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I Have Failed In Life (Kent Heaton) Spencer Tracy is listed as one of the top one hundred movie stars of all time. A superstar of the 1940 films, Tracy became the first to receive back-to-back Oscars (1937/1938) and was nominated for numerous other Oscars. From the accolades given by men, Spencer Tracy is a pillar of admiration for millions who have seen his films and admired his work. In a conversation about Spencer Tracy, fellow actor Burt Reynolds recalled the time he spent with the actor. Reynolds, commenting on the unwavering success of Tracy’s work, asked if there was anything Tracy had every failed at. Tracy replied, "I have failed in life." It is easy to see great men for what we see them to be and what we want them to be. Spencer Tracy is one of my favorite actors and I look forward to seeing any movie he is in. The truth about real life is that it is a harder master than what Hollywood portrays on the silver screen. A former Jesuit prep-school student who once intended to become a priest, Tracy understood the true nature of life. I believe this to be true for all men. No matter the successes of life and the accomplishments of a lifetime of work, man is still created in the image of God (Genesis 1:27). It is from this likeness of God that all men possess a conscience that makes them aware of their immortal being. The vast majority of the world has seared that conscience in rejection of God (Matthew 7:13; Romans 1:28; Ephesians 4:19). When life is measured by the rule of true worth, the things that men seek for are without value. Solomon sought all the things that men seek today. He sought after wisdom and concluded, "I have seen everything that is done under the sun; and behold, all is vanity and a striving after wind." (Ecclesiastes 1:14) Solomon sought after pleasure and discovered that it was vanity. He filled his life with wine and song and laughter and found it all to be without substance. His possessions were multiplied beyond comparison with houses, vineyards, gardens, parks, pools and forest of trees but all this was empty. He writes, "And whatever my eyes desired I did not keep from them; I kept my heart from no pleasure, for my heart found pleasure in all my toil, and this was my reward for all my toil. Then I considered all that my hands had done and the toil I had spent in doing it, and behold, all was vanity and a striving after wind, and there was nothing to be gained under the sun." (Ecclesiastes 2:10-11) Does this sound familiar in your mad dash for all that life will offer? Are we so consumed by the pursuit of this world and all the accolades of men and glory of men and find that in life we fail? Jesus posed this serious question for all to consider: "For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?" (Matthew 16:26) When you are closing your eyes in death, what will it matter how much money you have in the bank? What will it matter if you lived in a big mansion and drove expensive cars? What will it matter that you filled your life with the pleasures of the flesh? What really matters when death knocks on the door of your heart? Solomon’s conclusion to his study of life (the book of Ecclesiastes) is this: "Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man. For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil." (Ecclesiastes 12:13-14) Life is not about what we gain here but what we seek to gain after death. Life is not about the praise of men but the praise of the Father who says, "Well done, good and faithful servant." (Matthew 25:23) Jesus said, "If any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. … For the Son of man is to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay every man for what he has done." (Matthew 16:24-27) |