The Search Continues
Lee Atwater, known as a brutal, consummate political strategist and hardball Republican Nation Committe chair, became a Christ-follower before he died of brain cancer in 1991. Before he died, he said, "I acquired more wealth, power and prestige than most. But you can acquire all you want, and still feel empty. It took a deadly illness to put me eye to eye with that truth, but it is a truth that the country, caught up in its ruthless ambition and moral decay, can learn on my dime."Spend some time reading the first 11 versus of Ecclesiastes 2. How do the words of Atwater reflect the thoughts of the Teacher? What can we learn from these two men about our search for satisfaction in earthy possessions?
posted by CrossPointeDave @ 4:28 PM
2 Comments:
I find it interesting that the author said "I did not deny myself anything that would bring me pleasure. So all my accomplishments gave me joy; this was my reward for all my effort" He acknowledged that they did give him joy. Most times people fix on emptiness as the results of this but the author came to his conclusions after weighing his possessions against eternity. The unfortunate thing about this is that we are not all able to be that wise and look at all these possessions as an exercise or an attempt to prove a point. We get caught up in them because they DO bring us joy. The key seems to be a long view of existance that includes more than just life. There may be a second key in this as well. The author also included the words "for myself" in almost each line. His intent in gathering these possession was very self-centered and may point to a need to watch your intent as you gather possessions in life. I dont think you will find a pastor in the world who would not like to have a wealthy man in the congregation,especially if he is one that recognizes his abilities as God given. He would use these God given ablilites to make money to help others, the church and his family. In this fashion he is more effectivly using these riches than the author showed in his experiment. I also did not note that the author ever gave back or got rid of all the possessions he had gathered in his experiment. Like all scripture, it is very possible to make these words have several different messages. I think if you are a wealthy man or woman and you reach the end of your life and feel empty, the problem is NOT that the money didnt BUY you enough stuff, the problem is you didnt USE it correctly. Yes, money by itself is empty but using your talents to create riches and then using them as a good steward for God would be extremely rewarding now and forever.
I think that John has hit on something very important in this discussion: the Teacher is not bemoaning the acquisition of things but rather doing so in the hopes of finding continuing happiness.
The new term being bantered about in relation to this topic is "transumers." TrendWatching.com is a marketing service that monitors current trends. They write, in part, “Luxury consumers are spending more, in many cases lots more, on life-changing experiences, while their need for luxury goods is waning. Spending on luxury experiences in the US, including travel, dining, entertainment, spas and beauty services and home services, nearly doubled, from an average of USD 11,632 in 2004 to USD 22,746 in 2005: a 95.5 percent increase" (source: Pam Danzinger, Unity Marketing).
The question becomes are people more satisfied with these experiences then they were with the goods they gave up for the experiences.
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