We recently watched a documentary made by a very well known person towards the end of his life. He had everything this life would promise us….fame, money, and a massive business behind him. But, he had received the diagnosis of terminal cancer. Now he had to face the prospect of leaving all this behind. He had nothing to look forwards to as he did not know God.
But he was still able to leave some good advice which we would all do well to take notice of. He said that even though he had reached the pinnacle of his business world, and could employ anyone he wished to do his work, yet no-one else could bear his illness for him. He said that once good health is lost, it can never be regained.
None of his possessions gave true happiness….his big mansion was still only a place to keep him dry and warm the same as a pensioner’s cottage did….it did not give happiness, and there was still the same amount of loneliness when on your own.
His $300,000 car still had to travel the same road as a $30,000 one, and still take as long to get there, up and down the same hills to the same destination. His expensive watch still told only the same time as a cheaper one, and neither could hold time back. It didn’t make any difference if he drank a $100 bottle of wine or a ten dollar bottle, the hangover was still the same! If you fly first class in a plane or economy class, and the plane goes down, it is the same end result!
Some advice he gave to parents was to train children to know true happiness rather than to strive to be rich. People matter more than things. There is a big difference between being a human being, and being human! We are loved when we are born, and we are loved when we die, but what about the years in between?
Money does not buy happiness….true happiness comes from within, from the joy that the Lord gives when you seek to know and follow Him. The richest man who has ever lived, who started off well, but seemed to end up poorly was King Solomon who said, “Vanity of vanities, ALL is vanity”, and he would no doubt echo the words of the man in the above story.
The thing we would do well to remember is that the Apostle Paul who knew what it was to suffer, could say “Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say, Rejoice!” (Philippians 4:4)