A little book recently republished—"The Mirage of Life" carries an important lesson, especially for young Christians. To them the world may seem very attractive and alluring; it may appear to offer something of real value that is within their reach. This book points out that the votaries of the world are often disappointed, for that which at first seemed very promising has either eluded them altogether, or brought with it sorrow and trouble. And the ones who have seemed to acquire most in the world must one day lie down and die, leaving it all behind.
Even the world has a philosophy that the pleasure is in the chase, and not in the prize. How often has it been proved that the world's favors have vanished just as easily and as disappointingly as the wayfarer's mirage in the desert has fled from him when he was faint and famished. The alluring oasis with its promise of water and shade proved to be only a deception to mock him when the reality was most needed.
The world's history is strewn with examples of those who vainly sought for happiness only to find it vanish as quickly as a broken bubble. That this world has its glory is not to be denied; that it is a vain and fleeting glory which will not satisfy the heart of man, is likewise a weighty fact. Solomon was allowed to taste most of the glories and pleasures here, but he wrote after each and all of them, "vanity and vexation of spirit." Oh, why should anyone have to learn the disappointing lesson for himself?
"The Mirage of Life" cites just a few examples to show the character of all here—"the man of fashion, the man of wealth, the hero, the statesman, the orator, the artist, the poet, the monarch," etc. Another book, one too large to be bound in one volume, could be compiled of such cases in the last fifty years. Hitler, Mussolini, the great generals and admirals, kings, rulers, statesmen, captains of industry, financial experts, and countless others including the Kaiser and the Czar of Russia, would find a place in its pages. Perhaps one of our readers may have the thought that all such cases are found in the records of other countries, and not here. Let us see what a large commercial enterprise in the United States wrote to some of its employees; we quote:
"FOOD FOR THOUGHT"
"In 1923 a very important meeting was held at the Edgewater Beach Hotel in Chicago. Attending this meeting were ten of the world's most successful financiers. They were:
"The president of the largest independent steel company.
The president of the National City Bank..
The president of the largest..utility company.
The president of the largest gas company
The greatest wheat speculator.
The president of the New York Stock Exchange.
A member of the President's Cabinet.
The greatest 'Bear' in Wall Street.
Head of the world's greatest monopoly.
President of the Bank of the International Settlements.
"We must admit that here was gathered a group of the world's most successful men; at least, men who found the secret of 'making' money. Twenty-five years later, let's see what became of them!
"The president of the largest independent steel company, Charles Schwab, died a bankrupt. He lived on borrowed money for five years before his death.
"The president of the greatest utility company, Samuel Insull, died a fugitive from justice, and penniless in a foreign land.
"The president of the greatest gas company, Howard Hopson, is now insane.
"The greatest wheat speculator, Arthur Cotten, died abroad, insolvent.
"The president of the New York Stock Exchange, Richard Whitney, was released recently from Sing Sing Prison.
"The member of the President's Cabinet, Albert Fall, was pardoned from prison so that he could die at home.
"The greatest `Bear' in Wall Street, Jesse Livermore, died a suicide.
"The head of the greatest monopoly, Ivar Krueger, died a suicide.
"The president of the Bank of the International Settlements, Leon Fraser, died a suicide.
"Life is tragic when one has plenty to live on, and nothing to live for. These men learned well the art of making money; but not one of them learned how to live! The effort to improve man's material conditions of life, without improving man himself, only hastens the hour of his destruction!"
Truly there is in this "food for thought" for anyone, saved or unsaved. This corporation sought to draw a moral lesson from the list of tragedies, but how, we ask, are you going to improve man himself? The world cast out
God's Son and is heading for certain doom; Satan is its god and prince who deceives people with its attractive veneer; and man is lost, has a fallen nature, is an enemy of God, is a sinner on the road to hell, unless and until, through the grace of God, he turns to God in repentance and believes in the Lord Jesus Christ as his Savior. What man needs is a new nature—"ye must be born again"—and a new Object for his heart entirely outside of this scene altogether.
To our young Christian readers we would say, You need never be disappointed by this world. Do you ask, How? never expect anything from it. Always remember that it is the same world—even the polite and amiable part of it—that crucified your Savior. The Apostle Paul was never disappointed by it. He said, "God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me. and I unto the world." Gal. 6:1414But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world. (Galatians 6:14).
To Paul, the world was as something fully rejected—crucified—and to the world, Paul was despised and rejected, for he was well known to have identified himself with the interests of the One they hated. He neither sought nor wanted its glories. His one object was to press on through it to reach Christ in glory: "This one thing I do... I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus." Phil. 3:13, 1413Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, 14I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 3:13‑14).
Moses at an earlier date forsook Egypt—the world in its glory at that time. What enabled
And you, dear young Christian,
will be able to say from the heart,
"O worldly pomp and glory,
Your charms are spread in vain;
I've heard a sweeter story;
I've found a truer gain,"
when you have the Lord Jesus Christ as your great attraction on the one hand, and have God's estimate of the world on the other.
In closing we quote a verse from Isa. 23, "The Lord of hosts hath purposed it, to stain the pride of all glory, and to bring into contempt all the honorable of the earth." v. 9. The world has many glories—political, military, commercial, educational, banking, manufacturing, professional, scientific, and many others—and has its great ones in the earth, but all is going to come down. All the pride of man is to be brought low. The child of God, however, belongs to another scene and cannot afford to indulge in seeking a place here where Christ had none—the day of his exaltation is coming. The same is true with the world's pleasures, and it has many; they arc only "for a season" (Heb. 11:2525Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season; (Hebrews 11:25)), but for the Christian there are pleasures at His right hand that are "for evermore" (Psalm 16:1111Thou wilt show me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore. (Psalm 16:11)). When we walk with God, enjoy communion with Him, have the interests of Christ on our hearts, and have fellowship one with another in these things, then we can taste such lasting pleasures even now. There are pleasures—known only to the obedient child of God—that shall continue right on and be enjoyed more fully in a scene of perfect glory.