I was listening to an NPR interview with actor Jason Segel about the movie “The End of the Tour,” in which he plays David Foster Wallace, the renowned author of Infinite Jest. In spite of Wallace’s success in his academic life, his financial strength, and his chosen career, Wallace committed suicide at age 46 in 2008. In the interview, Segel commented on how common it is for people to do all the things they are told that successful and happy people are supposed to do and to have all the things that they are told they should have and still be deeply dissatisfied. He said that this happens so often in our society that it should bring us to deep introspection about the meaning of life.
The Apostle Paul wrote compellingly about this matter in Galatians 5–6. He said that in people’s search to know how to live life well, many have a strong inclination to sync up their lives either with their own internal desires or with the world’s values. Following their own desires, many people seem to think that if they could do whatever they wanted without restraint, they would be happy. This was the philosophy of the Roman Emperor Caligula as portrayed in the play by Albert Camus. Caligula proclaimed, “You see in me the one free man in the whole Roman Empire. You should be glad to have among you an emperor who points the way to freedom and happiness.” For Caligula, freedom and happiness meant that there were no rules restraining him. He was convinced that he could do everything he wanted and through that find the good life. But, Caligula found only bondage through his unrestrained way of life. His life ended with a struggle with madness and talking to himself in a mirror: “I have chosen a wrong path, a path that leads to nothing... My freedom isn’t the right one.”
It’s possible that just as many people sync their life’s decisions with what the world values as with their own inner desires. In our consumerist society, almost everything that is advertised says, “Buy this product and you will be cool, respected, and happy.” Of course, that promise holds only until a new product comes out, promising the same thing. This is the matter that Segel discussed in the NPR interview. He said that he has observed that people get the education that they are told they should obtain, find a good job, become reasonably successful, and live the life they are told to live...and still have the kind of emptiness that David Foster Wallace experienced. But, he offered no alternative to remedy the problem.
To all of this, the Bible says that the way to find life is to experience the love of God through faith in Jesus, to experience compassion and support in the community of Jesus-followers, and—in particular—to sync our life decisions with the leading and empowering of God’s Spirit. This is what the Apostle Paul wrote: “Walk by the Spirit and you will not have to gratify the over-desire of the flesh... If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit” (Galatians 5:16, 25).
For many years, I have observed people claiming to believe in Jesus but continuing to live in sync with the values of self and/or the world. This fall 2015 at LAC, we will look at the Bible’s beautiful alternative to the ways of life lived in sync with the “flesh” or with the world. That Spirit-synced way of life will be characterized by nine compelling characteristics that the Apostle Paul calls “the fruit of the Spirit.” My prayer is that we will see that Spirit-produced fruit growing in us all—to God’s glory alone.
To His glory,
Dr. Greg Waybright
Senior Pastor
Greg Waybright • Copyright 2015, Lake Avenue Church