We live in a very exciting time of innovation and creativity. For the digitally knowledgeable among us, we know this time as the Information Age. Unlike in ages past where, to find out about something important, you had to leave home and visit your local library or museum, nowadays things are very different. To use a well-used phrase, all the information we could ever need is available ‘right at our fingertips’. By merely pulling out a device from your pocket and tapping a screen, you can find out anything you want to. To be uninformed in this day and age, you literally must tell yourself, “I want to be uninformed”. Of course, that’s not quite accurate as we must factor in access to information, which is a huge thing to consider in many parts of the world. Still, my exaggerated statement is to make the point that we live in a time where information is more readily available than it has ever been.
Yet, for all the information and tools for accessing that information that this current generation prides itself on, it never ceases to amaze how much people are searching for meaning, truth and intimacy. Take for example, the rise of social media. These platforms make a huge promise – to connect us in ways in which we’ve never been able to connect before. In these digital times, we thrive on two key words: connecting and sharing. In a matter of split-seconds, I can become friends with a person halfway across the globe and then share with that individual whatever I choose to. By their very definitions, the words ‘connect’ and share’ imply a certain level of intimacy. When we talk about connecting, it goes beneath what’s on the surface and travels into the realm of the soul. One almost imagines something unbreakable and lasting. Sharing is a giving of one’s deeper self, allowing another to see what would not easily be seen. I have no facts to prove this but I am pretty convinced that, deep in the boardrooms of the now-massive corporations where the seeds of social media were sown, whoever chose to bring words like ‘friend’, ‘connect’ and ‘share’ into the domain of social media knew very well that those words are linked to a deep human yearning for something profound. On one hand, social media has created opportunities for us to form relationships in ways that are easier than we could before. However, on the other hand, these platforms have watered down concepts that should carry far more weight than they do now. No amount of Google searches and no number of Facebook friends can fill the space that we need filled by something deeper in our lives.
No matter the speed or level of our advancement as a species, human beings have always searched for meaning in our pursuits. One of those pursuits is the desire for acceptance and love in our human relationships. Though we try to mask it or underplay it, deep down we know that life is so much better and so much more meaningful when we live it with a sense that we are truly connected to others, and to something greater. Even the wealthiest of men and women come to a point in their journeys where they realise that there is only so much that an individual can do with money in a lifetime. This may explain why many top-flight executives and business achievers become philanthropists at some point in their careers. This may be their way of saying “I’m not here to just be a money-making machine. I have worked so that humanity may share in what I’ve been able to achieve”.
What it all comes down to, then, is relationship. We can’t deny that have a deep, innate desire to truly connect and share. It’s in these things that we find meaning. The abundance of information alone cannot sustain us. What we know, on its own, can’t take us very far unless it’s outworked in meaningful, trusting relationship. It’s for this very reason that much of what we know about Jesus Christ revolves around relationship. He isn’t a distant saviour. As much as He wants us to know what He has done for humanity, He desires even more that we know it in the context of a relationship with Him. His invitation is for us to truly connect with him and share, in a real way, every aspect of our lives with Him.
A meaningful relationship with Christ isn’t about religion, church preference or just being a good person. It’s about knowing His love and direction in a very personal way. If this is something you have questions and want to know more about, please get in touch with us.