What are we living our lives for?
Every day, I
chance upon the faces of the multitudes going to and from work as I commute,
and wonder what dreams, hopes and aspirations they have in life that they would
endure the daily grind of the rat race.
Do they even
have any hopes at all?
I sincerely
believe that life is not possible without hope.
There must be
something to be yearned for; some aspiration that sustains life at its dreariest
and provides the impetus for growth.
Otherwise,
what would be the meaning of it all, apart from merely eking out a living to
bring food on the table?
If we were
meant to live only to feed ourselves, then human civilization could have
remained perfectly satisfied living in a subsistence economy that produces just
enough for our nutritional needs.
Our history
has shown us otherwise however, and thus proves the adage of Scripture:
Man does not live on bread alone.
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I have
thought long and hard about the hopes that men have, and how they’ve fared in
sustaining humanity in our journey through life.
I thought
first about materialism and the desire for the accumulation of material wealth.
This would be
the most obvious since we live in a material world.
There is no
doubt that we need the material in order to survive. If work requires energy,
then energy requires mass, as Albert Einstein postulated in his famous formula,
E=mc2, where “m” stands for mass (i.e. the material).
For us
therefore, life is not possible without the material.
Is it not
therefore, a legitimate hope to aspire for material wealth?
But then here
is the catch: the material is
impermanent.
I cannot tell
you how difficult it was for me to accept that truth.
I had
believed, as many others do (consciously or unconsciously), that the material
represents the real. The “real world” as our knowledge and sciences would have
it, consists of the material. Anything that is immaterial cannot be observed or
studied, and therefore, does not exist. It is by the real and material that we
base our lives upon.
It came as a
shock therefore, to realize that all
matter ultimately collapses into nothing.
Don’t believe
me? Then try to look up the word “entropy” and the Second Law of Thermodynamics.
The physical
universe is slowly but surely decaying. Our sciences confirm it. Nothing in the physical world is permanent.
Now let us look
at the implications of this for those who hope and long for the material.
If the
accumulation of material wealth is all you hope and work for in this life, then
does it not bother you that all of what
you worked for will ultimately and literally come to nothing?
When the
disciples went with the Messiah to see the temple in Jerusalem, they marveled
and wondered at the massive structure, thinking to themselves: “Ah, what a
majestic structure! Look at these great stones that form its foundations! Surely,
this temple will last forever!”
The Messiah answered them:
"As for
what you see here, the time will come when not one stone will be left on
another; every one of them will be thrown down."
(Luke 21:6
NIV)
If the
physical temple of God was not exempt from entropy, what more our own material
wealth?
Our own
physical bodies, being themselves material, are
also subject to death and decay. Of what use will accumulated wealth be to us
then?
In His
parable of the rich fool, the Messiah describes how a rich man hoarded for
himself the fruits of his labor. Thinking to live out the rest of his life in
ease and luxury, the rich man sought to build bigger storehouses for his grain.
"But God
said to him, 'You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you.
Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?'
(Luke 12:20
NIV)
If all our
work and toil is to amass wealth that will ultimately come to nothing, then to
hope for the material is nothing less than a delusion.
Materialism
therefore, is self-defeating. It is a false hope.
-------
Then I thought about a second hope that man has: the rise and ascension to power.
The Oxford
English Dictionary defines power as “the ability to do something or act in a
particular way.”
A further
definition by Merriam-Webster lists power as “possession of control, authority,
or influence over others.”
By these
definitions, humans are already born with some measure of power. Even a new-born
baby for example, has the power to influence its parents for a bottle of milk
when it cries.
This power
increases accordingly as an individual grows and develops.
It is
considered natural for humans to crave for more power, as it provides us with a
sense of security and identity within our societies.
So we work
for promotions, certifications and recognitions, study for diplomas, degrees and
doctorates, and run for political offices and other positions of leadership and
influence.
But do any of
these truly provide us with a lasting
sense of security?
If we work and
compete our way to the top of our respective careers, will it be truly worth
all the effort?
Human history
is replete with men who have been considered the most powerful of their time:
great Kings and Emperors wielding power over many peoples and nations. Were any
of them truly happy with what they had?
Or did their
pursuit of power only result in an insatiable hunger for more, thus dooming
themselves to a life of emptiness?
Again, our
history shows us that power is not permanent. Kingdoms and Empires rise and
fall. Kings and Emperors die and fade into memory.
Power
ultimately fails.
And so people
living for the pursuit of power find themselves in a similar situation as those
who live for material wealth: they are setting themselves up for a great and
terrible loss.
Power, like
wealth, is illusory and fleeting.
The ambition for
power therefore, is also a false hope.
-------
Finally, I
thought about the hope of getting the most pleasure out of life.
After being
told that nothing is permanent, I believe it is only natural for a man to
resort to hedonism. (I know I certainly did, at one point in my life.)
Life is about
getting the most pleasurable experience out of everything. (By “pleasure”, I
mean sensual pleasure that is derived from the physical senses of touch, sight,
hearing, smelling, and taste.)
“If it feels
good, then it must be right. After all, we’ll all end up being dead anyway.” So
the sensual hedonist would say.
