using the word soul instead of creature. But they’re wrong! Nephesh simply means a breathing being, whether human or animal.
“Therefore the soul is physical, composed of matter, and can die,” wrote Herbert W. Armstrong. “This is a truth believed by very few denominations and probably by no other religions—another proof that identifies the one true Church of God!” (Mystery of the Ages).
Mr. Armstrong explained this truth with wonderful detail in his 1981 Pentecost sermon: “What was made of the dust of the ground became a soul. A soul is made from the dust of the ground and is mortal. It’s material, not spiritual at all. Man himself is wholly matter. He does not have life. He has a physiochemical existence. He breathes into his nostrils the breath of life, and man gets his life from breathing air into and out of his lungs. The lungs oxidize the blood as it circulates through the lungs and back to the heart.
“The breath is called ‘the breath of life’—all, the only kind of life, we have; and it isn’t really life. It’s a temporary existence. That’s all. Every breath you breathe is just one more, but constantly you are like a wound-up clock running down. … It’s an existence. I have life in myself but not life inherent. … God did not put life into the man, as He did in the angels. He gave him a chemical existence. … God is going to give man an opportunity, but man will have to demonstrate and build the character first—before he gets life; and God did not make man with life” (emphasis added).
This is sensational, profound understanding. This is God’s view of what men consider “life.” And this thing we call “life” is not, in fact, life. It’s a temporary physiochemical existence!
The Spirit in Man
Now what about the spirit in man, termed the human spirit?
“For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God” (1 Corinthians 2:11). The human spirit imparts the power of comprehension, knowledge and intellect about the material universe. But even the possession of this human spirit—this ability to think and reason—doesn’t give us life!
“This spirit essence is not the man, but something in the wholly physical man,” Mr. Armstrong wrote. “It imparts the power of intellect to the physical brain. It marks the vast, vast difference between animal brain and human mind. This spirit cannot see, hear or think. The physical brain sees through the eye, hears through the physical ear, thinks with the physical brain. Yet this spirit acts as a computer, adding to the brain the psychic and intellectual power. It also adds to man a spiritual and moral faculty not possessed by animals.
The human’s life, however, is not supplied by this spirit” (The Missing Dimension in Sex).
Even with the human spirit, we are incomplete—lifeless as God looks at it!
What Is Life?
The Apostle Paul explains: “But you are not in the flesh, you are in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Any one who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. But if Christ is in you, although your bodies are dead because of sin, your spirits are alive because of righteousness. If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through his Spirit which dwells in you” (Romans 8:9-11; Revised Standard Version).
God’s definition of life is simple: “God’s spirit life is imparted to the Christian through the Holy Spirit” (Mystery of the Ages). God defines life as the conception and eventual birth into His Family as an immortal spirit being! Life is ultimately immortality as a God being in the Family of God!
For those conceived by God the Father through His Holy Spirit, this is the meaning and purpose of life: Life is developing the character, faith, thinking and ambitions of God the Father!
“When one repents of sin and sinning—comes to a change of mind and attitude in regard to sin, and believes in Jesus Christ as his Savior not only from past sins, but from sinning—God has promised His Holy Spirit,” Mr. Armstrong wrote. “This gift from God, of the presence within of His own immortal life, effects a change in the mind. It becomes spiritual minded—comes to the attitude of desiring to go the way of God’s law—of loving God, being submissive to God’s authority, wanting God’s righteousness. No longer self-centered but God-centered.
“He thus starts his walk down that road, to the end of his life. It is the way of God’s commandments, as a way of life. At the end of that road is eternal life—his life goal, which he now desires above all else!
“God’s Spirit dwelling in him is the divine love of God, which fulfills God’s spiritual law. Through God’s Spirit, God by grace has given him the spiritual equipment to walk that way. It is a way of overcoming and of growing in character—in the knowledge of Christ and of God’s way. God’s Spirit dwells in one actively, flowing into him from God, flowing on out in love to God and love to neighbor” (Tomorrow’s World, July 1971).
This is real life! What sensational, life-changing revelation!
God gives us His Spirit so we can take on the character of an immortal God being right now—in this life! In this way, we grow into immortality. Christ instructed: “Be[come] ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect” (Matthew 5:48).
Internal Conflict
Realize: Our begettal into real life puts us in direct conflict with our physiochemical existence!
