Is This All There Is To Life?

“Now all has been heard and this is the conclusion of the matter, Fear God and keep his commandments for this is the whole duty of man.”  Ecc. 12: 13.

We live in a culture that is in many ways “star-struck”, or overly fascinated with the lives of celebrities and those who are prominent in society.

Millions of tabloid newspapers/magazines are sold each week and even millions of more people tune in daily to their televisions to get the latest scoop on whose celebrity life is unravelling, or who is now hooked up with who as the new glamour couple in Hollywood or some other well known city.

I have often wondered why some folks spend so much time and have so many obsessions with those who live their lives in the spotlight.

Is it their own lives might feel so empty and so in a surrogate kind of way the celebrity is them in another life,  or is it possible one’s desire to be more than what they are fuels them on to immerse much of their own time with those who are very well known?

In the Book of Ecclesiastes, Solomon the very well known and incredibly rich King of Israel wrote of all his experiences in life and how they related back to him in regards to having meaning and purpose for him.

He talked about work, women, riches, fame, etc., yet the relentless pursuit of all these things and others to the exclusion of God rendered him the same decision-“meaningless”, “a chasing of the wind.”

There is something in the human spirit that compels us forward to wanting to have more and more of something we like or desire. To many a millionaire, one million is not enough-one needs 10 or more.

To the musician who sells a best -selling album, the next one has to be even better and sell even more.

If you build a 1000 ft. skyscraper, I need to build a 1500 ft. one to top yours and the story of bigger, better and more prominent than your neighbour continues onto this day.

Not that there is anything wrong with striving or wanting to get ahead in life, but any obsession that is centered on leaving God or our fellow man out of the equation is ultimately indeed a “ chasing of the wind.”