Life is a Vain Pursuit

Growing up, I had a smooth life. However, this ease did not necessarily equate to inner peace. A persistent feeling gnawed at me: to understand the purpose of life.

I observed that people begin to ponder this question in their teens. The purpose of life. In university, I became obsessed with this exploration. I was determined to know what life was all about. To live and then die - what kind of state is that? These questions profoundly affected me and deeply influenced my path to faith.

Many get caught up in the rat race when they reach their thirties and forties, hustling in the workplace. By their fifties, sixties, and seventies, they forget the very purpose of their existence, consumed by the pursuit, the struggle, making money, competing. They come to believe that this is the natural order of things.

After graduation, I began to seek work, earn a living, and gradually forgot what life was all about. However, the calamities or hardships one encounters in life can prompt a re-evaluation of its purpose.

Today, I must assert that if you are unaware of the purpose of life, you likely are not living well. To live well, one must first understand that life is a vain pursuit. Reflect closely: we arrive empty-handed and depart empty-handed, with nothing to show for it.

Consider Alexander the Great, who conquered vast territories through relentless campaigns. Upon his death, he purportedly requested that holes be made in his coffin, so his hands could protrude, demonstrating that even in death, he could grasp nothing, take nothing with him. Such instances recur throughout human history.

Take Qin Shi Huang, for example, who unified China after defeating the seven warring states. Upon becoming emperor, his primary concern was the purpose of life. He desperately sought immortality, dispatching Xu Fu to find the elixir of eternal life. This episode is recorded in Chinese history.

Living is a Simple Matter

As a child, I often visited my maternal grandmother, who was then in her seventies or eighties. I noticed a large coffin in their courtyard. Unlike our modern coffins, which are narrow and barely accommodate a person, my grandmother's coffin was about a meter wide, a meter high, and nearly two meters long. The wooden planks were more than ten centimeters thick.

I observed that my grandmother would periodically lie in the coffin. Upon emerging, she would be filled with joy! The coffin, painted a glaring red, unnerved me.

But why did lying in the coffin bring her such joy? Because it reminded her that life is vanity of vanities, that we live only to die. At over seventy years old, how many years did she have left?

Emerging from the coffin, she felt cheerful. Why? Because her relationship with my aunt was strained. My aunt was a difficult person. This simple act could bring clarity. It made me wonder if we should all own a coffin and occasionally lie in it. After a while, one might think: If I die, there is no more pressure, nothing matters. In other words, if one understands that life is a vain pursuit, living becomes a simple matter. And if living is a simple matter, one should begin to seek the meaning of life.

If your final conclusion is that life is vanity of vanities, you will search for the meaning of life, which is called Mingding Destiny. If one finds the meaning of life, one has found the true God. The Bible tells us, Seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. (Luke 11:9-10)

What is most frightening? To live in a daze, engaging in worldly strife is detrimental. Today, we, my brothers and sisters, know that I have a simple reason for believing in the Lord. When I encountered suffering, I found life meaningless. I genuinely wanted to end my life, but I hesitated. I asked if there was a God in this world.

As I sought God, I wondered which God was worth seeking. We Chinese typically begin with Buddhism. But upon reflection, I felt something was amiss, and I began to attend church, feeling that the Christian God was the greatest.

Whether the Christian God is indeed the greatest requires careful examination. Later, I thought, I truly thank God, for he who seeks shall find! If you genuinely seek the meaning of life, truly see life and death clearly, I tell you, you will certainly find the true God. Why? Because the God of Christians is the God who grants eternal life.

Life is Both Wonderful and Impermanent

Many years ago, a director made a film called To Live, which told a compelling story. In 1995, I met a young man, who is now over 40. He told me his family's story, which closely resembled the one in the film.

His grandfather was a wealthy man; half the county belonged to his family. He married young, and his wife was a Christian who regularly attended church. He did not understand her faith. One day, she was killed by a Japanese bullet. When he brought her body home, he found it soft and peaceful. This deeply impacted him.