Before conversion, “life” was all about sustaining and satisfying our carnal appetites and selfish desires. Our focus was on the physical—food, shelter, clothing. “Life” was about serving the self, including our families.
But after God imparts His Spirit to us at baptism, we now live to serve a much greater purpose—and a war begins!
The old self does not suddenly vanish at baptism. “Human nature is self-love,” Mr. Armstrong wrote. “Yet this love is not true love but lust. The self, as a local self or taken at its widest expansion, is hostile to God. It has a contrary nature. It travels a different road. It is part of a different team, party or group, or world, warring against God and God’s way. It is war—and the self is lined up on the side of this evil world, against God! And this is idolatry. Do you begin to see why you need to repent of what you are? In this supreme war of all wars, God Almighty will accept no terms of peace but unconditional surrender!” (Plain Truth, August 1962).
The way we live radically changes when the purpose of life becomes the Spirit-led pursuit of immortality in the Family of God! “Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh. For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God” (Romans 8:12-14). Notice, true life comes by conquering the carnal deeds of the body through the Spirit.
The only way to really experience life—to have God’s Spirit flowing in us—is to give up this physiochemical existence that we call life. This means changing our approach to our physical existence. At conversion, our definition of life changes. Put simply, the physical must be made subservient to the spiritual.
A Battle for Life
When our definition of life becomes the pursuit of immortal life as a firstfruit in God’s Family, our priorities change and our entire purpose for being changes. The most important tasks in life now become developing faith, obeying God’s law, pursuing righteous character, serving the Work of God, drawing close to the Family of God, loving and submitting to the government of God, training to be a teacher for God.
This gives us perspective on all we do in this physical world. Given a choice between satisfying a carnal desire and serving God, we choose service to God because we know that is life and that it leads to eternal life!
As Mr. Armstrong repented, he was confronted with this choice. Importantly, he could see what life isn’t and what it truly is.
“Finally, in desperation, I threw myself on God’s mercy,” he wrote in his autobiography. “I said to God that I knew, now, that I was nothing but a burned-out hunk of junk. My life was worth nothing more to me. I said to God that I knew now I had nothing to offer him—but if He would forgive me—if He could have any use whatsoever for such a worthless dreg of humanity, that He could have my life; I knew it was worthless, but if He could do anything with it, He could have it—I was willing to give this worthless self to Him—I wanted to accept Jesus Christ as personal Savior!
“I meant it! It was the toughest battle I ever fought. It was a battle for life. I lost that battle, as I had been recently losing all battles. I realized Jesus Christ had bought and paid for my life. I gave in. I surrendered, unconditionally. I told Christ He could have what was left of me! I didn’t think I was worth saving!
“Jesus said, ‘Whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.’ I then and there gave up my life—not knowing that this was the only way to really find it!”
This is the choice we all face. God even tells us what choice to make: “… I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live: That thou mayest love the Lord thy God, and that thou mayest obey his voice, and that thou mayest cleave unto him: for he is thy life …” (Deuteronomy 30:19-20).
The Struggle With Sin
There is a direct connection between our understanding of the meaning of life and sin.
So many of our struggles with sin come from a wrong or shallow understanding of life
and the purpose of life. If we think life is merely the sustenance of our physiochemical existence, we will focus on material comforts and carnal satisfaction. This pursuit of life is selfish.
Sin springs from selfishness and vanity. The more focused we are on satisfying this physiochemical existence, the more susceptible we are to Satan’s broadcast and to sin. This is why Satan works so hard to push this definition of life.
Yet God wants us to have the abundant life (John 10:10), even physically. But it can never take priority over spiritual abundance. Like Christ, we must be willing to sacrifice it where that becomes necessary.
The Laodiceans—those called into God’s Church who have fallen away in the end time—are failing because they have rejected or forgotten the meaning of life. They have allowed the spiritual to become subservient to the physical.
God exposes their mistake: “So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth. Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked” (Revelation 3:16-17).
For 95 percent of God’s people, the purpose of lifecenters on acquiring material wealth and physical comfort. They prioritize nice homes, cars, clothes, make-up and worldliness over God’s Work. They fear being different and cozy up to other religions. They relish the “freedom” to work and seek their own pleasure on the Sabbath. This is the life! they think.
But God tells them, You are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked! These people have rejected God’s definition of life and embraced the devil’s definition!
