About 1938 the Saturday Evening Post published a poem called “The Night they Burned Shanghai”. As I understand it, the theme had to do with the hatred and killing in Asia that preceded W.W. II. The poem ends with these words:
“For some men die by shrapnel,
And some go down in flames.
But most men perish inch by inch
In play at little games.”
That’s sad but true. Most people have no idea what their God-given purpose is. Pastor Greg Laurie recently reported the findings of Psychologist William Moulton Marston who surveyed 3,000 people by asking this question, “What do you have to live for?” He was shocked to find that 94% were simply enduring the present while they were waiting for the future. They described this as “waiting for something to happen….waiting for tomorrow”. How sad! It is heart-breaking to think about all those endowed with the precious gift of life who are merely existing rather than living. They are wandering about aimlessly, wondering what might happen, without any sense of purpose.
For them life is a mindless mystery. Like a butterfly going from one flower to another they wander from one fleshly pleasure to another trying to find satisfaction, but always coming up empty, and bored. Jack London said, “The proper function of man is to live..not to exist”. Yet most people are just marking time as they head toward the grave. They try to entertain themselves “in play at little games”, but they are always discontent–dying “inch by inch”. Rather than follow them let us say with Paul, “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” (Phil. 1:21) –HDS