Although his wife died, he embraced her faith! He invited preachers to their home to preach. Because he neglected the family business, their property was divided among the tenant farmers.

By the time of the Chinese liberation, he had only a small house left. During the Down with the Landlords campaign, he was arrested. However, someone spoke up: Why are you arresting him? He is no longer a landlord; he only has one house left. He used to be, but not anymore!

The tenant farmer who had taken most of his property became a landlord and was executed. His grandfather then continued to believe in the Lord with his father, who became a preacher, spreading the gospel everywhere. Later, the young man came to Singapore to study at a theological seminary. I know his father; he established a very large church in China.

Hearing this story, I marveled at life's wonder! The tenant farmer lived a hard life. After toiling as a tenant for most of his life, he quickly became wealthy, only to be executed.

Life is impermanent! The tenant farmer's pursuit of wealth became his undoing. The child's grandfather, by neglecting his family's wealth, escaped disaster and lived. This story profoundly impacted people.

Today, we must truly consider what life is all about. Reading Ecclesiastes, some may feel that its words are somewhat pessimistic for a Christian, but upon reflection, whether it is truly pessimistic is debatable.

Ecclesiastes begins:

The words of the Preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem. Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher, vanity of vanities! All is vanity. What does man gain by all the toil at which he toils under the sun? (Ecclesiastes 1:1-3)

He speaks the truth. Today, none of you are Qin Shi Huang, so it may be hard to imagine. Try to imagine yourself as Qin Shi Huang, unifying China and becoming its supreme ruler. If you still cannot awaken, you cannot see life clearly.

Some have their own logical systems that they believe are firmly established. In our era, we worshipped Chairman Mao to the point of prostration. To see Chairman Mao was like seeing God. Today, if you go to Mao Zedong's Mausoleum in Tiananmen Square, where he lies in a crystal coffin, you will feel deeply moved.

Therefore, I must tell you today: Vanity of vanities is the foundation of our Christian faith. Once a person understands that life is vanity of vanities, you will take many things lightly, and pressure will quickly dissipate. Therefore, I believe that the thoughts in one's head deeply influence one's state of being. Once you lie in a coffin and contemplate life, many things will become meaningless.

Once You Reach the Peak, What You Need is Not Everything in the World

If something is meaningless, how can it cause pressure? Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem. Once you reach the peak of life, you will find that what you truly need is not worldly things.

There is a Chinese story: a man was fighting in a war and nearly died before becoming emperor. He was starving and encountered an old man who gave him a bowl of radish soup, which was the greatest pleasure of his life at the time.

After becoming emperor, he constantly thought about the taste of the radish soup. He sent people everywhere to find the old man who made the soup. The old man made him a bowl of the same radish soup, but the emperor said it did not taste as good. The old man said it was the same soup he made back then, but the emperor said it was not the same taste.

Don't you find it interesting? People are truly fascinating. As an emperor, his radish soup tasted bad, and even the finest delicacies did not taste good. How could he change so much? When he was near death, the bowl of radish soup from the poor old man was the greatest pleasure of his life.

I believe that once you understand these things in life, that bowl of radish soup may become your greatest pleasure!

So today, I have spoken so much. Why? I hope that you will know that the opening lines of Ecclesiastes are true: Vanity of vanities, vanity of vanities! All is vanity, everything is vanity. If everything is vanity, what are we living for? We must seek the meaning of life and Mingding Destiny!

In our church, the most important word is Mingding Destiny. What am I living for? What exactly am I living for? If you understand this, it is like a ship with a rudder, sailing toward a beautiful future; your life will be lived in beauty.

If one does not understand the way of life, one cannot live beautifully. All worldly things will become your chains, causing your heart to be troubled.

