I watched the first part of a documentary today. The show was about a cult. I have noticed that there are so many documentaries on cults lately. I’m amazed at how the seem to be so many of them these days. As I was explaining the documentary to my husband, I realized that there’s something in human nature that makes us want to believe in something.
Here’s my rudimentary thoughts on it. I don’t want to retire because I believe that working gives my life purpose. When someone retires, they don’t really have a purpose or structure to their lives anymore and because of that they decline and eventually die. I know that I will eventually die, but I don’t want to sit around, letting my body decompose until my body dies. I want to be active until it is my time to go. I believe that having purpose is an essential part of what motivates human beings to live.
Before the modern age, human beings had much more purpose. They had to build shelter. They had to grow food, tend to animals, and do many things essential for survival. They never really retired from work because survival was an everyday situation that they continued to face until they died. In our modern age, we have more time. We can retire and have leisure. We don’t have to face daily chores to survive, but with that comes a lack of purpose. For some people, they find it in work. For others, like me, they find their purpose in faith. I believe with all my heart that I am a servant of God. It is my daily work to grow in my faith. That daily work isn’t something that I take a vacation from ever. I will never retire from it. I will do that work every single day of my life until the day that I die.
I think maybe the reason that so many people fall into radical thinking, personality cults, religious cults, or cults in general is simple because they lack purpose. They need something to believe in to feel a sense of fulfillment. They want to know that their life is important, and it means something. That desire leaves them vulnerable to people who want to take advantage of them and use them for their own design.
This modern age is so scary. There are so many temptations that are vying for our attention. So many evils that want to take over our lives and half the time we don’t even realize the power that media, drugs, etc. have over us.
That’s why for me, it’s important every day to make a commitment to put God first. I say that He is the only one who has power over my life. If I ever find anyone or anything trying to come between God and myself, then I know no matter how innocent it seems, it isn’t right for me. God must be held as my only God. That is faith.
My faith saved me. May God’s peace reside in all of our hearts.
