I was watching a documentary program on TV which covered a business district in Pusan, Korea where many street stalls were located that sell a variety of popular street food and drinks. A street stall, also called “Po-jang-macha” in Korean, is a popular place to have a snack or drink late into the night. The documentary captured various aspects of what was happening on the street.
As I was watching the program, an interview with a man who was eating and drinking by himself in a street stall vendor caught my attention. When he was asked why he was there alone, he said he’s been coming to this particular street stall for over 20 years since he was in his early thirties, and he began to reminisce about his life. Then he said, “Isn’t life a rental? No matter how much or how little you acquire or accumulate in this world when you leave this world, you must leave everything here because you can’t take anything with you. We own nothing here, and we’re all going back to the same place where we came from…”
King Solomon said in Ecclesiastes 5:15, “Naked a man comes from his mother’s womb, and as he comes so he departs. He takes nothing from his labor that he can carry in his hand.” Solomon was a man who lived his life with no restraints. But, did you know that at the end of the journey of his life, he was a very unhappy man? He starts out by saying in Ecclesiastes 1:2, “’Meaningless! Meaningless! Utterly Meaningless! Everything is meaningless!” He had done and achieved much but his life was empty. He found life to be miserable and hopeless. He left God out of his life and ended up with nothing but emptiness for his life.
Are you living a meaningful and hope-filled life? You can only find a true meaningful and hope-filled life when you are tightly connected with God. Your life will remain empty and meaningless if you continue to seek a meaningful life from this world. People all around us are trying to find the same thing in many different ways, and you can go with the flow. Yes, you can argue that Solomon had and did all he wanted to do in his life, and that’s why he was able to say that. But when Solomon came to the conclusion of his life, he says in Ecclesiastes 12:13-14, “Now all had been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. For God will bring every deed into judgement, including every hidden thing, whether it is good or evil.”
You know what? You will never have enough in this world. Isn’t that the mark of our society? The insatiable desire for more... When you get a little bit, you will always want a little bit more. We are never satisfied with the money we make. Instead, we desire more money, a better job, and more and more of … We must remember that contentment is not found in more of this world. Contentment can only be found in a relationship with Jesus Christ.
The man at the street stall vendor (Po-jang-macha) in Korea at least recognized the reality of his life. He came to realize that his life was a rental, and knew when he leaves this world; he must leave everything behind here. Now the question is how about you? Do you keep looking to more of this world to find fulfillment in your life or are you trying to find the true meaning of your life through your relationship with Jesus Christ? Our life can only be a rental in this world, but in God’s Kingdom, your life is yours because God gives you a life that is permanent and everlasting through his Son Jesus Christ! That is what Christmas is all about. Jesus came to give you everlasting life which is not a rental but your own. Have a merry Christmas!!
From Pastor Neil’s Heart
December 20, 2015