God has ordained the world and our lives in such a way that we observe the cycle of birth, growth, decay, death, and new life on a regular basis.
Through this ordering of creation and of human life, God intends to raise fundamental questions in us. We ask: “Why I am here? Where did I come from? What is the purpose of life? How can I live a worthwhile life? Will my brief number of years matter in the end?”
These questions, then, lead us to the wisdom of an eternal perspective—a perspective that shows us we are on a soul-forming journey and that this world is really a sojourn.
We are pilgrims being prepared for home. We are not home yet. From this, we learn that life was never meant to be about ourselves, but about God. For this reason, it is the eternal that gives meaning and hope in the temporal arena.
Therefore, in a world filled with trials and hardships, we must set our hope on things above, not on things below.
Watch part 9 in a teaching series based on the themes of Thomas Cole’s Voyage of Life. These four paintings depict the cyclical dynamics of human life, as signified by the artwork’s titles: Childhood, Youth, Manhood, and Old Age. You can view these paintings in person at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.