If you care about something, it will become your chain. If you care about your children, you will suffer when they are not doing well. If you care about your family, it will become your chain when things are not going well. If you care about your work, it will become your chain. If you care about nothing, I tell you, you will not only do well in your work but also live well. This is very important!

In other words, if one can understand the meaning of life, you will live very well. No one and nothing can take away your meaning of life. No one and nothing can become the chains of your life. You will live very freely and comfortably! Therefore, it is essential to see clearly what life is all about.

Some say, Pastor, I understand what you are saying. See through the mortal world and become a monk! That is not what I mean. If you see through everything, you will not become a monk, because becoming a monk means you have not seen through it.

If you see through it, you will earnestly seek eternal life and do things well. Once you see through it, you will enjoy all you do. Whether you live well or not is closely related to this concept.

Seek God, Seek the Meaning of Life

Four thousand years ago, there was an old man named Abraham. This old man was very interesting, and his thoughts were probably similar to mine. Why? Because he saw that people live and then die, one generation passes and another comes. What is the point? At 75 years old, he began to feel that living was meaningless. He wanted to seek destiny, to seek eternal life. At that time, he began to see through the mortal world.

Once he saw through the mortal world, (my use of this word is different from the common meaning) he understood the meaning of life and began to seek. God began to speak to him, saying, Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you. I will give that land to you. (Genesis 12:1)

Abraham had seen through life. He was a wealthy man, but he sold all his possessions and led his family out, beginning a wandering life.

If a person can make such a big decision, he must have been greatly stimulated. What was the stimulation? He saw through the meaning of life and followed God's word.

Why did he do this? Because he yearned to be a blessing to all nations on earth. This is the meaning of my life. I was living a meaningless life, but now I live a meaningful life. I live and was born for this purpose, to come into this world.

Today, we often do not see clearly. Jesus came into the world, shed his blood, and sacrificed himself on the cross. You say, Why would he do such a foolish thing in his thirties? But it was not foolish! They were born and came into this world for this purpose: to be a blessing to many people.

Today, if you and I have something called Mingding Destiny, it must be built on the foundation of being born and living for this purpose.

Why do people not live well today? They are shortsighted. When you see your death, you will awaken. I calculated that I have more than 10,000 days ahead of me. I must live well. Many people feel that they also have more than 10,000 days and must live well. Although they think the same way, their ideas are completely different.

Because I believe that these things in the world are vanity of vanities, I want to seek something called eternal life. I seek God, I seek the meaning of life. They also seek, but I carefully asked about their meaning, and it is no different from that of pigs, dogs, monkeys, and horses because they live for the sake of living.

If a person lives for the sake of living, they will accumulate wealth. If a person lives for the sake of living, they will think that having money will make them live well, but that is a myth. We have seen many people in this era who have money but do not live well.

Although I am not very wealthy, I have enough to eat and drink, and I live well! What is better than Mingding Destiny? Furthermore, when we seek God, we find God. When we find God, we live and are born for God, and we live out God's glory in our lives. How wonderful!

In an instant, we transform from ordinary people into divine beings. Do you want to be an ordinary person or a divine being? Of course, you want to be a divine being, because divine beings can perform miracles! Divine beings can do divine things! Ordinary people are helpless in the face of many things.

Walking with God is the Only Way Out

We often say, Every family has its own sutra that is difficult to recite. This sutra is indeed a bit hard to recite. Why is that? Too many difficulties! It's not that the sutra is hard to recite, but that we have not seen clearly.

If you put these things down and start living for God, I don't think you will be offended by me pushing you to serve. You won't be offended because you were born for this, you live for this, and you die for this. You are like Abraham, becoming a blessing to all nations and peoples on earth. That is Mingding Destiny!

I once met a person who had an engineer's certificate. His signature was valid for building structure projects. He was probably among the top six in his city. Only six people had his level of expertise, but he was not living well. Later, he also believed in the Lord. After believing, he asked his pastor at the church, Pastor, what is my Mingding Destiny in life? The pastor said, Your Mingding Destiny is to be an engineer.

