I’ve always disliked this question because I find it too vague. What do you want to know? Which part of my life are you really interested in? Finances, social life, physical health etc Suffice to say, I am an engineer and I like my world to be precise and sharp. Most of the time, I would just mouth off safe but forgettable replies like, “Oh fine, I just bought a new LCD monitor” or “Great, I got an A for my exams” to throw off my questioner.
The other reason why this question irritates me is because I don’t really the answer. How do we measure the quality of our lives anyway? For some, it would be their own personal happiness while for others, its all about a life of status and popularity. At the end of the day, most of us are still quite confused as to what we really want in life. I was reminded of this the other day when I caught Gayle Nerva singing “If I Ain’t Got You” on Singapore Idol,
Some people live for the fortune
Some people live just for the fame
Some people live for the power yeah
Some people live just to play the game
Some people think that the physical things
Define what's within
I've been there before
But that life's a bore
So full of the superficial
Someone once said that before we can know what something is, we first have to know what it isn’t. Its like that in life sometimes, before we know what we want in life, we first have to know what we don’t want. I like this song because it is therapeutic to me in the above manner. It makes me reflect on my life and helps me identify the driving forces behind some of my most important decisions in life.
I do believe there is nothing wrong with fortune, fame and power. Life would be pretty much unbearable if we are to do without the above 3 entities. Picture an existence without money, popularity and control. Without money, we would have no food and life would be quite sad if no one likes me. And without a certain measure of control over our lives, we would live in fear, trembling at what tomorrow might bring. I don’t have a problem with these resources, the more the merrier. But the problem arises when I allow as the song says, “the physical things to define what’s within”.
Now, I firmly believe that nobody of reasonable intelligence will define himself solely by his salary and status. We as human beings instinctively know that there is more to life than all these. But having said that, why is it so easy then to measure life by the externals alone? I guess there are a few reasons, the first one being that our society actively promotes a materialistic lifestyle. In a highly materialistic society like ours, our quality of life is measured by how much we have.
The second reason is the mistake of allowing our identities to be defined by the status symbols of this world. If we are not careful, we will start to measure our self-worth by our academic prowess, friends, or looks.
And the flip side of living life this way is that we end up “running on empty and running after emptiness”1. By exchanging what’s within for what’s without, our lives become rushed, bored and isolated. Our relationships turn shallow because we are no longer interested in loving people, but rather in using them to fulfill our material wants. We network to increase our business contacts, make friends only with the rich and the intelligent and spend time only with people who are useful in our climb up the status ladder. We forget to cherish people for who they are and are only concerned with what they can do for us. Children are judged on their academic grades, wives are judged on their looks and husbands are judged on their salary.
One of the things for which I am very grateful for ever since I started working is the fact that I am a Christian. I lost count of the endless number of dinner meetings that basically revolves around money, women and position. If we are not talking about our paychecks, then it must be about our future marriage plans, if its not about our marriage plans, then it is inevitably about so-and-so who has just been promoted to managerial level. These things aren’t bad in themselves and actually do enhance the quality of our lives but something inside me tells me that there is so much more to life than life itself.
And God offers me just that in the form of His Son Jesus Christ. He sent His Son Jesus to die on the cross for my sins while I was still a sinner. In Him, is forgiveness of sins through the shedding of blood. Even though I’m still messed up and have my ugly moments, but God still accepts me unconditionally through His everlasting love. And because I’m accepted by the almighty God of the universe, I no longer have to strive to merit the acceptance of this performance-obsessive world. I no longer have to define myself by what I do but by who I am in Christ.
If you would like to experience the freedom and joy that comes from following my Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, you can do so by praying the following prayer:
Lord Jesus, I need You. Thank you for dying on the cross for my sins. I open the door of my life and receive you as my Saviour and Lord. Thank You for forgiving my sins and giving me eternal life. Take control of the throne of my life. Make me the kind of person You want me to be.2
If this prayer expresses the desire of your heart, I invite you to pray this prayer right now, and Christ will come into your life.
God bless!!!
Reference
Quote by Pastor Edmund Chan
Sinner’s prayer taken from the 4 Spiritual Laws
