The Equation

Instead, you must worship Christ as Lord of your life. And if someone asks about your hope as a believer, always be ready to explain it.

1 Peter 3:15 (NLT)

Staring at the page in class, I was completely lost. There were squiggles, numbers, letters, lines – some straight, some at angles, others that were curved, and one that looked like a deranged checkmark. There were lots and lots of them. I was told by my teacher to make sense of them when there appeared to be no order whatsoever. There was no sense to be made! So, I did my best at arranging letters, numbers, and lines. When the test came back, I got a solid D for my efforts. Algebra II made zero sense to me. I know there was supposed to be an order to things, but it didn’t click in my brain. Perhaps some of you can relate?

Outside of this classroom context is reality. Looking at things through a spiritual lens, people are lost, stumbling through life, trying to make sense of the mess around them. Sure, there are those that think they all have it figured out, only to learn that the formula for success that they thought would work only solved half of the equation, and they are left scratching their heads – broke and hopeless.  Still, there are others who are sure they’ve solved it, yet, when the test is graded, will discover that all of their work amounted to nothing.

People are looking to solve life. People are looking for their slice of Heaven. But, often times, they are looking at it all wrong. It’s not a formula to solve, it’s a God to know.

You see, the formula to living a life worthy of Heaven has nothing to do with us and everything to do with God. We can spend our entire lives earning money, buying things, living the big life and still discover that we missed the whole point – it’s all about Jesus.

And, for those of us who call ourselves Christians, our job is to help people solve this simple equation, as our verse today tells us. So, I’ve developed a simple formula that helps: C + N = S. This is the entire meaning to life. Let me break it down. C = Christ. N = Nothing. S = Salvation. So, it’s Christ + Nothing equals Salvation. We don’t earn it. We don’t solve it. We put our entire life in His hands. He alone has the capacity to solve the mess that is our lives.

So, today, and every day, put your trust in Him. And, just as important, be ready to help others solve the equation to eternal life.