EDITOR’S INTRODUCTION

The Bible has a lot to say on the topic of what our purpose in life should be. King Solomon, described in the Bible as the wisest man of his time,

1 discovered the futility of living only for this world. He gives these concluding remarks in the book of Ecclesiastes: “Respect and obey God! This is what life is all about.”

2 The author of Psalm 73, a man named Asaph, relates his search for meaning after he saw wicked people enjoying life, seemingly without a care in the world. In the end, he discovers that being God’s friend is the highest benefit. He concludes: “As for me, how good it is to be near God!”

3 But that’s only one side of the coin. The Benedictine nun Sister Noella, who holds a doctorate in molecular and cell biology/microbiology and won a Fulbright scholarship to study French cheeses, gives inspirational presentations where she likens cheese-making to her spiritual life. While a part of our growth as Christians comes through prayer and the study of God’s Word, Sister Noella says it also comes by getting our hands dirty and doing God’s work, which she relates to the Benedictine order’s motto— ora et labora, pray and work.

While the spiritual aspect—an ongoing commitment to draw closer to God, to spend more time reading His Word, and to grow in our relationship with Him—is important, this issue of Activated will focus on some of the practical aspects of living a Christian life.

I’ll close with this quote by Albert Barnes: “If we have no other way of doing good—if we are poor, and unlearned, and unknown—we may yet do good by our lives. No sincere and humble Christian lives in vain. The feeblest light at midnight is of use.” 1. See 1 Kings 4:30. 2. Ecclesiastes 12:13 CEV 3. Psalm 73:28 NLT