BOOKLET 1
What is most important in life
Chapter 1: Thinking about life Chapter 2: What kind of life? Chapter 3: Why we need eternal life
Chapter 2: What kind of life?
There was once a teacher who was sick. There was cancer in her body. Some part of her body was not normal and was growing very quickly and would not stop. This made her body sick and she might not live long. She wanted to know what would happen if she were to die. She asked her students to write a composition with the title, "How I will spend my time if I have a few months left to live."
She said to her students, "There are people who talk about eternal life, everlasting life, and they want to live forever. I think that would be very boring, so I don't want to live forever." She thought that living forever would mean going on and on, just doing things in this world, and this would become very boring if it went on and on forever.
Would you want to live forever if all that you can do in life is just to play and work, eat and rest, doing things in this world over and over again?
Playing every day?
Eating when hungry?
Resting when tired?
When I was in Primary School, I had a friend who said to me one day, "I have already enjoyed myself in everything that I have wanted to enjoy. There is nothing left for me to enjoy."
Even when he was so young, he had seen that life would be boring and empty if all that we do is to go on and on doing the things in this world. This is so even when we try to find enjoyment from the things of this world.
Our time on earth will come to an end. Have you thought about death and what would happen after you die? What happens when people you love pass away? Where will they be? Will you see them again? Have you thought about life and what you really want?
Some people spend most of their time playing or working, and they think that enjoying themselves or earning money now, is more important. They may have the idea that they can think more about life and death later in life.
We do not know what will happen tomorrow. Some people die when they are very young. If they do not learn to live well now, they will not be ready to die.
Some people live until they are very old. When they become worried about death, they may not know how to find the answers to their questions. They may also be growing blind and becoming deaf. They may be frightened and lonely and afraid to die.
Some people feel happy because they are doing many things that they like. When things change suddenly and they are about to die, they may be very fearful.
Deep in our hearts, all of us want to find meaning in life. How do we do that? We usually live by what we like. We do the things that we find enjoyable and we feel happy.
We think so much about ourselves, how we can be great, how we can do many things in this world. We want to be clever and we want to be cleverer than other people. We want to be famous and we want people to like us. We want to do things that people will like. We want people to think about us and praise us. We want money and what it can buy because we think we will be happy then. We want to have power and we enjoy people listening to us and doing what we tell them to do.
When we do all this, we may feel very happy and we want more of it. Yet, deep in our hearts we know something is missing but we do not want to think about it. We are not truly peaceful deep inside but we still carry on.
Some day, when something important to us goes wrong and we cannot get what we want, we may begin to see the emptiness in our lives. With deep sadness, we may say, "Emptiness, all this is emptiness!"
There was once a king who tried, by his wisdom, to understand life in this world. He tried to find meaning in what he did. He was rich and powerful and he sought to enjoy himself in the things in this world.
He gathered many things for himself. He had many servants. Whatever he liked, he took for himself. He was very clever and people praised him. After all he did, he said, "Emptiness of emptiness! All is emptiness." This is what happened to King Solomon who was a king in Israel and he was the son of King David. You can read this in the Bible in the book of Ecclesiastes chapters 1 and 2.
If all we are seeking for is like that of this king, we will also find life to be empty. We will be living as if we are only eating the leftovers of life, from a rubbish bin that contains nothing of great value.
Are we eating from a bin that contains nothing of great value?
If you know only this kind of life of emptiness, you may also say like that teacher, "I do not want to live forever." That lady was my teacher in 1965 or 1966 and when she told us about her cancer, she looked sad and thoughtful. I felt very sorry for her.
In my composition, I wrote that if I had only a few months left to live, I would spend my time to seek to understand and to live a life that would have lasting meaning. I knew something about eternal life and I knew that it was not just being alive in this body. There is much meaning in eternal life. It is only when there is true meaning in life that it is worthwhile to live forever and to keep on growing in that meaning.
Since then, I have spent time to learn more about this eternal life and to seek to live in that way. Eternal life is meant to last for eternity but we do not have to wait till we die to receive it. We may receive it now while we are still living in this body. Eternal life is a life of deep meaning in our hearts and it brings meaning to everything that we do. How we live now will also affect how we will be after we die and leave this body. I will try to share with you some of the things that I have learnt about eternal life. With God's help, we may find deep and long-lasting meaning in life, now and after we die.
There was once a young man who heard about eternal life and he wanted very much to have this life. He was a rich man and he had tried hard to do the right things in life. One day, he came to the Lord Jesus and asked Him what he had to do that he might have eternal life. (We will learn more about who the Lord Jesus is as we go on in this book.)
He knew that the Lord Jesus could tell him how to find eternal life. He said that he had kept the commandments of God since young. However, when the Lord Jesus told him to sell all that he had and to give to the poor and then to come and follow Him, the young man became very sad. He was rich and he did not want to give up his riches even though the Lord Jesus explained that he would have meaningful treasure in Heaven if he were to do what He told him to do.
The rich man went away very sad. He did not find the eternal life that he wanted so much to have. He was not willing to say goodbye to his riches so as to learn from the Lord Jesus how to receive eternal life. His riches had captured his heart. What happened to this rich man is written in the Bible in the book of Matthew chapter 19, verses 16 to 30.
The meaning of what happened to the rich man can also happen to us although we may not be rich. We may also be gripped by the things of this world and be unwilling to give ourselves fully for that which is truly precious and valuable in life. We may long for the freedom in our hearts to be what we ought to be and yet find ourselves captured by the things that we like so much.
There are many things in this world that can hold you and grip you such that you become a slave to these things. You want these things so much that you are no longer free to do the things that you should do. You find then that in your heart you are not free, to be what you know you should be. You become like a prisoner in your own heart and like a bird living inside a cage.
Have you ever felt like a prisoner who cannot live a life of freedom? Have you ever longed to be free in your heart, to be what you ought to be, to be good and to find love and joy and peace?
Have you ever wished that you could fly...
...in your heart to be free...
...to be what you ought to be...
...and to rise up high...
...like an eagle in the sky?
What would you be willing to give up if you can have eternal life? Many people want to have this life but they also want to cling tightly to the things of this world and all its enjoyment.
If we want to have this life, there must be a change in our heart. The Lord Jesus says that if you cling on to your life in this world, you will lose your life but if you give up your life according to His teaching, you will find that eternal life. This is a difficult matter and it will take time to grow in understanding the meaning of His words. If you want to understand more, you could think over what He said in the Bible in the book of Mark chapter 8, verses 34 to 38.
Something to think about
The teacher thought that it would be boring to live forever because she had not received eternal life. She did not know that life could be very meaningful.
Do you feel sad for the king who said, "All is emptiness"? Why did he say that?
Do you know why the rich man went away, sad in his heart? Are you like him in some ways?
In life eternal is true happiness
Without it, life is but emptiness.