When I was a new Christian, I had a friend from Belize named Kesri. He had a seriousness about his faith, but also a way of bursting out in joy every so often. I was reminded of him today by something in the news. Jeff Bezos got married again. In Venice. I have no doubt it was one of the most expensive weddings in the history of mankind. And it was attended by exactly the kind of people you would expect to be able to afford attending a wedding in Venice of one of the world’s richest men.
I saw this and thought, “Such a paltry and pitiful display.” Not by any jealousy. My mind never went to, “Gee, I wish I had enough money for a wedding in Venice.” Not at all. I just though, who would want that but a shallow failure?
You must be thinking, “What?! Jeff Bezos a shallow failure?!”
Of course.
Because he’s going to get on his private jet back to wherever and the Venice wedding will soon be a forgotten memory…but he will still stuck with the consequences of his life. Yeah, it sounds good to have near unlimited wealth — the ability to do whatever one wants, whenever one wants. But many of us will live to see the Jeff Bezos funeral in the not-to-distant future (probably not me, but statistically, most people alive today will outlive a 61-year-old, no matter how rich). Then what?
Then we can consider all of those A-listers who spent the last few days in Venice. I’m not saying that all of them are facing a less than ideal eternity — I have no way of knowing that. I’m saying, what will become of them and all that they’ve left behind of themselves? They’ve yachted and jetted about, dressed immaculately, photographed incessantly for display to the world. And yet, they’re all bound to wither as the flowers of the field.
Sometimes it seems we are just so pitifully entertained by things which ultimately have no meaning at all.
And this is where my friend Kesri comes to mind. Because on one of those days of joyful outburst, he said something that’s stuck with me these 30-plus year. Kesri was reading his Bible in our church sanctuary when suddenly he yelled out, “I’m rich!!! My daddy owns the cattle on a thousand hills!!!”
Kesri got it. He knew he had a father who promised the wealth of eternity. A wedding in Venice pales in its pitiful comparison.
The Mighty One, God the Lord,
speaks and summons the earth
from the rising of the sun to its setting.Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty,
God shines forth.Our God comes; he does not keep silence;
before him is a devouring fire,
around him a mighty tempest.He calls to the heavens above
and to the earth, that he may judge his people:“Gather to me my faithful ones,
who made a covenant with me by sacrifice!”The heavens declare his righteousness,
for God himself is judge! Selah“Hear, O my people, and I will speak;
O Israel, I will testify against you.
I am God, your God.Not for your sacrifices do I rebuke you;
your burnt offerings are continually before me.I will not accept a bull from your house
or goats from your folds.For every beast of the forest is mine,
the cattle on a thousand hills.I know all the birds of the hills,
and all that moves in the field is mine.“If I were hungry, I would not tell you,
for the world and its fullness are mine.Do I eat the flesh of bulls
or drink the blood of goats?Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving,
and perform your vows to the Most High,and call upon me in the day of trouble;
I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me.”But to the wicked God says:
“What right have you to recite my statutes
or take my covenant on your lips?For you hate discipline,
and you cast my words behind you.If you see a thief, you are pleased with him,
and you keep company with adulterers.“You give your mouth free rein for evil,
and your tongue frames deceit.You sit and speak against your brother;
you slander your own mother’s son.These things you have done, and I have been silent;
you thought that I was one like yourself.
But now I rebuke you and lay the charge before you.“Mark this, then, you who forget God,
lest I tear you apart, and there be none to deliver!The one who offers thanksgiving as his sacrifice glorifies me;
to one who orders his way rightly
I will show the salvation of God!”Psalm 50