Looking For Something More

 

We’ve been looking at Hebrews 11 and the fruit of faith as it is exhibited in the lives of those that follow after God.  Last night, I saw yet another example of the spiritual emptiness of pursuing the things that the flesh desires.  I had gotten in late and sat down to let my mind relax before I went to bed and flipped on the TV.  Jay Leno was interviewing Jimmy Connors, the world-famous tennis star from the 70’s and 80’s.  Apparently he has written an autobiography that is pretty in-depth about his life before, during, and after his tennis career.  After the usual small talk, Leno mentioned that Connors had had a pretty significant gambling problem throughout his playing days.  Connors agreed, mentioned that it had been in his family for years, and gave a couple of extreme examples of the negative impact that it had on him.  Then came one of those moments that people need to hear more often; a moment in which the blinders come off and the false advertising of the flesh is swept away.

Connors said, “I was looking for something more.  I thought tennis would give me everything, you know, that feeling of the excitement and the thrill of winning and of playing on wide open stages all around the world.  But it wasn’t, it just didn’t satisfy.  I was missing something because tennis didn’t fill my whole day.”

I’ve heard similar laments from the rich and famous, such as Joe Namath and Tom Brady, men who according to the world’s standards have it all, but the emptiness that they express proves the premise of our study in Hebrews 11, that the physical world, experienced by our five senses are only half of the real world and anyone whose focus ignores the spiritual half will end up lonely, empty, and lost.

It confirms a conclusion I drew years ago about why so many people are convinced that Elvis isn’t dead.  Elvis had everything that this world associates with happiness; fame, talent, popularity, wealth, beautiful women, success, and yet he drank and drugged himself to death because he found no peace and satisfaction in any of it.  Many people would rather deceive themselves into believing that he is living on a spaceship with JFK and Marilyn Monroe than to accept that the things that they believe will make them happy are truly just empty promises without a relationship with Jesus Christ.

In contrast, I remember walking down a street in Cebu City, the Philippines, in 1999 and seeing the impoverished conditions of so many of the people there.  They had created for themselves little booths along the sides of the street where, by day, they sold pot holders that they had woven from scraps of material they had scavenged from a nearby factory.  When the sun went down, they simply pulled their wares off of the table and laid down on a matt inside the booth and slept for the night. 

What jumped out at me was the smiles on their faces and the joy in their hearts.  They were laughing and singing and talking as they passed the day.  I mentioned to the Filipino pastor that was with us, “I am amazed at how joyful they are in spite of their poverty.”

He said, “Oh, no, Pastor, this is not poverty.  They make enough each day to supply their needs for that day, so they are satisfied.  Their joy does not come from what they own.  It comes from Who they know.”

Not a bad lesson for American Christians to learn.

Sadly, Jimmy Connors never mentioned finding a solution for his gambling problem.  Based on what I heard in the interview, it is unlikely that he has come to know Christ.  Maybe he needs to move to Cebu for a while and sell pot-holders.  I have a friend that could set him up with a booth and tell him where to find that something, no, Someone, who could fill that emptiness.