Meaningless

Several years ago we had some friends that were obsessed with keeping up with the Joneses. To say that the wife liked nice things was an understatement. Although her husband had an excellent job, he did not make the kind of money required to provide her with all that she desired. This man’s profession was in the medical field and most all of their friends were doctors and most were fairly wealthy. He obviously deeply loved his wife and he had bejeweled her in diamond rings, bracelets, necklaces, a Mercedes, fine clothes of every description including even a gorgeous mink coat. Even with all of that it upset him to no end that he could not provide her with more and more, to the same degree of material possessions as their friends.


Whenever we used to get together she would talk incessantly about the lavish parties that they attended, the beautiful mansions that belonged to their friends, their powerful sports cars and gorgeous luxury cars, and the vacations throughout the world that they took. Her husband would sit there with a tortured look on his face and I could see that it was eating him up because he did not have all of those things, nor could he afford them.

The interesting thing about this couple was that they had accumulated far more wealth than the average couple. He had been the recipient of some inheritance money and combined with the income derived from his profession they were far above average. He owned his home outright and in my mind was better off than most anyone that I knew.

Nonetheless I watched as this fellow became more and more depressed until he actually became clinically depressed and began talking of suicide. I tried my hand at counseling him on more than one occasion. It turns out that in his youth that he had enrolled in medical school, but decided against the eight years of school. Instead he obtained his bachelor’s degree, married fairly young, and pursued a career of selling medical supplies to doctors. He became one of their top sales people and made significant money, but not like the clients to whom he made sales calls.

My amateur analysis of him indicated that he had four main problems; he deeply lamented that he had not gone on to become a doctor, he was jealous of those who had achieved that difficult goal, he was very jealous of anyone who had more net worth than he had, and his wife constantly reminded him out loud and in front of others that he was not in the same financial shape as whoever was sitting there and their other friends and acquaintances and it was embarrassing to no end to him, (and to their friends).

I tried to point out that in spite of what he perceived about himself that he had achieved tremendous success. I reminded him that many people in the world were suffering greatly with famine, sickness, and the basic necessities of life and pointed out that he was better off than ninety per cent of the entire world and that he had been blessed enormously. He told me that he did not care that someone might be starving in Africa, or did not have air conditioning in Asia; he cared about himself. It was as though he sucker punched me in the belly when he told me that. This fellow needed God in the worst way!

King Solomon was the wealthiest man that the world will ever know and he lamented that it was all meaningless. He had one thousand wives and concubines, gold, silver, palaces, ebony, precious stones, linens, horses, vineyards, art, and he accomplished amazing public works, some of which are still standing today and I saw them last summer when I visited the Holy Land, and yet he said it was all “meaningless”. What my friend failed to recognize is that all that the world has to offer is insufficient in finding peace and happiness. The Bible clearly tells us that it can only come from above and it is a free gift from God and available just for the asking; Jesus is patiently awaiting us to ask Him into our hearts. I preached to this guy until I was blue in the face and yet it made absolutely no difference whatsoever to him. He was obsessed with possessions and suffered in knowing that others had more than he had.

The Bible tells us to cherish treasures that do not perish or fade away as the things of the world do. Find someone who is struggling with these harsh economic times and buy some groceries for them and pay their electric bill this month. Take your eyes off of yourself for a moment and put them on God and the things of God and just test it and see if it does not bring joy to an otherwise joyless existence. That good deed will go down in God’s Book of Life and will stand for eternity. Lead someone to Christ and when this brief life, (that is compared to being like a vapor), is over, enjoy visiting with them for eternity in heaven where we will all be rich beyond measure. Worldly things will burn up with the world and will be no more; don’t put your faith, hopes, and dreams into them.

One cannot keep up with the Joneses; someone will always have more, including bigger cars, yachts, homes, you name it. Solomon said that we will spend right up to the limits of our income and it will be like watching sand run through our fingers. Finding satisfaction and peace from worldly things is like trying to grasp the wind; impossible King Solomon concluded as follows.

Ecc.12:14
Fear God and keep His
commandments.
For this is man’s all.
For God will bring every work
into judgment,
Including every secret thing
Whether good or evil.