Tuesday, May 14, 2013

Gatsby, Morality, and Life Messages

I'm a big fan of F. Scott-Fitzgerald's classic novel The Great Gatsby, so of course I was super excited to go see the film the past weekend. :-)  Like any other complex piece of literature, The Great Gatsby has numerous take-away messages, including:

  • Adultery is very, very, very bad
  • Sin has ramifications
  • Don't seek all your joy from a human, because humans are flawed and will fail you
  • A life of alcohol and sex won't bring you happiness
So what am I getting at?  Well, F. Scott-Fitzgerald once said:

"The reason one writes isn't the fact that he wants to say something.  He writes because he has something to say."

So, the author didn't randomly pick those moral themes to sell a book; he wrote the book in the first place because he couldn't not share that message burning inside him with the world.  Which got me thinking...


Do we all have one message we long to share with those around us?

I've certainly noticed this in my own life, specifically in my writing - both as a theme in my fiction, and as a point that keeps cropping up in the Bible studies I write for this blog.  Basically, this "life message" of mine is this:

The typical American view of the "Christian life" doesn't even come close to reality.  God's plan for us is definitely not to just go to church each week and pray before meals.  It's not even for us to simply do that plus read our Bibles and try to become better people.  God has an adventure planned for each and every one of our lives - a mission, the very reason He created us!  And every single aspect of our lives plays into that - the education we seek, career we pursue, relationships we develop, hobbies we spend our time on...everything.  Big or small, each of us has a God-given purpose for living...and a fulfilled life requires discovering what this is.

So now, you tell me:

1 - What is your "life message" to share with others?

2 - What is your purpose?  Or if you haven't figured it all out yet... :-)  What do you think it is, in general?

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