Surveys reveal that the top two aims in life of the current generation are, riches and fame. Ask anyone in the street today what his life’s ultimate goal is and you’ll most likely hear the reply ‘I want to be rich so that I can have everything I want, so I can live in comfort, ‘I want to enjoy life’ or ‘I want to be a celebrity, I want to be on TV’.
What about the ordinary Christian, what is his aim in life? If asked, I think most will reply something similar to ‘I want to glorify God through my life, serve others, show God’s love to others ’etc etc.. and these are, in fact, what the true calling of a Christian is. But many times, as a Christian, I find it difficult to resist the temptation to join the quest for riches and fame. It seems as being denied those things on earth is too great a cost for following Christ.
Take fame. Harold Kushner wrote, ‘I am convinced that it is not the fear of death, of our lives ending, that haunts our sleep so much as the fear that as far as the world is concerned, we might as well never have lived ’. I believe that this is strikingly true, even though we might not like admitting it. Naturally, we want the world to remember us long after we die; we want it to love and appreciate us while we are here and to miss us when we will be no longer around, for whom we were and what we did. We want the world to acknowledge our greatness, we want to be famous. I think no one wants to die in some obscure corner of the world, where there’s no one to mourn him. In the world today, everyone aspires to take centre-stage, to be paid attention to, to be taken seriously. It is not uncommon in newspapers today, to read stories about teenagers committing suicide when they failed to reach the stardom they aspired for.
And riches. All over the world, people get killed over money. We all would like to live in a little more comfort than we are now. And that ‘a little more’ never gets satisfied. If I just had a little more money so I could just have that, I would be satisfied. But that satisfaction never comes. Many people tell themselves: I don’t want to be filthy rich, I just want to have enough money so that all my needs (and that of my family) are met and I don’t have to look up to anyone else. This too is self-deception; it is extremely difficult to distinguish between needs and wants, especially when you have enough for both.
So, does following Christ mean that I would never become a famous person, I might never be remembered and I would never enjoy all the comforts that money brings? I am convinced that more likely than not, this would be the case. Throughout the Bible and Church history, we rarely find a prosperous saint. God’s kingdom always works in the reverse: the first shall be the last, whosoever wants to be the greatest should become a servant, blessed are the poor, the meek, the oppressed....
Why does God want us to live a life of being ‘unknown’ and poverty? As I thought about this question, I realised that God does not want us to live in poverty, but he does want us to live a life of dependence on Him; and riches and fame more often than not, hinder such dependence. That is why Jesus said, ‘Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and He will give you everything you need’ (Matthew 6:33, NLT). Philip Yancey remarked, ‘People who are rich, successful and beautiful may well go through life relying on their natural gifts. People who lack such natural advantages, hence under-qualified for success in the kingdom of this world, just might turn to God in their time of need. Human beings do not readily admit desperation, when they do the Kingdom of heaven draws near’ (from The Jesus I Never Knew).
I remind myself of these things every time I am tempted to join the race for fame and riches. Riches; God promises us eternal riches in heaven that are not destroyed by moth, rust or thieves. On earth he promises to supply all our needs, and bless everything we have if we just learn to trust Him. And fame; God turns the tables on that as well. Michael Jackson is now mourned but will soon be forgotten, replaced by some other celebrity. But how many fishermen, not intelligent scientists, nor philosophers or great kings, how many ordinary fishermen of the first century have their names written down in history? Only twelve, as far as I know, and all because they were followers of a man called Jesus.