Mr. Armstrong exhausted himself in warning God’s people. He repeatedly reminded them that they didn’t understand the meaning of life!
Made Incomplete
God created Adam with the ability to think, reason and create. But even with these abilities, Adam was still incomplete. “Man was made carnal, material—but he was made to need the Spirit of God,” Mr. Armstrong wrote. “Without this spiritual life from God, man experiences a sense of emptiness—a hunger and thirst for that which will satisfy” (Plain Truth, August 1962).
Isn’t God brilliant? He created within Adam, Eve and all people a fundamental need. And only God has this missing element we need to be complete—to have life: the Holy Spirit!
Without this need fulfilled, people feel empty and discontented.
This fundamental need of every human being explains human behavior. At some level, every human action and every human relationship is defined by this inherent need. Understanding this basic need in every human is crucial to understanding this world.
Also, recognizing this need is at the heart of a successful relationship with God!
Conversion begins with a person recognizing and accepting that he needs God—that he is incomplete without Him and His Spirit, incapable of true success, happiness or achievement. Admitting that he doesn’t have life.
Man’s innate spiritual need can never be satiated by anything physical. “The only thing that will impart to him this sense of satisfaction, completeness, abundance, is God’s Spirit—God’s nature—God’s fullness,” Mr. Armstrong wrote. “Yet his carnal mind does not recognize that fact. Being incomplete, lacking in the spiritual waters and heavenly food—God’s Word—that would fill him to satisfaction, he has a gnawing soul-hunger that leaves him miserable, empty, discontented. He seeks to quench his thirst and satisfy his soul-hunger in the interests and pursuits and pleasures of this world.
“This very lack within him—this spiritual need—gives him an innate inferiority complex. He senses his inferiority, as compared to God—his lack of what he was made to need; but not understanding what it is, he seeks to quell the painful sense of inferiority by conceit and blowing up the ego—the self—with vanity and self-exaltation. This vanity, then, is a substitute for God and His Spirit—another god before the true God” (ibid).
This truth explains the world we live in. It explains our culture of materialism. It explains every political agenda, ideology and religion. It explains the reckless decisions people make in their lives.
The solution to every problem starts with recognizing this inferiority complex! We are incomplete with a need beyond our capacity to fill.
Adam and Eve had this inferiority complex. They had a gnawing soul-hunger. God told them how to fill this hunger: They would have to eat of the tree of life to receive the ingredient they needed, God’s Holy Spirit.
Why Physical?
This raises the question: If life is all about the spiritual—becoming an immortal God being—what is the point of the physical? Isn’t it all vanity, as Ecclesiastes says?
Why pursue our talents? Why bother with education? Why be ambitious in our career? Why strive for robust physical health? Why work to have a nice home and quality belongings? What’s the point of striving for success if this physical existence isn’t even life?
Consider: “And the Lord God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it” (Genesis 2:15). Eden was materially and physically magnificent! Then God told Adam: I want you to spend your time working with this physical creation and making it even better!
God created us to be sustained physically by the physical. All through the Bible God encourages material wealth and prosperity. He encourages good physical health, ambition and quality clothing. 3 John 2 says, “Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth.” God wants us to enjoy the physical and to experience material success.
Is there a contradiction here? On one hand God says, All you have is a physiochemical existence. Serving the physical isn’t life. You can acquire all the gold and mansions in the world, a fleet of Ferraris, the perfect physique—but it’s all going to burn, and you’re going to die. On the other hand, God says, “I want you to prosper and be in health.” I want you to have gold and silver. I want you to have a beautiful home, fine wine and good food in your life!
There is no contradiction: The purpose of the physical is to help us achieve the spiritual! When we do it God’s way, pursuing physical success builds faith and obedience. Done God’s way, the pursuit of physical success builds godly character. We develop immortality by learning how to discipline and control this mortal existence.
The physical is a vehicle for our development into God beings! We need God in order to survive this physical world. We need God to remove our carnal hearts. We need God to succeed in our material ambitions. God wants the physical to reflect the spiritual.
Mr. Armstrong recognized and used this physical-spiritual connection. “Jesus Christ, through the Church, built three colleges—two in the United States and one in England,” he wrote. “The three campuses, in material beauty, have mutually excelled each other, as a high character physical setting for the development of God’s righteous character in students.The beauty of godly character in these students has excelled the physical beauty of the campuses. A royal queen on a recent six-day visit to the headquarters campus in Pasadena, California, on touring the campus, exclaimed, ‘I have just been in heaven’” (Mystery of the Ages; emphasis added).