Then he came to ask me about his Mingding Destiny. I said, Your Mingding Destiny is to become a blessing to all nations and peoples on earth. He said, No! My Mingding Destiny is to be an engineer. Then I said, Will you not live after you retire? What will you do after you retire? You won't be an engineer anymore. He was already in his fifties and would retire in ten years, after which he would lose the meaning of life. Isn't that so?

Therefore, the meaning of our lives must be built on a foundation that never moves—God. Living for God is the key!

Actually, he understood this not long ago. He then brought a person with cancer to me. That person with cancer was also a Christian. He had throat cancer. Even after treatment, he couldn't eat. When he ate, the food would go into his lungs. It was terrible. So he had a hole made in his stomach, and fluid food was constantly injected into it. He brought that person to me, asking me to pray for him. Then I first taught him, as he had many incorrect theological concepts inside.

After speaking so much, why is it that some people summarize Abraham's things, while others don't? It's because some people feel that living is very meaningful, but we feel that living has no meaning in the first place.

It is from coming out of a empty life that you will walk out a solid path of living out God's glory, and this path is called the path of having Mingding Destiny.

So the second half of Lesson 1 is called Obtaining the Blessing of Having Mingding Destiny, which we will share next week.

So today I want to talk to you about Abraham, this old man. The results of his observations are recorded in Genesis chapter 5:

When Enoch had lived 65 years, he fathered Methuselah. Enoch walked with God after he fathered Methuselah 300 years and had other sons and daughters. Thus all the days of Enoch were 365 years. Enoch walked with God, and he was not, for God took him. (Genesis 5:21-24)

When I first led people to study Genesis chapter 5, I would skip it because it talked about a lot of names. Was Moses senile back then? Writing a lot of names, what's the meaning of this to me? Usually, people can't read the Bible when they get here. They are all names, and they don't know who they are.

Later, I found out that it was not the case. This passage of Scripture is very meaningful. It was not that Moses was senile and wrote it down. How important is chapter 5? I began to read it carefully. Some people read the Bible and think, Oh, they all lived a long life, but I say that's not what it means. Later, I read it carefully, thought carefully, and then knelt down to pray and seek.

What is this passage of Scripture talking about? People live and then die, this sentence is repeated again and again. Only one person is not repeated—Enoch. He lived and was taken away by God, he walked with God. He lived and did not die because he walked with God, and then everyone else died.

Then I figured out that the sentence People live and then die had a strong impact on me. Later, after I led everyone to study Genesis chapter 5, people live and then die, which is meaningless. No matter what you have ever owned in the world, it becomes meaningless.

That is to say, when people die, do you know what happens? If you owe a lot of money, all debts are forgiven when you die. When you are alive, you have to pay debts. When you die, you don't have to pay debts. If you come out with a stack of ghost money to pay, people dare not accept it.

People live and then die, where is the way out? Walking with God is the way out! Walking with God is Mingding Destiny! After listening to my sharing today, you will suddenly feel that two heavy burdens on your shoulders have fallen off. Living is actually a very simple matter.

So Paul said, Those who buy land are to live as if they did not possess it; those who deal with the world, as if they had nothing to do with it. In fact, both are the same. I will have everything in the future. Because if people fall into such a state, it will be very uncomfortable.

If I had bought a house in Beijing when it was 10,000 per square meter, how great would that be? Now it's 80,000! Oh my God, 8 times! If there is a 100-square-meter apartment, 80,000 would be 8 million. That's a lot of money. But looking at it in eternity, 8 million RMB is about the same as 8 million in ghost money. It really has no meaning. Can the 8 million or 10 million that you own solve any problems? Can it solve the emptiness of life? No.

We are not born for anyone, nor do we live for anyone. We came into this world as people with Mingding Destiny. Once you have Mingding Destiny, you will live a wonderful life. Because God will be with you, and God will accomplish, preserve, and care for all that you say and do.

