Being an Arts student, I love to read into stuff, and mostly with trivial things like TV advertisements. So here’s another one. I’ve seen this ad many times and only have I thought more about it today. It’s the Colorbond Paint ad where a man in his PJs is dead and lying on the front grass area in front of his house. His neighbour comes rushing to the scene and tries to bring him back to consciousness. Meanwhile, we see his ‘soul’ departing from his body and drifting up into the air. Then he sees his beautifully painted house and hesitates to ascend. After a sigh he decidedly descends and enters back into his body, recovering consciousness just as his neighbour is beginning to do mouth-to-mouth. I’ve always loved this ad because it’s very smart and funny. But it has a sad truth to it.
As ideal as it would be, it’s quite rare (because life is uncertain from our point of view) for us to have a ‘second chance’ once we die. I don’t think I have known anyone or heard on news of such an incident. We really just get one shot at life and that’s all. There are no second chances. But what is even more sad is that we choose to settle for second best with the one shot of life we get.
Ecclesiastes 5:10-15 says:
10He who loves money will not be satisfied with money, nor he who loves wealth with his income; this also is vanity. 11When goods increase, they increase who eat them, and what advantage has their owner but to see them with his eyes? 12Sweet is the sleep of a laborer, whether he eats little or much, but the full stomach of the rich will not let him sleep.
13There is a grievous evil that I have seen under the sun: riches were kept by their owner to his hurt, 14and those riches were lost in a bad venture. And he is father of a son, but he has nothing in his hand. 15As he came from his mother’s womb he shall go again, naked as he came, and shall take nothing for his toil that he may carry away in his hand. (English Standard Version)
As sad as this truth is, we are fools who choose to believe that our wealth, of which we strive for with our everything (our intellect, our time and energy, at the expense of our family, and most of all, our own souls), is a keeper. And more than that, it allows us to have the best life. Of course I will be living it best when my mortgage is paid off; of course I will be living it best when I have a better house in a better suburb; of course I will be living it best when I top my course and find a job; of course I will be living it best when I have a successful career. It never ends, but that’s not the sad bit. The sadder bit is buying it. And we all buy it, whether for our whole lives, or for a part of our lives. But Ecclesiastes tells it like it really is: the full stomach of a rich man will not let him sleep. In other words, the more we have, the more there is to worry about. And the more we have the more we want. Surely this is not the way to living a full rich life!
The way to living a full rich life is by being rich toward God, who has first been rich toward us.
The Parable of the Rich Fool (Luke 12:13-21, ESV):
13Someone in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.” 14But he said to him, “Man, who made me a judge or arbitrator over you?” 15And he said to them, “Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.” 16And he told them a parable, saying, “The land of a rich man produced plentifully, 17and he thought to himself, ‘What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?’ 18And he said, ‘I will do this: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. 19And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.’ 20But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’21So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.”
Our lives are ‘vanity’ (Ecclesiastes 5:10). They are fleeting because our foundations are fleeting. The rich man will never see his wealth after death, as we all return to the ground naked. And even when alive, our wealth can be gone in a second (Ecclesiastes 5:13-14). Ecclesiastes does not lie, it just tells us what we secretly already know but deny to acknowledge as universal truth. Being rich toward God means putting Him and His desires at the centre – to make Him the foundation, to let Him invade into every area of our lives and renovate it according to His purposes, which we were created for.
But even as a Christian, I find myself settling for second best at times. Just as the man in the ad chooses to stay because of his beautiful rooftop, so I often find myself so comfortable and lovin’ the life here that I don’t really want to be where it’s better. The beauty of being a follower of Jesus is the truth and fact that I haven’t gotten myself into a philosophy, but a real relationship with a real and living and glorious God. And I know that my future and ultimate paradise is in heaven. But I so easily stop talking to him or stop listening to Him. I start to think that my intellect and my life is my own and my own to make. And I settle for second best. I was at Ikea the other day with my cousin and got a bit caught up in what kind of plates I’d like to have or what kind of colours I’d like my walls to be. But I’d be a fool to think that that’s what life is about. So my hope and prayer is that whether you’re a Christian or not, you might continue to bring yourself under examination and seek how you can be rich toward God with every part of your being and your wealth.
life matters 