Oscar Wilde once wrote, “In this world there are only two tragedies. One is not getting what one wants, and the other is getting it.”
As we begin a new year, which of these two tragedies is apt to happen to us? People usually begin a new year with high hopes of getting what they want, and if Oscar Wilde’s comment is correct, it will be tragic if they get it and tragic if they don’t.
What do we want? Solomon, who indulged himself in everything that most people want, decided afterwards that it was all meaningless. He really did prove the truth of Oscar Wilde’s quotation.
Solomon told us, “Whoever loves money never has money enough; whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with his income. This too is meaningless.”
In Carl Jung’s book “Modern Man in Search of a Soul,” he described many of his patients by saying they “are suffering from no clinically definable neurosis, but from the senselessness and emptiness of their lives.”
Jesus told us, “Take heed, and beware of covetousness: for a man’s life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth.”
Most of us already have too much stuff. Getting more stuff will not make us happier. Getting more money will not make us happier. It has been said that money does not bring happiness, but it does allow one to be miserable in comfort.
Instead of being miserable let us learn the same lesson that Paul had to learn, for he tells us, “I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.”
From this we see that Paul listened to his Lord and agreed that our life does not consist in the abundance of the things we possess.
Paul concluded by saying that he could do all things through Christ who strengthened him. We can too. Instead of filling our life with more stuff, let us pay attention to Paul, to Solomon and to the Lord Jesus Christ. They are trying to teach us to put our faith in God, not in things. Paul did not say that money was the root of all evil but the love of it is. As Solomon rightly said, “whosoever loves money never has money enough.”
Our Savior said, “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.”
So the conclusion we should reach as we face a new year should be the same conclusion that Solomon reached after trying everything and finding it all vanity and vexation of spirit. “Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.” This statement agrees with the words of our Lord who told us to “seek first the kingdom of God,” and Paul who exhorted us by saying, “but this one thing! do, forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.”
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One