God's Presence with You is a Blessing

In the 101 course, I talked about blessings and curses. What is a blessing? It is God being with you, protecting what you do with your hands, that is called a blessing. That is, everything you do is blessed. It is especially good. Even ghosts cannot stop you. If what you do seems to be stopped by ghosts, it is cursed. If there are ghosts with you, you are cursed.

So brothers and sisters, you need to have some understanding of these things. You will find that some people, as we Northeasterners say, are unlucky; they get their teeth stuck even when drinking cold water. How do they get their teeth stuck? Because they are unlucky, and when they are unlucky, I tell you, it is fatal. What is bad luck? It is having ghosts with them.

Of course, it is extraordinary for a person to be with God. God will make your name great. You originally wanted to pursue your own name, but God makes your name great. God not only said this to Abraham, but also to David. That is, God will make your name great. God will bless those who bless you and curse those who curse you. (See Genesis 12:2-3)

That's what the Bible says. If someone curses you, and then finds that the next day, the third day, or after a while, everything they do goes wrong, then they won't dare to curse you. As a result, your name becomes very big because you are a man of God!

Paul's words are very good: May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. (See Galatians 6:14) That is, once a person reaches this state, there is great joy inside. We still do these things seriously, but those things can no longer become our bondage.

If one day God tells you to leave your own country, your people and your father’s household and go to the land I will show you. Why? Because God wants you to no longer rely on power or talent, but to rely solely on God. When a person relies solely on God, the whole state is no longer the same.

Mao Zedong had a very famous poem: Qin Shi Huang, Emperor Wu of Han, Emperor Taizong of Tang, Emperor Taizu of Song, and Genghis Khan, to count the heroic figures, we still have to look at today! The poems written are very majestic, but in the end, you can't be majestic anymore. We are already separated from him. No one remembers everything anymore. In this era, when I ask young people born in the 90s and 00s who Chairman Mao is, they seem to not know much. After a while, no one will remember anymore, so today our brothers and sisters begin to walk out of the empty life.

So how should I put it? Obtaining Mingding Destinyis a blessing! Today we read Genesis chapter 5, only one person—Enoch opened up a path called walking with God. So what does it mean to walk with God? It means that your thoughts and intentions are the same as God's thoughts and intentions; you look at life the same way God looks at life; you look at death the same way God looks at death. That is called walking with God.

Once a person enters the state of walking with God, life and death become meaningless to you.

Last year, a sister's father was seriously ill and dying. When I was praying for her father, I felt that his death was coming. I began to persuade this sister to see life and death clearly. Don't take these things to heart, I thought that would be the best blessing for her.

So when her father passed away, her pain was much less than before. She had a very good relationship with her father. If I didn't make this clear, I think her father's passing would have a more profound impact on her.

When my grandmother died, my mother was in her forties. As a result, my mother would cry whenever she thought of my grandmother. It was very helpless. You can't keep her. So today, if you look at this matter from God's perspective, then it's amazing. What can you do if you die? Take good care of your parents when they are alive, and after they die, let them die. That's not our business.

Later, my mother came to the conclusion that she doesn't care about things that can't be managed, and she doesn't control things that can't be controlled. How good is that? So there is not so much control, and people are free.

If death cannot reign over us, what else can control us? Nothing can control us! Today, brothers and sisters, you must take God's intentions as your intentions, take God's thoughts as your thoughts, and look at this world with God's heart and eyes, and you will understand these things all at once.

Walking with God Gains Freedom

Let’s not talk about other things, just one thing. If we look at today from 10,000 years from now, by how many times will everything shrink? Shrink 100 times, that is, a very, very big problem will become a very, very small problem. The 5,000-year history of mankind, which we think is very long, is actually not very long. 5,000 years is actually very short in front of the eternal God. What's more, our life is seventy or eighty years old? Even if he is a hundred years old, what can he do?

