Thursday, October 9, 2014

the ironic tragdy of things












His name was Anthony Patch, and although the key fictional figure in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s second novel, The Beautiful and Damned, he is a good reminder of how not to go through life.  Remember it was Scott who would write “the rich are different,” and the book centers on a young Anthony from age 25 to 31, and his marriage to Gloria.  Both are sad and best forgotten characters, but somehow even though the book wasn’t that great, many reviewers still today refer to it by its acronym, BAD, maybe it was the depressing nature of the characters rather than the plot.  It is set over 100 years ago, 1910, and was written in 1922, but the themes seem timeless, although time would run out for Anthony and Gloria.
Anthony was a socialite, today we call them partiers, whose main goal in life was staying in good graces with a rich tycoon in his family, so as to receive the whole of the inheritance.  Living the lifestyle of the rich before he had any money, he falls into alcoholism, depression, and the marriage hangs on barely, Anthony wanting the inheritance, and Gloria wanting Anthony.  A couple gladly not wasted on anyone else, they truly deserved each other.  They live in the present, dreaming of  the inheritance they will get one day, but are consumed by the past.  And we find that at the end, where they were once young and vibrant, that in their early thirties they finally receive the inheritance, but their lifestyle has left them bedridden and sick, we find them being attended to as two old people would be, sailing on a ship bundled up alone and miserable.  Getting what they wanted, just not wanting what they got.  They set out to reap the rich and glorious, only to find rich and glorious don’t necessarily go hand in hand.  They inherited what they thought as the world, but ended up costing them their souls.
An all too familiar premise today too.  When first starting out in life, we are going to change the world, make money, become successful, and live happily ever after.  Then we find the world changes us, we downgrade the definition of success to reality, and live miserably.  We have taken on the things of the world, and they have won.  Some get it early and change their priorities, some live waiting for the next deal to be the one that sets them on the road to success.  When young, I was invited to an Amway meeting, meeting the ones who had made it, only to find their real theme was to “fake it until you make it.”  Live beyond your means, and when your ship comes in, then you can pay back the loans that had you live rich when you weren’t.  And many did and do, the outward appearance of success to their peers keeping their egos fed, until one day the notes come due, the money isn’t there, and the ones they tried to impress aren’t worth impressing.  And you end up miserable like Anthony and Gloria did.  Their ship has come in, only it takes oars to row it, and they don’t have the energy to do it.  So they sit tied to the dock, watching the tide roll in....
This has sadly happened to churches along the way.  Where each new church set out to do things differently, and get closer to God than the one they just left, not making the same mistakes as the one they just left.  But without God in it, it will fail, and we see too much of that today.  There was a time when I thought the world had invaded the church, but I was to find out that the church invited the world in.  Then locked the doors behind it, and wouldn’t let it out.  Basing success on full pews, overflowing offerings, and social programs.  We are big, so we must be successful, never knowing how miserable they really are.  Teachings that are trendy rather than spirit inspired, or even scriptural.  Don’t rock the boat, or the giving will stop, and as long as they are rich, they brag about their success.  Yet they are poor, broken, and miserable on the inside.  They have inherited the things of the world, found they are miserable, only their pride will keep them from repenting, and trading their valuables for values.  And it didn’t need to be that way. 
I have attended churches that where the pastor gives an order, based on what he believes is the truth.  “Go out and bring in the lost,” he declares, “and I will get them saved.”  And the congregation tries, they invite many to church, but none come.  As the weeks go by, the new building they built to house the multitude that never comes, sits empty.  The buses bought to bring them in sit empty, and then he blames the congregation, “you didn’t do your part, so I can’t do mine.”  It is their fault, never his, and soon the congregation dwindles to nothing.  They were hungry for God, and still are, and go where they can be fed.  Where Jesus is the main thing, and the truth is taught.  And someday another church, one of God will buy the buildings for pennies on the dollar, reaping the benefits of following God, rather than seeking worldly success through numbers.  A property that was once beautiful, but became damned, but resurrected by God.  Like many of the lives that will fill it.  For when God builds the church, we don’t labor in vain.  And sadly those who sought fame and fortune in the church will find out that they gave up their souls, only to be owned by what they desired.  Meanwhile the meek shall inherit the earth.  And as I look around at the earth today, there isn’t much I want to inherit.  What good is a rich relation if they have to die so you can inherit?
We have Jesus, who did die so we can inherit, but he is alive, and the earth we will inherit is not what we see today.  Roads paved in gold, not filled with potholes on many freeways today.  No fences, no police, no crime, as all sin is gone.  No government trying to deceive, along with lying politicians, for we will have an almighty king, a benevolent despot whose love for us cannot be matched.  No sickness, no bad days, as in his presence we will have it all.  Everything promised in the Bible and more-call it Amazing Grace, for there are no words to describe it.  But yet hell is described, a place of weeping and gnashing of teeth.  Just like on the same earth the lost struggled so hard to conquer.  They may have gained the world, but it cost them their soul, instead of being souled out to Jesus.  The ironic tragedy being that God will give you the desires of your heart, and when it is him, you get all of him.  But when you choose the world, you get the world, and lose everything.  Just like Anthony and Gloria did.  Old before their time, too ill to enjoy what they had desired, losers in life.  And like everyone else, when they die, they will leave everything.  So rich, yet so poor. 
So choose Jesus today, and enjoy life.  Set your sight on things on high, heaven, and desire the better things of God.  If your dreams are met here on earth, you will find you are short changed, as the real riches are found in heaven.  So rich that it doesn’t matter.  When you choose Jesus you end up getting the whole world, the perfect one you set out in search of, or tried to find.  You will live forever in the comfort of Jesus, and we don’t have to wait.  Today is practice for the future, our job to be ambassadors of Christ, telling others how Jesus saved, so they can escape the trap of death when they die.  And begin life anew today in his spirit.  “On earth as it is in heaven,” not the other way around.  Many will try the world’s way and fail.  But those who choose Jesus will find life, and an abundance of it.  God’s promise, and he never fails to deliver.  We will all struggle in life, why come up short at the end, when victory is there for you.  Choose the wisdom of God and his ways, and you inherit the earth.  A new earth prepared just for us, by our creator.  And who knows us better than the one who created us. 
Seems there was this couple named Ananias and Sapphira who once sold some land, and held back form God.  So he held back from them.  Like Anthony and Gloria they wanted all, and ended up owing all.  Think about it.  “He is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep, to gain what he cannot lose.”  What’s in your wallet?  Better yet, who is in your heart?
love with compassion,
Mike
matthew25biker.blogspot.com