“For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him” (Colossians 1:16)
Jesus Christ is the Alpha and Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End. The Father created all things by Him and for Him. He is God’s ultimate destination for every man. Whatever else a man may find in his life, if he has not found Christ, he has missed out on God’s destiny for him.
God is “not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” (2 Pet. 3:9) He would have “all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.” (1 Tim. 2:4) Men wish to discover their “truth.” God wants us to discover His Truth. Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” (John 14:6)
In the end, if the quest for life does not find Christ, the soul is bound for endless futility. To perish means more than to die; it means to end one’s life in a lost, Christless state. God has not created one human being for such a fate. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16) Those who perish, perish by their own will. They do so because they refuse the Father’s offer of eternal life that is in His Son. There is no other offer on the table. “Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.” (Acts 4:12)
Jesus told His disciples to preach the gospel to every creature. Those who believed would be saved; those who did not would be damned. When men rejected the gospel invitation, Paul declared “seeing ye put it from you, (you) judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life” (Acts 13:46)
The triumph of any life is not found in what was accomplished or gained. “For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?” (Mark 8:36) The gain of the whole world cannot compare to the gain of Christ. Paul counted it all dung that he might win Christ. The real tragedy of any man’s life is not what he missed out on by way of worldly goods and pleasures, but how he failed to fulfill God’s destiny for him. He was created by Christ, and for Christ.