So today the problems you encounter are small problems. Brothers and sisters, we are starting to enter the state of walking with God. If you walk with God, you will live a wonderful life. Believe it or not.

Walking with God means that your vision, your entire behavior pattern, and the way you look at things are like God, like the eternal God. Many things become insignificant. Even if God asks you to leave your country, your people, and your father’s household, and go to the place where God wants to lead you, and enter the promised land, then every place where you set your foot will belong to you and your descendants. Then what will you become? You will become a blessing to all nations on earth.

God will make you the head and not the tail; you will be above only, and never beneath. It is not that your hands are very diligent that make you the head and not the tail; you will be above only, and never beneath. It is because you trust in God and walk with God. Then people live freely, live wonderfully, live joyfully, and nothing can control us, nor can anything take away the freedom inside us to live wonderfully.

I think this lesson I have lectured here. I probably feel that the hearts of brothers and sisters have begun to be released from a very tight state. These things on earth have become unimportant.

When people are attached to love, love will become your control, or love will become your Mingding Destiny; when people are attached to career, career will become your control, and career will become your Mingding Destiny; when people are attached to a kind of family relationship, family relationship will become your Mingding Destiny and become your control. Only walking with God becomes your Mingding Destiny and you desire to be a blessing to all nations on earth like God, then nothing can control you.

So someone wrote a poem, Life is precious, and love is even higher, but for the sake of freedom, both can be abandoned. Freedom! We have been blessed and called by God. Walking with God is a very free state. That very free state feels very good.

Nothing can be our pressure, because we have Mingding Destiny; we don’t care about death either, because death can no longer reign over us.

Today we live in eternal life, and death cannot do anything to us. Even if we leave the flesh, entering into the presence of the eternal God is also a very wonderful thing.

When people don't understand, they often focus on this life. So someone asked me, Pastor, Abraham is too bad! I said, He has been dead for 4,000 years, how can he be too bad? Look, he took his son Isaac, and he was going to kill his son Isaac as a sacrifice to God, but he didn't discuss it with Isaac. I said, What is there to discuss? he said, Isaac has the right to know!

Oh my God, Isaac didn't even ask his father for the right to know, because offering it to God is also a wonderful thing for Isaac. Isaac listened to his father Abraham telling stories since he was a child. Where did he start? Start with the empty life. Abraham taught Isaac the emptiness of life since childhood. Isaac was educated in this way since he was a child, so when Isaac was about to be offered to God by Abraham, when he was about to be chopped and burned on wood, Isaac did not resist.

We Should Offer Ourselves to God

Of course, I don’t encourage you to do this today, because God did not ask you to do this. If God loves us, we are willing to offer ourselves completely, and we will live a wonderful life.

Abraham experienced one test of faith after another throughout his life. But Abraham and Isaac completely overcame all the trials by offering themselves once. Isaac lived a very smooth life. Although there were not many stories, it was very wonderful. The life of Isaac was clearly with God, and everything he did prospered. So one year, there was a famine in that land, but Isaac received a hundredfold harvest.

Can you imagine that? There was a famine in that land, and nothing anyone planted would grow, but his land grew a hundredfold. The people around him said that Isaac clearly had God with him. Think about it, wouldn't making money become easy? Others have no food, but you have food. You set the price of food, and you are especially powerful!

Having God with you is extremely good, and I hope that our brothers and sisters will start to understand this from today. If you really understand, you begin to serve your brothers and sisters. What does it matter if you serve until 1 a.m., 2 a.m., or 6 a.m. the next day? It doesn’t matter even if you fall asleep in the middle of the service and snore. Right? Because you have already begun to say that man is empty.

God is the God who gives Himself to us. Shouldn’t we give ourselves to God and serve this generation, so that this generation may be blessed because of us, and then we ourselves will become a great blessing from God!

Thank God, in the name of Jesus Christ, I bless everyone. May God make all of us come out of the empty life. Amen!
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