A reflection on life from a personal point of view
By Dennis Marcellino (the author and administrator of this course)

It’s funny (well, not comically funny) how people constantly seek security in things and plans and relationships. For example: a college education (yet many college grads don’t work in the occupation of their degree), investments (which sometimes fail), hobbies and money (and you can’t take them with you), and relationships, which will often abandon you or disappoint you. But none of these are permanent and therefore these things and plans and relationships aren’t ultimately secure. (And like I’ve pointed out, often are only temporarily secure for a short time). They all will vanish at one point.

Yet people get so absorbed in these things that their life loses focus on and inclusion of what it was MADE for and what DOES bring ultimate security – a relationship with their creator that is based in heart, mind and the actions of their life. This is the way it should be: the heart hears, pays attention to, and obeys God’s Spirit. The mind seeks, dwells on and understands God’s ways and desires for their inner and outer life. And the will has as its primary life project to perfect our being and spread God and His perfection and plan. So, based on this understanding, the actions of our life are directed.

But the actions of most lives have been to seek security (while even feeling like that security is permanent), to survive, and to seek pleasure. But God says in the Bible that we don’t have to worry about any of those things. He says to just seek His Kingdom and ways and all the things that we need will be added to our life. (I accepted that promise 26 years ago and it has never failed me.)

But for most lives now (and especially in the "mainstream" of society), God has been squeezed out of the equation. This is a lot like a car refusing to travel and carry passengers, not recognizing that those are the things it was MADE for. We didn’t make ourselves. Nor will be able to stop our physical existence from ending. Where is the security in that?

Where then is the ultimate meaning in investments and accumulations and relationships and routines? Obviously, there is none, except in whether we are approaching them through God’s perfect ways. That’s why I said “It’s funny”.

It’s obviously not comically funny, but rather it is puzzling how people come to ignore their creator, and how their creator’s intended purpose for their lives and why He created them becomes unimportant, or at least very low on their list of priorities. The priorities that become high on their list are physical survival, traditions and pleasures. And that’s a shame, because they’ve (and maybe unknowingly) traded in a perfect God for an imperfect world. But God wants them in His perfect world (Heaven) and therefore will knock on the door of their heart … and leave an unfulfilled void in them … and raise up messengers like me who will answer His call to communicate what is true, what is truly important, and why He is ultimately not only critically important, but perfectly good.

I look back over my 60 plus years of living on this planet often now, and the one thing that strikes me the most is: how I had some GREAT things and circumstances in my life, and how I didn’t appreciate them at the time. Why? Because I didn’t have my priorities right and had yet to fulfill the ultimate purpose of my life (which is the same ultimate purpose of every life), which is: to come to know God, have a relationship with Him, serve Him, be in union with Him, live our life through Him … and when our days are over, have an eternity with Him in the perfect Heaven He has created (which the Bible says will be so good that it is not even possible for a human being to imagine how good).

I write now in hopes of helping others see the most important priority. And as we each stand for that, we automatically help others to merge with that in themselves. Because we as humans are very sheep-like creatures who want to get along with our environment. And because of that, we are too prone to bending to get along. But unfortunately, the environment has very little understanding of or union with God. Therefore when we bend for the sake of getting along and a feeling of belonging, we often bend in the wrong direction. So because the world is off in many ways, and because God is far from most people, we often have to find Him on our own. A church can help, but still it is good to find Him on our own ... to master the vertical relationship before approaching the horizontal. That’s why I wrote Why Are We Here? and its Workbook … to show people how to do that. Because, once a person has accomplished how to know God in mind, in spirit and in heart, they are (as the Bible says) “free indeed”. And as they get good at those skills, they become immune from being confused or swayed by anyone. In fact, they become swayers themselves … but in a good direction. And the world badly needs that. But these are skills that just don’t automatically get picked up in church or on our own. They must be learned. And Why Are We Here? and its Workbook teaches those skills.