"This is the extraordinary story of one of the world's greatest living minds, the renowned astrophysicist Stephen Hawking who falls deeply in love with fellow Cambridge student Jane Wilde. Once a healthy, active young man, Hawking received an earth-shattering diagnosis at 21 years of age. With Jane fighting tirelessly by his side, Stephen embarks on his most ambitious scientific work, studying the very thing he now has precious little of - time. Together, they defy impossible odds, breaking new ground in medicine and science, and achieving more than they could ever have dreamed."
The movie is amazing and Mr.Hawking's life is amazing. He lives with great successes in his work and life and his story offers many very inspiring and thought provoking scenes. Early in the movie when he and Jane first met, they engaged in an interesting conversation.
Stephen divulges the fact that he is a Cosmologist (a physicist who specializes in the study of the formation and evolution of the universe). Jane's response to his declaration was to ask what Cosmology is, to which he answered that it was a kind of religion. She asked him what, then, do Cosmologists worship. Stephen's response was they worship, "one single unifying equation that explains everything in the universe."
The conversation continued with Jane asking what that one equation was, to which he answered that was the question to which he was not quite sure of an answer but that he intended to find out.
That exchange bounced around in my head for a week or so until just this last Sunday at church. In the middle of the sermon it struck me. For me, the equation Mr. Hawking was looking for became suddenly clear and rather simple. Here it is:
L + O + V + E = EVERYTHING
The "one single unifying equation that explains everything in the universe," in my mind, is just that.
In the beginning, God created all things and found they were good. I can picture a loving God meticulously creating all things and all things would be good. God lovingly put all the planets and stars in place so they would not crash into one another. He created the sun to light the void by day and the moon to give light at night. If He were an angry, mean God I wonder if He would even care if there was light at all. Who, but a loving God, would create all the animals in such a way so they would live in peace with one another. I feel comfortable saying that in His love, God created all things.
He went on to create man. He lovingly made him in His image so He could walk and talk and commune with him. God saw that the man was lonely and who but a love-filled God would take a part of the man and create for him the perfect companion?
Man eventually turned his back on God to go his own way but filled with love for His creation, God devised a plan to rescue man and bring mankind back to Him. Out of His love, He sent His Son to pay the price for man's sin so the man He created could be set free from the eternal death his sin would eventually bring.
God's very own Son was sent to Earth to tell of this wonderful plan. Jesus is His name and he brought the Good News that if man would believe in Him, he would be given life eternal instead of the eternal death he deserved. What other than love could motivate God to devise such a plan. He loved us when we were created and loves us in spite of our sin and He saves us by His own sacrifice because He loves us so much. He wants us to be free to someday walk and talk with Him, just as He did in the very beginning. That is good news, very good news.
Are you ready to receive that great love? Are you here to receive that freedom and promise of life eternal? If you have not yet made that decision, look to the heading at the top of the page, "Relationship with Jesus" and read through what is on that page.
As recipients of such a wonderful gift, we ought to be just as He is as we walk Earth. We are called to be a living testimony to who He is. Our lives should reflect the love of our God for that very same love that is in Him is in us. The Bible tells us we are created in His image, therefore the very love in God that nudged Him to create the universe and mankind is also in us. The very love of God that drove Him to sacrifice His son on our behalf so we can live with the hope of life eternal is also in us. The love of God is a love that is kind, generous, patient, good, gentle, faithful, self controlled, full of joy, and peaceful. It is a love that is forgiving and is able to forgive wrongs and remember them no more.
We are here to share and rejoice over what we have been given. We are here to live in a way that reflects our loving God.
If you were a candle specially crafted to give off light but never gave light, would you be fulfilling your purpose?
If you were a being specially crafted to love but never loved, are you fulfilling your purpose?
If we took 7.3 billion candles (the current population of the Earth) and lit each and every one of them, thus fulfilling their purpose, would they not produce a light perhaps as bright and powerful as the sun?
If we, the 7.3 billion people of the earth would love one another and God as we were created to do, we would then fulfill our purpose? If we love in such a way, could our love perhaps shine as bright and powerful as the Son?
Love is everything. Love created all things, endures all things, forgives all things, finds purpose and joy in all things. Love is the most valuable and sought after thing in the universe. Love is what we want to give and receive more than any other thing. Even John Lennon and Paul McCartney knew that "All you need is Love" and wrote those words in a song.
So for your consideration, I offer God's "one single unifying equation that explains everything in the universe" as follows;
L+O+V+E = EVERYTHING
Watching the movie to the end, I choose to believe, Mr. Hawking just may have come to the same conclusion.