Needing Purpose In Life
The short excerpt is by the late Chuck Colson, and the scripture is Genesis 1:27 So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.
Hundreds of Jewish prisoners survived in disease-infested barracks on little food and gruesome, backpacking work. Each day the prisoners were marched to the compound's giant factory, where tons of human waste and garbage were distilled into alcohol to be used as a fuel additive. Even worse than the nauseating odor of stewing sludge was the realization that they were fueling the Nazi war machine.
Then one day Allied aircraft blasted the area and destroyed the hated factory. The next morning several hundred inmates were herded to one end of its charred remains. Expecting orders to begin rebuilding, they were startled when the Nazi officer commanded them to shovel sand into carts and drag it to the other end of the plant.
The next day the process was repeated in reverse; they were ordered to move the huge pile of sand back to the other end of the compound. A mistake has been made, they thought. They continued in this way. Day after day they hauled the same pile of sand from one end of the camp to the other.
And then one old man began crying uncontrollably; the guards hauled him away. Another screamed until he was beaten into silence. Then a young man who had survived three years in the camp darted away from the group. The guards shouted for him to stop as he ran toward the electrified fence. The other prisoners cried out, but it was too late; there was a blinding flash and a terrible sizzling noise as smoke puffed from his smoldering flesh. In the days that followed, dozens of the prisoners went mad and ran from their work, only to be shot by the guards or electrocuted by the fence.
The gruesome lesson is plain: Men will cling to life with dogged resolve while working meaningfully, even if that work supports their hated captors. But purposeless labor soon snaps the mind. We must do more than work just to survive; we must do work that has a purpose. Evolution cannot explain this. Man is a reflection of the nature of a purposeful Creator.
Champions, have a great week!-David Vining
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