The Greek
philosopher Epicurus came to a similar conclusion when he founded the Epicurean
school of thought.
Death is the end of all things.
Therefore, what matters is to attain pleasure in this life before the end.
Oh the price
men would pay to gain a moment’s pleasure!
We only need
look at commercial advertising to see that men are easily lured by the promises
of the sensual.
Living a life
in pursuit of pleasure however, can only culminate in pain. I have found this
to be true on many levels.
A man who
lives to eat and drink will eventually have to face the pain of countless
medical conditions that such a lifestyle produces. The same goes for a man who
lives for sexual pleasure.
And since we
already established that all material things ultimately fade into nothing,
finding pleasure solely in material things also inevitably end in the pain of
loss.
I simply
cannot imagine myself lying on my deathbed, knowing that I’ve lived a life
dedicated to the pursuit of pleasure, only to realize that I’m ending it in
pain.
The prophet
Isaiah, seeing the wanton sensuality of his people during his time, wrote down
these words:
But see, there is joy
and revelry, slaughtering of cattle and killing of sheep, eating of meat and
drinking of wine! "Let us eat and drink," you say, "for tomorrow
we die!" The LORD Almighty has revealed this in my hearing: "Till
your dying day this sin will not be atoned for," says the Lord, the LORD
Almighty. (Isaiah 22:13-14 NIV)
To live a
life of pleasure only to end it in pain is both a tragedy and a travesty.
Sensual hedonism
therefore, like materialism and the pursuit of power, is self-defeating.
It is yet another
one of life’s false hopes.
-------
Scripture
records the thoughts of King Solomon, reputedly the wisest, most powerful, and
materially the richest king of Israel:
I amassed silver and
gold for myself, and the treasure of kings and provinces. I acquired men and
women singers, and a harem as well—the delights of the heart of man. I became
greater by far than anyone in Jerusalem before me. In all this my wisdom stayed
with me. I denied myself nothing my eyes desired; I refused my heart no
pleasure. My heart took delight in all my work, and this was the reward for all
my labor. Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done and what I had toiled
to achieve, everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind; nothing was
gained under the sun.
(Ecclesiastes
2:8-11 NIV)
Here was a man who virtually attained everything that the
world has to offer: wealth, power and sensual pleasure. And what does he have
to say about it?
Nothing was gained under
the sun.
The warning therefore is as clear as day: materialism, ambition
for power and sensual hedonism are false and empty hopes.
Then why in Heaven’s name does humanity still cling to
such hopes? Why do peoples, countries and nations continually aspire to these
things?
In my personal case, the answer was so simple and obvious,
it borders on the absurd:
It was because I didn’t
know any better.
I suspect that many others would answer the same way.
If this is the case, then what hope is there for the
ignorance of humankind? Is there something
or someone who does know what is truly best for us? Someone who can provide us
with a true and lasting hope?
My answer to that is an emphatic yes!
His Name is Jesus Christ, the Messiah, whose very name
means “salvation from God”.
And His story is available to us through the accounts
written in the book known as the Bible.
All we need do is to share His story to all humankind.
For no one knows better how life works best, than the Author of Life Himself.
And we can trust in Him to know and understand about
life’s false hopes, because He Himself had
been tempted with the exact same
false hopes prior to His ministry here on earth.
He had been tempted to depend on the material when Satan
told Him to turn rocks into bread.
He had been tempted to rely on power when the Enemy told
Him to publicly jump off a tall building, and command the angels to rescue Him to
display His authority and power over the Heavenly Hosts.
And finally, He had been tempted with all of the
pleasures of the world when Satan showed Him all that this world has to offer,
in exchange for His subservience to evil.
The Messiah’s answer to all three temptations had been
consistent with His teachings and the way He lived His life on this earth:
There is a God to whom
we are all answerable to. It is in Him we should place our hopes.
His testimony was sealed by His suffering and death on
the cross at Calvary: an event He could have easily avoided or run away from,
yet deliberately chose to subject Himself to, in order to show the strength and
completeness of His conviction and hope.
His choice to be subjected to the humiliation and
suffering of the cross was proven justified by His resurrection, proving that
not even death can destroy His hope, the very same hope that He offers for humankind:
"I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never
walk in darkness, but will have the light of life." (John 8:12 NIV)
Here then is real
hope. Hope that will not fade nor fail us. It is the hope for the eternal.
And the eternal is God
Himself.
As I go through the daily grind, I wade into the teeming
masses who push, shove and jostle themselves to be ahead of the race.
Some of them do it for material wealth. Some of them do
it for power and recognition. Some do it, in the hopes of attaining some
measure of worldly pleasure at the end of it all.
What are we living our
life for?
Have we placed our hopes on that which is fleeting and
perishing?
Or have we set our eyes on the infinite?
It is my fervent prayer that we will all allow the
Messiah to tear the veil of false hopes that this world has laid over our eyes,
and allow us to see the face of the Holiest of Holies, the Lord of the Heavenly
Hosts, and the one true source of hope everlasting.
May His name be glorified forever.
Soli Deo Gloria.
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