One Thing More
In the song, "Yesterday When I Was Young", the impression is made of an adult with childish behavior. Someone flitting from one desire to another. Indeed he says "The thousand dreams I dreamed, the splendid things I planned I always built to last (or alas) on weak and shifting sand".
In Matthew 7:24 Jesus tells us of two kinds of builders: "Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock: 25) And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock."
That was the first builder. The one who not just listened to the teachings of Jesus, but they also do them.
Matthew 7:26 is the second kind of builder: "And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand: 27) And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it."
Our society today has a mix of people. It would be easy to go to one extreme or the other to characterize people. Some folks have an 'evil eye', and they see everyone as flawed and bad. Others are rosy natured and look at things on the other side.
Regardless, there are good and bad people out there.
Some characters think they don't care. They don't care how they act or what they do. They don't appear to believe it will matter. I've heard a number of rascals boast things like: 'I'm going to hell, but that's fine, all of my friends will be there.'
Whoa, that's a thought. Could it be they aren't real keen on the idea, but deep down they feel/know they can never be good enough for heaven? They honestly know they can never do enough good things, so might as well give up. Be content with the alternative.
This line from the song is part of their problem:
"And every conversation I can now recall Concerned itself with me and nothing else at all"
Those folks are putting too much power in their own pocket. We can't be 'good enough'. That's why we needed a Savior.
And second problem is, forgiveness is the free gift of God, but once a person is 'bought with the price', they are required to give up un-Christlike habits. Many of those habits, like the demons in Frank Peretti's 'Piercing the Darkness', have their claws sunk deep in the hearts of those poor folk.
This line fits like a pair of panty hose:
"I never stopped to think what life was all about"
The reason we don't stop to think what life is all about is because we think we have that covered. We may not know what our path actually is, but...
We know that we are born into this world, we live our lives, and then we die. That sums up what life is all about. Except it isn't.
I have berated myself for making some poor choices when I left my grandparents' farm and moved with my mom, but I can't say it was a waste. God works in strange ways.
For my final school year, I didn't live in a bubble. Who knows—I certainly don't—the lives that I may have touched for good. So, I could go back further than my bus ticket home and say God doesn't waste opportunities.
As Leo Rosten said in an address to the National Book Awards, "The purpose of life is not to be happy. It is to be useful, to be honorable, to be compassionate, to have it make some difference that you have lived and lived well."
As we go through life, may we realize that the object of life is not happiness. We have an obligation and duty to do the right thing. If we commit our lives to following God's plan for us we won't be building on weak and shifting sand.
As Seneca admonished, "A wise man (person) is content with his lot, whatever it may be without wishing for what he has not."