God’s Work
God expects us to dress and keep the physical in our jurisdiction. Additionally, God’s Work includes many physical projects and programs. And the more we connect to these physical ventures, the more we grow spiritually.
“I have always noticed that those whose hearts—and their pocketbooks as well—are really in the Work of God are the ones who remain spiritual, close to God, and who are growing spiritually,” Mr. Armstrong wrote. “And without exception, every single member of God’s Church who has ever lost interest in this Work of God—this Work of carrying the gospel to the world … begins to fall backward spiritually. Soon such people go off into false doctrines. Their understanding is closed. They begin to believe errors and lies. They become more and more bitter, unhappy, and they either go back into the world or they go into some false offshoot movement which bears no fruit and fails totally to carry out the commission of Christ—the Work of God!” (Good News, March 1960).
God’s Work is broadcasting a final hope-filled warning message to this world. It publishes the only source of truth and revelation on the planet. It represents the gospel message before the dignitaries of this world. It provides true education through its grade school, college and various youth programs. It connects with humanity in spectacular ways like archaeological excavations and exhibits, a performing arts concert series and the world-renowned show Celtic Throne.
On a physical level, these are exciting ventures. Aside from the benefit they bring to mankind, they are promoting spiritual growth in those called into God’s Work today. These projects build our faith, grow our character, build unity and teamwork, and develop our loyalty and commitment to God. They help us understand and submit to God’s government. They teach us to sacrifice for God’s Work. They help us develop the ambitions of God. They cause us to go to God for more of His Holy Spirit.
All these projects, and God’s Work in general, give us life! The more we throw ourselves into God’s Work, the more we take on the mind and nature and thinking of God!
The Apostle Paul wrote, “If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable” (1 Corinthians 15:19). That’s because the real value of our human existence is the incredible human potential. Our potential is to become spirit-born members of the God Family—eternally existing God beings. Humanly we are dying, but spiritually we are working toward eternal life.
This perspective helps us rightly evaluate the limitations and challenges of our physical existence. “So we do not lose heart. Though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed every day. For this slight momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, because we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen; for the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal” (2 Corinthians 4:16-18; rsv).
Study this whole section (from verse 7 partway through chapter 5). This man understood the meaning of life! The only value to this physical existence, Paul says, is building and manifesting the faith and character of God in pursuit of eternal life, and declaring the Work and plan of God!
Choose Life
Imagine if God appeared before you today and gave you a choice.
One option would be to die tonight and be sealed, your membership in the Kingdom of God guaranteed. Your next waking moment would be in the first resurrection when you would marry Jesus Christ.
The other would be to continue your physical existence, helping God’s Work and working toward the Kingdom of God. If you qualify, then you will inherit the Kingdom at Christ’s return, even increasing your eternal reward. But
this will also mean having to fight human nature and the devil. There is the risk of failure and losing your eternal life.
Which would you choose? Would you prefer physical death now if it meant guaranteed eternal life?
If we really understand and value the meaning of life, we would prefer our heavenly body over the temporary physical tabernacle. As Paul wrote in Philippians 1:23-24: “I am hard pressed between the two [physical life and death]. My desire is to depart [die] and be with Christ, for that is far better. But to remain in the flesh is more necessary on your account” (rsv). In other words, I want to do whatever God asks of me. If He has more work for me to do, that’s what I’ll do.
That is the attitude we need. We are called to do a Work now. We need to use our time and energy, our physical health and strength, to serve God and His Work all we can. To remain in the flesh for this purpose is “more necessary.” Yet, because we understand the meaning of life as God defines it, we don’t fear physical death—in fact, there may come a point when, like Paul, we desire it.
Choosing physical death to secure eternal life takes deep faith in the promises of God. But even wanting to die simply to get saved is selfish. Mr. Armstrong once prayed that God would let him die and afterward repented—and he had several more years of serving God! Thankfully, though our choices can significantly impact the timing of our death, the decision about that ultimately belongs to God.
But whatever direction God takes us, and however He wants to use us, we must “choose life”—that is, the way that leads to eternal life!