In a Nutshell 5-9-10
Because of the recent suicides in our community, I decided to spend this week talking about the subject of suicide and why some choose it. We started by considering a quote from philosopher Blaise Pascal.
“All men seek happiness. This is without exception. Whatever different means they employ, they all tend to this end…. The will never takes the least step but to this object. This is the motive of every action of every man, even of those who hang themselves.”
What does he mean when he says that those who commit suicide do so to achieve happiness? How can this be? First, we have to understand the concept of treasure. Every person has a treasure and everyone seeks for happiness in that treasure. Their treasure could be anything: careers, cars, money, family, boyfriends, girlfriends, fame, entertainment, music, possessions, sports, good feelings…
Everyone has a treasure. Everyone gets mad when someone messes with or something happens to their treasure. When our treasure is tampered with we do something about it. This explains many people’s strange behavior. It explains why people have fits of rage or outbursts. Someone messed with their treasure and they are going to do something about it. When I was in High School my treasure was my girlfriend. One evening I planned to go on a date with her but my parents said that I had to stay home and spend time with my relatives who were visiting from out of town. I pitched a big fit and finally got my way and was able to go on my date. Why did I act that way? Because someone was messing with my treasure.
In Matthew 6:21 Jesus said, “For where your treasure is there will your heart be also.” If we have our heart set on something then we will do a lot of things for that treasure. If we are seeking for happiness in that treasure we will spend our time, talent, and money on it. If someone’s treasure is their car then they will spend all their spare time fixing their car. They will spend their extra cash on their car. And they will use their talents to work on their car.
It’s important for us to discover our treasure. We must go treasure hunting to uncover what our treasure really is. There are several questions you can ask to find out what your treasure is.
Treasure finding questions
What would you do if you won $1,000,000?
What is the one thing that you desperately want to have?
What really ruins your day?
What picks you up in the middle of a bad day?
What do you think about the most?
Finish this sentence “I just wish that …”
All of these questions reveal what you treasure the most. The answer that you give tells you what you truly treasure. What you treasure tells you where you are seeking for happiness. If your primary treasure is not God, there is a problem. In Matthew 6:19ff Jesus tells us that the problem with earthly treasures is that they are temporary. If your treasure is your girlfriend, she can dump you. If your treasure is your car, it will rust and become obsolete. If your treasure is popularity, it will end someday. The problem occurs when we realize that our treasure is worthless. When people discover that the thing they are seeking happiness in does not give them happiness they do crazy things. Jim Berg says it this way,
“The emptiness of life without God at the center pushes itself to the consciousness once again when the music stops, the drugs wear off, the accomplishments fade, and the thrills subside. They are left to themselves, and the emptiness for most people is too much. Instead of crying out to God for light, however, they dive back into their activities…”
When people discover that happiness is not found in their treasure they do one of two things. They either find a new treasure or they give up and decide to end their lives. Some conclude that if they cannot find happiness in anything then life is not worth living and they would be happier dead than alive. When we search for happiness in temporal things, we end up with emptiness. What Blaise Pascal said is important to consider at this point.
“What else does this craving, and this helplessness, proclaim but that there was once in man a true happiness, of which all that now remains is the empty print and trace?
This he tries in vain to fill with everything around him, seeking in things that are not there the help he cannot find in those that are, though none can help, since this infinite abyss can be filled only with an infinite and immutable object; in other words by God himself.”
The fact is that the only thing that can give us true happiness is immutable, infinite, and eternal. But nothing on this earth meets those standards. We all have a God shaped hole within us that only God can fill. My son Jack has a plastic toy at home that he likes to play with. It has holes cutout in it with accompanying plastic blocks. The point of the toy is to put the blocks in the corresponding holes. Jack isn’t smart enough to realize that the pentagon block doesn’t go in the square hole. But he tries to cram it in there anyway. People are a lot like Jack. They try to fill the void within them with things that do not fit. They search for happiness in all the wrong places. In the end they realize that the void is not being filled and get frustrated. Life just does not work without God at the center.
As an illustration, we considered the lyrics from some secular songs. The artists who wrote these songs are unbelievers. Just like every other man they tried to find satisfaction in temporal things. The songs they wrote reveal their frustration when they discovered that they could not find satisfaction in these things. I told the students that considering these lyrics is not an endorsement of their music. It’s important however, to see the heart condition of unbelievers and the best way to see it is to read their words. I pity these people because they are so empty.
The first song we considered is called Something’s Missing by John Mayer.
I’m dizzy from the shopping malls
I searched for joy, but I bought it all
It doesn’t help the hunger pains
and a thirst I’d have to drown first to ever satiate
Something’s missing
And I don’t know how to fix it
something’s missing
And I don’t know what it is at all
I can’t be sure that this state of mind, is not of my own design
I wish there was an over the counter test, for loneliness like this
Friends -check- Money -check-
Well slept -check- Opposite sex -check-
Guitar -check- Microphone -check-
Messages waiting for me, when i come home -check-
How come everything I think I need, always comes with batteries
What do you think it means?
The second song we looked at was Paranoid by Ozzy Osbourne.
Finished with my woman
cause she couldn’t help me with my mind!
people think i’m insane
because I am frowning all the time!
All day long I think of things
but nothing seems to satisfy
Think I’ll lose my mind
if I don’t find something to pacify
Can you help me, occupy my brain?
I need someone to show me
the things in life that I can’t find
I can’t see the things that make true
happiness, I must be blind
Make a joke and I will sigh
and you will laugh and I will cry
Happiness I cannot feel
and love to me is so unreal
The last song we looked at was Satisfaction by the Rolling Stones.
I can’t get no satisfaction
I can’t get no satisfaction
‘Cause I try and I try and I try and I try
I can’t get no. No no no.
All of these lyrics show that satisfaction is not found in earthly things. John couldn’t find it in friends, money, popularity, possessions, or anything else. Ozzy couldn’t find it in women. He kept searching but still concluded that “nothing seems to satisfy.” When I read the heart’s cry of these men I feel sorry for them. They want happiness but they are looking for it in all the wrong places. The interesting thing about these artists is that they ask for help. Mayer asks, “what do you think it means?” Ozzy asks, “can you help me?” He says he needs someone to show him where to find true happiness. I told the students that all of their unsaved friends have the same heart’s cry. The unsaved are asking for help and we have the answer.
The answer is God. We have to exchange our treasure for God. In Isaiah 55 God invites all who are thirsty to quench their thirst in Him. Jesus told the woman at the well that He could give her living water that would eternally quench her inner thirst. God is the gospel. He’s the only one that can fulfill our hearts desires. I challenged the students to share the gospel with their friends in the same way. In Isaiah 55 God invites people to find their satisfaction in Him. He asks them why they try to find satisfaction in things that do not satisfy. In verses 2-3 He says they must listen. In verse 6 He says they must seek for true satisfaction in Him. In verse 7 He says they must forsake their old ways.
I ended by challenging the students to make God the center of their lives and to point others to the only One Who can truly satisfy.
