Commenting on the message of Ecclesiastes, my daughter exclaimed, “Solomon really wanted to get his point across! He repeats again and again, ‘All is vanity.’ I don’t have to guess what he is going to say next!”
I smiled, and told her the story of Christopher Hitchens, the famous atheist who opposed God all of his life. A heavy drinker, Hitchens wasted his life in immorality and worldly pursuits. Then he got esophageal cancer and died at 62. Now, he might be in hell for eternity. That is what Solomon meant when he said, “All is vanity.”
If God created us for Himself and we never got to know Him—not here and not there, is there any worth in such a life? A life without God is a waste of time.
Don’t get me wrong, Christopher Hitchens’ life was to the eyes of God a precious life. I bet you God looked at him during one of those debates he had with Christians, and sighed, “If he only knew…”
At the end of his life, Jesus was still there, while Christopher Hitchens read the Gospel of John with a true friend—Christian writer Larry Taunton. God not only gave Hitchens every opportunity to repent while listening to the many arguments for Christianity, but He even sent him a Christian friend! Jesus’ love is amazing!
God cared about Hitchens, and was by him to the very end. Did Hitchens finally get it? Did he repent, and put his faith in the God who never gave up on him? We won’t know this side of eternity but… what about you?
Are you wasting your life fighting God? Look at your hero seeking answers in God’s Word during his last days. Look at his life and ponder… was it worth it?
One Truth One God 