Why is it that billionaires always seem to want to live forever? Why is it that the 1% of the 1% almost always seem to veer from their core businesses into attempts to prolong their lives indefinitely? Amazon’s Jeff Bezos is invested in Altos Labs which is attempting a kind of “biological reprogramming” to extend lifespans. Google’s Sergey Brin and Larry Page were instrumental in launching a business called “Calico” which is carrying out studies that may eradicate all disease. PayPal’s Peter Thiel is a big supporter of the Methuselah Mouse Prize foundation which means to dramatically improve health and longevity. Ethereum’s Vitalik Buterin has decided it’s likely that people born today will live to the age of 3,000 and is already participating in experimental treatments he believes may slow his body’s aging.1

Why is it that so many billionaires seem so intent on extending their lives beyond the promised threescore and ten? Could it be that all their wealth has made their lives so amazing that they simply can’t bear the thought of dying? Could it be that their massive yachts, their luxury mansions, their ability to buy anything their hearts desire, has given them such satisfaction that they want to enjoy it forever? Could it be that they have unlocked the key to a satisfaction so deep that it’s only right to extend it indefinitely?
I suppose it’s possible, but I tend to think there’s another factor at play. I, after all, have read Solomon, the ancient-day equivalent of these modern-day billionaires—a man who had everything the human heart could ever desire. I have read his Song and his Proverbs and his Ecclesiastes. And from his inspired words I have gained some important perspective.
Why is it that billionaires always seem to want to live forever? I am convinced it isn’t because their lives are so satisfying but because their lives are so very dissatisfying. I am convinced it isn’t because their hearts are so full but because their hearts are so very empty. In 40 or 50 years they have risen to the highest ranks of humanity when measured by wealth, but have found there are some things money cannot buy.
They have attempted to leverage their money and power to increase their happiness. Women have been used and found wanting. The finest real estate has been added to their personal portfolio, but an extra 10 bedrooms and 20 bathrooms has not satisfied the restlessness of their hearts. They’ve owned fast cars and grand yachts, hobnobbed with royalty and celebrity, been cheered for their philanthropy and lauded for their generosity. And yet as they lay awake in the dark watches of the night, their hearts are still not at rest. As they stare at the vaulted ceilings high above their beds they still wonder “isn’t there more than this?”
They, like us, consider near escapes from deadly accidents or skirmishes with serious illnesses and know it could have all come crashing down. They, like us, hear the ticking of the clock that signals the end. And how do they respond? They respond by doubling down. They want more time to search for anything that will satisfy the longing of their hearts—more money, more women, more cars, more mansions, more plaudits, more power. More, more, more. And to explore that, they need more time, more years, more longevity.
The difference between them and Solomon is simply one of honesty. Solomon had experienced the very heights of what the world can offer and, rather than doubling down, had the integrity to say “Vanity of vanities! All is vanity.” He had the insight to say “All things are full of weariness; a man cannot utter it; the eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing.” He had the understanding, after accumulating all the treasures of the ancient world, to say “Behold, all was vanity and a striving after wind, and there was nothing to be gained under the sun.”
Solomon was a man who had deep passions, a restless heart, and many serious flaws. Yet he had the wisdom to know that God has put eternity into our hearts so that nothing less than what is eternal can ultimately satisfy. He had the wisdom to turn his heart from the temporal to the eternal, from what he could hold in his hands to what he could take only by faith. He had the wisdom to embrace rather than deny or flee his own mortality, the wisdom to know that the whole duty of man is to fear God and keep his commandments, the wisdom to live with the knowledge that God would judge his every deed, whether good or evil.
I have often been struck that while here on earth we count gold as the most precious of possessions, in heaven it’s used to merely pave the streets. What we count supremely valuable here is trod underfoot there. That description at once highlights the splendor of heaven and the futility of wealth. It at once shows that all the wealth of all the worlds would do nothing to make heaven any better for the wealthy than for the impoverished, for the richest billionaire than the poorest pauper.
So many of the world’s wealthiest people live their lives to accumulate what heaven counts as meaningless. They put their hope in finding joy in what they can take and earn, what they can have and hold. Yet, even if they manage to extend their lives a few years or a few decades they, too, will go the way of all the earth. They, too, will live forever, though only beyond the grave. They, too, will find that the greatest pleasures of this world pale in comparison to the greatest pleasures, or greatest torments, of the world to come.

Can I confess something to you? There’s one thing Aileen does that really bugs me. We will be talking together and enjoying one another’s company. But then, as we chat, I’ll hear the telltale buzz of her phone. And I can tell that I’ve lost her. I can see it in the look on her face, I can hear it in the tone of her voice. She goes from making eye contact to breaking it, from engaged to distracted, from involved in conversation to muttering toneless “uh huhs.” I know immediately that I may as well just pause and wait so she can check her phone and reply to the message.
An old author once pointed out “the Pharisee in the temple confessed a great many sins—but they were his neighbor’s sins and the publican’s sins; he made no confession of sin for himself.” Ouch.
So on that note, I am guilty as charged. I know I do the exact same thing as Aileen. Yet for some reason, my own behavior doesn’t trouble me nearly as much as her’s. I suppose I’ve convinced myself that I alone have the ability to remain fully involved in two things at once, that I alone can remain engaged in meaningful conversation with her while at the same time dashing off a message to a friend. But she’d probably be the first to say, “There’s something Tim does that really bugs me.”

