The Logos

     "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God... And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen His glory, glory as of the only Son the Father, full of grace and truth."  (John 1:1,14)
     How many times have I written about these verses in the past few weeks?  And yet, I am drawn back to them again and again, like a moth to a flame.  Surely we cannot begin to exhaust their depth and mystery and richness and life-transforming beauty!  In our crazy busy, ever-changing world, He is the Alpha and Omega.  He truly is the beginning and the end.  And all the in-between.  All the little pieces of our often fractured lives come together in perfect wholeness in Him.
     The Greek word John used here for "Word" is "Logos."  But while many of us know that, what I didn't realize is that "Logos" in the Greek means "the reason for life."  What is the reason or purpose of life?  Why do you get up in the morning?  We all must have a purpose, an ultimate point to our lives or life truly does become one rushing madness toward an abyss of meaninglessness and hopelessness.  Tragically, how much of the world lives that very way--busy, constantly connected by phone or twitter or whatever the latest technology happens to be, ever seeking... but ultimately empty and striving after the wind.  I always think back to Sister Carrie, by Theodore Dreiser--at the end of the book, there she is: empty and endlessly rocking in her rocking chair by the window,  never content, never still, never satisfied.
     The Greek philosophical schools debated this very issue with great enthusiasm--what is the Logos--i.e. the purpose, the reason for life?  By Jesus' day, the prevailing wisdom at these Greek schools was that there was no Logos.  There simply was no ultimate purpose or reason for life.  Does that sound familiar?  Sort of like our day, wouldn't you say?
     And then the apostle John comes along and like a clarion call writes the astounding words: "In the beginning was the Logos"--in the beginning was the Reason for Life.. and the Reason for Life was with God and the Reason for Life was God... And the Reason for Life became flesh and dwelt among us.   The Reason for Life was not a concept or an idea or a philosophical construct.  The Logos, the reason for life was, and is, a Person!
     And that Person is God.  And He is the Beginning and the End.  And even though He is sovereign, omnipotent God, He became a man and dwelt among us and lived in our neighborhoods.  He ate food like we eat, suffered sickness like we suffer, endured temptation like we endure (only He never gave in and never sinned).  He laughed like we laugh and cried like we cry.  He enjoyed friendships and sunsets and family dinners and stories and shady trees in the hot sun, all like we enjoy.  He crawled and skipped and walked and ran and grew weary and slept just like we do.  
     And He, fully man, fully human, exactly like us, was and is God--the Logos, the Reason for Life.
     And we can know Him--the Reason for Life, the infinite eternal God--personally, fully, joyfully.
     And when we ask Him to be our Lord and Savior, He--the Logos, the Reason for all of Life--will come to live within us--redeeming us, sanctifying us, renewing us, strengthening us, transforming us.  Might we never get over the wonder, the astounding glorious truth, that the Logos, the Reason for our Life and all of Life, is the Lord Jesus.  He is Emmanuel, God with us, God in us, God for us, God before us, God behind us, God beside us, God--the Alpha and Omega.  Jesus--our beginning, our end, our in-between, our all in all.
     Today, might we rest in the security and the joy that Jesus, the Logos, is the Reason for Life, our Reason for Life.  Wherever we might go, He has already been.  Whatever we might face, He has already faced.  Whatever challenges we might encounter, He has already encountered and conquered them.. and He has all the answers.  Whatever temptations or sorrows or disappointments we might endure, He has already endured... and defeated and triumphed over resoundingly.  And in His mighty Name, in our Logos, we find our salvation, our hope, our joy, our peace, our power, our passion, our purpose.
     "And the Reason for Life became flesh and dwelt among us"--and His Name is Jesus.  Might we live in Him, our Logos, and bring Him glory in all we think and say and do and are.  To the Word, the Logos, the Reason for Life, be all the glory forever.