A few nights ago, as my 12 year old son sat at the computer, he suddenly asked, “Hey dad, how much money do you have?” I shrugged my shoulders at him, wondering where this was going. “I have $1,750,” he said excitedly, but then acknowledged, “but it’s just on my game.”
For the last few months, he has been putting all kinds of time into growing his account on that game, but the problem is that it’s all fictitious! In reality, it’s worth nothing!
I’m reminded of all the hours people spend developing characters on games like Call of Duty or World of Warcraft, only to realize in the end that it really means nothing. You may earn some temporary respect from other people in the online gaming community, but it’s a virtual reality that actually is useless in the real world. Ultimately, at the end of all that work, you pull the plug and it vanishes, and you’re still left with a real life to live. Why waste time building something that means nothing?
All the pursuits of your life and my life, apart from Christ, will prove to be just as useless and futile when these bodies we live in die and our eternal soul leaves this life for the next. All of our toys, our money, our prestige, and anything else that we worked so hard for will vanish and we will stand empty and naked before Him who created us.
Ultimately, there comes a point when it’s ‘Game Over’ for every one of us. Then what good are all those things? What will become of everything we worked so hard for?
This is what Solomon lamented over when he cried out, “Vanity of vanities! All is vanity!” He was saying that it’s all useless. After describing how he had withheld nothing from himself and enjoyed all the riches and pleasures this world can offer, he says in Ecclesiastes 2, “17 So I hated life, because the work that is done under the sun was grievous to me. All of it is meaningless, a chasing after the wind. 18 I hated all the things I had toiled for under the sun, because I must leave them to the one who comes after me. 19 And who knows whether that person will be wise or foolish? Yet they will have control over all the fruit of my toil into which I have poured my effort and skill under the sun. This too is meaningless. 20 So my heart began to despair over all my toilsome labor under the sun. 21 For a person may labor with wisdom, knowledge and skill, and then they must leave all they own to another who has not toiled for it. This too is meaningless and a great misfortune. 22 What do people get for all the toil and anxious striving with which they labor under the sun? 23 All their days their work is grief and pain; even at night their minds do not rest. This too is meaningless.”
Pretty depressing! Here’s a man who attained all of the things the people of the world chase after, and in the end he found it to be empty, unfulfilling, and meaningless.
If that’s really all that life is about, then there’s no hope for anything other than to enjoy what you can before you die.
That’s why the gospel is such good news. Jesus comes on the scene and gives us a sense of worth, a sense of purpose, and a sense of meaning that extends beyond the grave.
Instead of spending our time, resources and talents on useless worldly pursuits that come to nothing, He tells us to invest in the kingdom of heaven.
“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Matt 6:19
The apostle Paul, after giving his own life in service to the gospel, said this, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.” 2 Tim 4
One day, you will close your eyes for the last time on earth, and you will step into eternity. The only thing of any value that you will carry with you is what you have invested in God’s kingdom. Which life are you living for?
We can easily see the futility in wasting hours of our time building characters in a virtual online world that carry no worth in real life, but aren’t we doing the same thing when we spend our lives on earthly things that have no eternal value?
You get one life. Do something that really matters!