If there is no God. . .

 I used to be an agnostic.  I sort of believed there was a God. I had even claimed a belief in His Son at one point, went to church...etc.  But to be truthful, God was just never very real to me. I never heard from Him. My life didn't go the way I wanted so I figured He either didn't exist or didn't care much about me.

But what do you do when you don't believe in a supreme being who created the universe, who set life

in motion, created humans and animals and put us upon this earth?  Many of you reading this blog have been lifelong believers, so you may never have known a time without God.   But I did. As I look back on those years, I realize a couple of things. When you believe you're an accident of nature. When you believe there is nothing after this life and no purpose to this life, then you become obsessed with one goal. Pleasing Yourself.   Let's face it, if this is all there is. If there is no God and no grand purpose and it doesn't matter what I do or say, then heck, why not go for broke?? Why not live for me! Try to get all the money and possessions and sex and alcohol and parties and vacations I can while I'm here.

If there is no God, what separates us from animals? What is love, beauty, joy, peace? They don't exist. They are just firing of certain synapses in my brain at certain times. They are just a chemical reaction to my environment, nothing more. And if there is no love, joy, peace, or purpose, then all that is left is pleasure. Selfish pleasure.  Trouble is, after awhile even that does not satisfy.

Pleasure with no purpose, other than gratifying self, ends up making you miserable. All pleasure is like this. At first, you're having the time of your life! Whatever your pleasure of choice is.. it's new, it's fun!!  But after awhile, that pleasure doesn't satisfy, so you need a new pleasure, a new toy, a new partner, a new drug. And then the cycle continues. Take it from someone who did this very thing.

Famous author, Jack Higgens, author of such successful novels and The Eagle Has Landed, was

asked what he would like to have known as a boy. His answer: “That when you get to the top, there’s nothing there."

You see the pleasure the world offers is all an illusion. It's just smoke and mirrors. Yet, it's so insidious that it keeps lying to you and telling you that if you only try this thing or buy this thing, then you'll truly be happy.  But pleasure outside of God will make you exhausted, empty, and lonely. 
 
I love what G.K. Chesterson English writer and theologian said :“Meaninglessness comes not from being weary of pain, but from being weary of pleasure.”

The world is full of people who have made it to the top, who have everything the world says will make you happy. Yet they are not. This alone should be proof that there is something beyond this world, a Creator who had something completely different in mind for us when He made us. A Creator who loves us and made us unique and special for a certain purpose. And it wasn't to wander over the earth seeking our own happiness. But something went terribly wrong. An enemy snuck in and ruined God's plan. But God didn't leave us in our fallen, meaningless state. No, He sent His very Son to bridge the gap the enemy had formed between God and man. To bridge the gap to eternity, love, purpose, meaning, value, rest, peace, joy.. all the things we long for. We just have to turn our faces away from the world back to God and accept His sacrifice.

“If there is no God, nothing matters. If there is a God, nothing else matters.” ~ H.G. Wells, English Writer