Good Morning Everyone,
Our theme for this month: “A life that matters”
Our Bible verse for today: “Meaningless! Meaningless!” says the Teacher. “Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless!” Ecclesiastes 1:2 (NIV)
Our thought for today: “Don’t waste your life.”
The story is told of how, just months before he died at the age of only 42, Elvis Presley made a sad entry in his diary. It was late at night and he was alone in a penthouse suite in a luxurious hotel in Las Vegas. Earlier in the evening he had finished a show to a sold-out audience. Now he was alone in his hotel room.
I don’t have the exact quote in front of me but the essence of it was that Elvis was sad and lonely. He wrote of how, despite his fame and wealth, his life was actually empty and unsatisfying. He said that when he is onstage thousands of people cheer for him, and his millions of fans love and adore him, but privately he found his life to be unfulfilling and unrewarding. He was a deeply unhappy man. And just a few months later he was dead.
Actually, Elvis’ story is fairly common. Howard Hughes was one of the richest men in his day, a billionaire in a day when billionaires were rare. But when he died he was a sad and lonely recluse, terrified of having any contact with the outside world. Kurt Cobain was a rock-god, fabulously wealthy and adored by millions. He committed suicide at the age of only 27. Robin Williams gained fame and fortune by making others laugh, but in his private life he was depressed and miserable. He too committed suicide.
There’s an old saying that goes, “If you’re going to spend your life climbing the ladder of success, be sure the ladder isn’t leaning against the wrong wall.” How sad it is when someone finally reaches the top only to discover they’ve spent their life climbing a ladder that didn’t get them where they really wanted to go. What do you do when you realize that your achievements really didn’t matter much after all – that they didn’t bring you the peace and happiness and fulfillment you were searching for?
That’s King Solomon’s story and that’s why he wrote the book of Ecclesiastes. Few men in history have had more than Solomon had in terms of wealth, power, freedom, and instant gratification – only to discover how empty and meaningless such a life is.
Over the last few days I’ve been encouraging you to consider making spiritual growth a major focus in 2017. That’s because ultimately it’s only a deep and personal relationship with God which will provide you with the life you are seeking. Regardless of what you do for a living, and regardless of how much you acquire in terms of earthly wealth and possessions, it’s your relationship with God that will determine how happy and fulfilled your life is. So as you make choices about your life, do so based upon which choice will bring you closer to God.
Howard Hughes, Elvis Presley, Kurt Cobain, Robin Williams, and countless others like them never learned that lesson and consequently never found the peace and happiness they were seeking. But King Solomon did. It took him a while but towards the end of his life, and in the closing chapter of Ecclesiastes he wrote, “Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter; Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.”
That’s it. That’s the bottom line. If you have Jesus you have everything. If you don’t have Jesus then you have nothing – at least nothing that really matters. We’ll explore this idea a little further tomorrow.
God Bless,
Pastor Jim
Oak Hill Baptist Church 