Answer: This question is very practical. The Bible said: “I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and, behold, all is vanity and vexation of spirit” (Ecclesiastes 1:14). This is the same feelings of many people who are experienced in life. But a very few people know why they still can’t be freed from spiritual emptiness after pursuing fame, gain and enjoyment all their life.
I read God’s words that say: “No matter how well you eat, how nice your house is, how good your clothes are, how comfortable your life is, or how many of your desires have been fulfilled, this is all empty. After that, you look for death—the final outcome is death. Would you say that the happiness pursued by unbelievers is true happiness? Actually, it isn’t. It is what people imagine happiness to be, and it is a depraved method, a path that makes people depraved. People’s pursuit of this is not the objective that normal humanity ought to have, it is not the value in living. What was planted by Satan has caused people to make this their objective. Satan has used this means to benumb people, to corrupt, attract, entice, and beguile them, making them think that this is happiness, making them chase that goal. People think that this is happiness, that only when they gain this will they be happy, and so, regardless of how much effort it takes, they chase that goal—and the result is, once they’ve achieved it, they still feel that they haven’t gained true happiness, yes? (Yes.) This proves that this is not the right path, that it is the path to death.”
God’s words disclose the root cause of the problem. It’s Satan who entices and corrupts man with worldly materials, which misleads us to pursue fame, status, authority and to pursue food, clothes, enjoyment. We mistakenly think we will have happiness after having all these. In fact, we will be further and further away from God as we pursue like this. Therefore, our life is in vain as we live for fame and gain, for food or clothes all our lives. There’s no exception for those who are successful in people’s eyes, and many of them have depression or commit suicide because of the empty and meaningless life. Thus, we can see that it’s not the right path of human life if man pursues money, fame, flesh and it will only lead them to stray further and further from God and to become more and more painful.
How to live a valuable and meaningful life? God’s words say: “When you repeatedly investigate and carefully dissect the various goals of life that people pursue and their various different ways of living, you will find that not one of them fits the Creator’s original intention when He created humanity. All of them draw people away from the Creator’s sovereignty and care; they are all pits into which humanity falls, and which lead them to hell. After you recognize this, your task is to lay aside your old view of life, stay far from various traps, let God take charge of your life and make arrangements for you, try only to submit to God’s orchestrations and guidance, to have no choice, and to become a person who worships God.” God’s words help me realize that we should come before God, accept His guidance and obey His orchestration so that we can be away from all sorts of satan’s temptation and walk the right path of human life, just like Job who lived under God’s guidance and blessings his whole life. He was relieved as he was leading an upright and honorable life, which is meaningful.