I was recently listening to a sermon in which the pastor was assuring us of God’s heart of kindness toward us and his concern for us. He assured us that God loves it when we pray and that he always hears our prayers. And he dropped a little line that’s been rattling around my mind ever since. He said simply, “God’s never distracted by his phone.” On the one hand that’s perfectly obvious as I’m pretty sure God doesn’t have, need, or want a phone. But on the other hand, it’s thought-provoking. It’s comforting. It’s challenging.
The fact is, I have become accustomed to having a phone between myself and the ones I love. My family has been known to gather in a single room yet be a million miles away from one another, each of us wide-eyed in the light of our little glowing rectangle. We all know what it is to try to relate to people who are distracted by a phone. And we all know how much better it is to be undistracted. The challenge, of course, is in living that out.

I heard the other day that one of the best things a couple can do for their sex life is refuse to take phones into the bedroom. That makes perfect sense because in the bedroom the phone is the enemy of intimacy. Likewise, I am sure that one of the best things an individual can do is refuse to take a phone into the worship service, and one of the best things a pastor can do is refuse to take a phone into his study, and one of the best things a family can do is refuse to take phones to the dinner table.
Little did we know that just as our phones would come to serve us, we would come to serve our phones. Little did we know that slowly but surely it would mold us into its image.Share
Do you remember when Steve Jobs unveiled the first iPhone? As we gasped at that device and as we rushed to place our orders for it, little did we know how it would transform our lives, our families, our marriages, our faith, our world. Little did we know that a few ounces of silicon would have so much power and influence, that a few ounces of technology could impact the dining room, the classroom, the study, the bedroom, the sanctuary, and everything in between. Little did we know that just as our phones would come to serve us, we would come to serve our phones. Little did we know that slowly but surely it would mold us into its image.

Apple recently launched The Vision Pro as their cutting-edge entry into the field of what they are calling “spatial computing.” Though I have not yet used or even seen one, I have watched a number of reviews and what’s clear is that it dramatically increases the distance between the user and the world around. It inserts yet another device between the user and the environment—between the user and other people. If a device I can hold in my hand already has the ability to keep my attention from the people I love, how much more a screen that is mounted to my head and that sits in front of my eyes? Could there be a more obvious visual demonstration of how it is meant to impact us? Could it be any clearer how it intends to constantly insert itself between me and others? Apple literally wants me to see the world through its eyes!
Of course, we all know the Vision Pro is just a rough beta of the product Apple would unveil if it had the technological capability—a product that will be constantly before our eyes instead of occasionally there, a product that will “enhance” all of reality and not just a few hours of the day. That may seem like the realm of science fiction, but so did the iPhone until Steve Jobs announced it. The Vision Pro is a glimpse of the future Apple wants for us, a glimpse of the future Silicon Valley wants for itself—a future in which it mediates our lives even more than it does today. In that way, it’s like an iPhone, only more so. Much more so.

And so, at the dawn of a new technology—a new category of technology—I am reminded that one of the best things any of us can do is to embrace new technology thoughtfully rather than naively and with a thorough examination of its inevitable drawbacks rather than a brief skim of all its great promises. The challenge is that the benefits will be immediately apparent (they’ll be written on the box!) while the drawbacks will take time to understand. I hope, I pray, I trust that as we are introduced to something new, something that wants to be omnipresent (and probably brag about being nearly omniscient) in our lives, we will think deeply, pray earnestly, and introduce it only when we know what it is, what it does, and how it seeks to change us to be more like it.

Grace and peace to you on this fine today.

Westminster Books has just put the excellent NSBT series on sale for those who need to catch up with some of the newer volumes!
How a Divisive Nigerian Pastor Built a Global Following
This fascinating article from The Guardian takes a look at the Nigerian prosperity preacher TB Joshua. “It’s hard to disentangle the facts of Joshua’s life from his self-mythologising. The official Scoan narrative is repeated in many online articles: his birth was foretold by a prophet, he spent 15 months in his mother’s womb, he received a divine revelation in 1987 while fasting for 40 days and 40 nights in an area of swampland that would later be called Prayer Mountain.”
Judging the Sins of Our Fathers
Carl Trueman: “None of this is to say that the slaveholding of Edwards or Jefferson or Washington is not important when we consider their lives and their legacies. Nor is it to neutralize the issue by moral equivalence. There are some very hard questions to ask about our forefathers. But they cannot be asked in isolation from consideration of our own complicity in the exploitation and evils of today’s globalized economy.”
J. I. Packer on “Impressions”
Justin Taylor shares some of J.I. Packer’s wisdom when it comes to spiritual impressions and divine guidance.
Little Golden Worries
Melissa explains that worries are, “in many ways, my most prized possessions. I’m an expert at conjuring them. They are almost always my closest thoughts, and they sit like little golden statues all along the shelves that line my heart and mind. Gold because they last, because they are alluring, always drawing my eye.”
Judge Not
Andrée Seu Peterson warns against hasty judging of other people. “Christians are to live a different way, not as judge and jury of our neighbors, but as believing all things and hoping all things (1 Corinthians 13:7) regarding their potential to change and grow. For the Lord is not finished with my neighbor, or father, any more than He is with me.”
How Do You Know If Your Church Is Legalistic?
Michael Kruger has a good one on legalism. “If you asked the average Christian to define legalism, the answers may not come so quickly. What exactly counts as legalism?  How do we know it when we see it?  The confusion is exacerbated by the fact that the term can be used in different ways.  People can use the same word but infuse it with very different meanings.”
The Logistics of Evacuating Afghanistan (Video)
This is an interesting video on the incredible logistics involved in evacuating Afghanistan.
Flashback: Six Reasons Why Adultery Is Very Serious
Adultery is a serious matter. At least, it is a serious matter in the mind and heart of the God who created sex and marriage and who put wise boundaries on them both. But why?

There can be no better evidence of the Spirit of Christ in us than to love the image of Christ in others. —Matthew Mead