By: Pastor Steve Wilmot
Edgerton, Ohio
So much of our time is wasted chasing temporary happiness. But can you blame us? We are constantly shown an image of happiness that includes social status, materialistic items, luxuries, million-dollar homes, and success.
So, we buy into the fantasy and join the millions who chase after these things. After all, we want to be happy, too.
What these images of happiness don’t reveal is what’s behind the curtain. Strained and broken marriages. Neglected and estranged children.
New toys replaced by newer toys. Pressure to maintain social standing. Boredom and a nagging sense of purposelessness despite all the stuff we accumulate, and the status we attain.
We miss important birthdays because our job doesn’t pay enough to buy all the stuff we think we need to keep up with the Joneses.
We allow peer pressure to cause us to do things we don’t want to do — things that prevent us from doing the things that would make us happy and fulfilled.
Money can buy happiness, but that happiness fades away as easily and quickly as the cash you spend. Maybe the problem isn’t the money, we surmise. It must be that we don’t have enough to buy more expensive stuff. So we prioritize making more money while relegating our families to second-class status.
One day, we’ll discover none of it was worth it. Hopefully in time. We do well to listen to Jesus’ words: “Then he said to them, ‘Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.’” (Luke 12.15).
Life does not consist of possessions. Life — the kind of life you long for, filled with love, fulfillment, and accomplishment — consists of relationships. Family. Friends. And most of all, Jesus.
I’ve sat at the bedside of people as they were dying. Not once did anybody say, “Bring me my awards and trophies.” No one said, “Bring me the gold watch I got at retirement.” Or “Bring me my checkbook and savings deposit book so I can feel secure as I die.”
In those final moments of life, people talk about what matters most. They want their loved ones with them. To feel their touch. To hear their voice. To look them in the eye.
To retell favorite memories of special and everyday moments together. To be surrounded by the people who made their life worth living. To make sure everyone is prepared for eternity.
You don’t want to look back on your life with regrets when you breathe your last breath, do you? To realize too late you pursued the wrong things: possessions, wealth, status, applause, and neglected what really matters: family, friends, Jesus.
“Tuesdays with Morrie” recounts a number of conversations between Mitch Albom and his former college professor and mentor, Morrie, who was slowly dying of cancer. They met on Tuesdays when Morrie talked with Mitch about life and about dying.
Here’s what Morrie said about money. “We’ve got a form of brainwashing going on in our country. Do you know how they brainwash people? They repeat something over and over. And that’s what we do in this country.
Owning things is good. More money is good. More property is good. More commercialism is good. More is good. More is good.
“We repeat it — and have it repeated to us — over and over until nobody bothers to even think otherwise. The average person is so fogged up by all this he has no perspective on what’s really important anymore.
“Wherever I went in my life, I met people wanting to gobble up something new. Gobble up a new car. Gobble up a new piece of property. Gobble up the latest toy. And then they wanted to tell you about it: ‘Guess what I got? Guess what I got?’”
“You know how I always interpreted that? These were people so hungry for love they were accepting substitutes. They were embracing material things and expecting a sort of hug back.
“But it never works. You can’t substitute material things for love or for a sense of comradeship.”
“Money is not a substitute for tenderness… I can tell you, as I’m sitting here dying, when you most need it, neither money nor power will give you the feeling you’re looking for, no matter how much of them you have.”
Maybe we should take some time soon and contemplate Morrie’s words and evaluate what is really important to us so we can make a course correction if necessary… while there’s still time.
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Steve Wilmot is a former Edgerton, Ohio area pastor who now seeks “to still bear fruit in old age” through writing. He is the author of seven books designed to assist believers to make steady progress on their spiritual journey.