Jul
26
Choosing a Pursuit
Filed Under Devotional
Imagine a huge, game show-style wall with dozens of cranks, levers, buttons, switches, gears, and whatnot. At the top of the wall is a meter measuring the joy of the contestant. The goal is to figure out how to manipulate the cranks, levers, buttons, switches, gears, and whatnot to maximize your joy.
Imagine that, before you watched the game show in progress, you were given a tour behind the board, so you could see how the mechanism worked. You are shocked to discover that all of those devices on the front of the board are decoys, except for one. There is one slider on the far edge, that is directly connected to the meter, but hidden from view. The contestant would only know about the slider if he were to search for it.
Later, you watch a contestant play the game. He frantically begins flipping every switch, turning every dial, pushing every button, and so on looking for some response in the meter. Nothing changes. He never slows down to figure out what works and what doesn’t. He just flails and makes no progress.
This is what it’s like for me to watch the unsaved live life. I see them trying everything looking for joy. They bounce from one philosophy to another, trying to convince themselves that they’ve found it. Then, they wake up the next day realizing they haven’t made any progress. I can see why they don’t make progress and I can see what’s missing because I know that most of the controls are disconnected.
This analogy is somewhat faulty, but I think you get my point. It’s frustrating to watch people attempt to recreate the testing Solomon did and expect different results:
“I thought in my heart, ‘Come now, I will test you with pleasure to find out what is good.’ But that also proved to be meaningless. ‘Laughter,’ I said, ‘is foolish. And what does pleasure accomplish?’ I tried cheering myself with wine, and embracing folly—my mind still guiding me with wisdom. I wanted to see what was worthwhile for men to do under heaven during the few days of their lives.
[...]
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 2:1-3, 11
Solomon has been there and done that. We can speak with confidence about where these pursuits will end because he tells us. We can also speak with confidence about where a pursuit of Jesus will end, because He told us:
“Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves me.” John 12:26
We know how both pursuits end. Share that truth with grace.