Dead End

Dead End

A life unfulfilled is a life unlived. The greatest desire of man is to live with a purpose for his existence and finding happiness. Life must have meaning to give a sense of direction and set before the wanderer a promise of hope. From childhood the heart yearns for acceptance to be somebody. The drive of success fuels emotions to reach beyond the limits of expectation as the road of life stretches miles beyond the horizon. Nations rise from the ashes of lives spent building empires of power, wealth and prestige. The world revolves around the fevered pace of men racing through the highways and byways of pleasure seeking fortunes that fail as a mist in the early morning. Lost along these seemingly endless roads of life is the tattered sign of reality that reads, “Dead End.”

A life unfulfilled is a life unlived. When life is measured by the wisdom of man there can be no fulfillment. The efforts expended along this stretch of highway can only be characterized as a dead end. It has great promise but comes to nothing. There is nothing beyond. A dead end means the end is empty, without value and worthless. Legion is the lives of those who seek to find happiness in pleasure, power, wealth and wisdom yet the fulfillment they desire is lost. At the end of the road there is nothing to hold on to for the grave takes it all.

A life fulfilled is a life lived. The story is told of a man in the early days of the automobile that was stopped along the road trying to get his Model-T Ford running again. A wealthy man came by asking what the problem was. Being told the engine had quit the well-dressed gentleman went to work on the motor and in short time had the engine running. Asked how he knew how to fix the motor the gentleman replied, “I am Henry Ford. I know how to fix it because I built it.” Moses writes in Genesis 1:27 “So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.” Man is a created being by the hand of God and the only happiness and purpose to life man will ever find will come from the hand of his creator.

A life fulfilled is a life lived. King Solomon tried to find his purpose in life with wisdom, power, and wealth and pleasure (Ecclesiastes 1-2). His conclusion was that life is a dead end if you do not live it with God. The message from Ecclesiastes is an examination of life from a man that was blessed with wisdom beyond the imagination of any man that has ever lived. Yet Solomon’s life could not be fulfilled any more than the lives of anyone else save through the knowledge of his Creator. The whole of man is to “fear God and keep His commandments” (Ecclesiastes 12:13). In reality life is not a dead end because there is life beyond the grave. Solomon reminds all men the fulfillment of life is not found in this life but the life that is to come. “For God will bring every work into judgment, including every secret thing, whether good or evil” (Ecclesiastes 12:14).

A life unfulfilled or a life fulfilled? A life unlived or a life lived? The choice you make will determine what view you have of life. To most people life is a dead end because there will be no happiness apart from the Creator (Matthew 7:13-14). For the few that find the narrow gate they will find life fulfilled in a relationship with the One who gave His only begotten Son and everlasting life (John 3:1-21).