Christian Living

Is That All There Is?

by Bro. Kenya Branch
06/29/25
Not For Sale

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 Peggy Lee sang a song many years ago, that considers the various ups and downs of life and questions if that is all there is. The conclusion is, “If that's all there is my friends Then let's keep dancing Let’s break out the booze and have a ball If that's all there is.”

 The Apostle Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 15:32  “Let’s eat and drink, for tomorrow we die!” Many who have lived to a ripe old age and experienced the best and worse life has to offer may also wonder is this all there is? King Solomon wrote that life can all be about vanity.

 One can seek after a goal or anticipate an event to the point of aching for it but when it has been achieved or arrived at, after perhaps many impatient years of waiting, there may be temporary gratification but ultimately disappointment. Was it worth the wait or all the effort if that’s all it is?

 A lightweight example of that is after waiting ten years, after the original Star Trek TV series ended, for another production with my beloved characters aboard the Star Ship Enterprise, I left work early to catch the first showing of the movie Star Trek The Motion Picture. Two hours and 16 thoroughly disappointed minutes later, my lament was after 10 years of anticipating that day was that’s all they came up with?

 I submit that the reason there can be so much disappointment in what we’ve been waiting for is that we forge ahead in life making plans that, although may be well-meaning, aren’t ultimately fulfilling. We who can’t foresee the next moment of our lives let alone forecast what may be happening to us or in the world in the next years, months or even days, rely on our limited ability to look into the future anyway.

 The expression we make plans and God laughs fits here. He may not actually laugh at our prognostications, but He knows of all the unexpected events that we can’t conceive of.

 As finite beings, we can’t accurately contemplate the twists and turns our cluttered paths will take us. Our visions for ourselves may not even be realistic and what we want today may not be what we want tomorrow. 

  We were created, by a supremely wise God, who knows the end from the beginning, but unlike our Creator, even our most carefully constructed plans are never guaranteed to occur the way we desire. We weren’t created to rely on our own understanding but His.

 To paraphrase 1 Corinthians 8:6, there’s one God and we exist for Him, not the other way around. What we ask or pray for isn’t guaranteed.  That may confound those who are prideful or independent thinkers. I have found that my biggest disappointments were a result of flawed deductive reasoning rather than heeding God’s instructions in His Word.  So,the expression “what would Jesus do” isn’t a religious slogan but a wise consideration before making serious plans so I won’t have to ask so often is that all there is?