Are The Vultures Waiting For You?
March 28, 2010 Leave a Comment
This morning on the way to church we passed a cow pasture near our home. As we rounded the corner we saw about 30 or 40 vultures on the ground near a large black bull. The bull was lying down but still alive and for whatever reason the vultures could sense that his end was probably near.
This sight was a hard thing to explain to my kids.
The bull was reduced from his former glory to this. Once he had the run of the herd, now he’s surrounded by creatures waiting to divide him up. If this wasn’t enough of an indignity, one of the vultures had even decided to stand on the bull’s back to wait for his demise.
In a way we’re all going to end up like this bull one day. All the things we poured our lives into obtaining, will be divided up. All our efforts at success, all our striving towards the trappings that go with our consumer culture will mean nothing at the end.
The biblical Solomon put it this way:
So I became great and surpassed all who were before me in Jerusalem. Also my wisdom remained with me. 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 expended in doing it, and behold, all was vanity and a striving after wind, and there was nothing to be gained under the sun. – Ecclesiastes 2:9-11 ESV
Into what are you pouring your efforts? Is it eternal or vanity?
