Whatever, it doesn’t matter.
You have heard these words before. Perhaps, you have heard them from your own lips. These words are not words of encouragement or optimism. These are words of discouragement and disappointment. They are said when we feel let down, betrayed. The irony is that often when these words are spoken they really mean that something matters very much.
The gospel matters. There is only one Person who will not disappoint you – his name is Jesus.
Yet, we continue to be surprised at being disappointed. To borrow a phrase from Paul Tripp, “What did you expect?” People have this problem called sin. Sin comes from rebellion to God. At its root, rebellion starts with believing a lie. We believe we can be happy apart from dying to ourselves. We believe that the people we love will not hurt us. We believe that we deserve what we desire. We believe we will do better next time. We believe that we will not be disappointed again. And then, when our beliefs turn into self-deception, we say it doesn’t matter.
The miscalculation of this age, of any age, is to look for hope without looking for God. This is another way to look at sin. Sin is putting someone or something other than God at the center of our affections. Sin is also many other things, but this is sin at its core. A culture rich with material things is a culture that will be dominated by bitterness and disappointment. Why? Because these things never satisfy. Ultimately, they will always disappoint. When we live for material things we measure happiness by what we can see, taste, and hold. Relationships become secondary to material wealth. When this happens relationships will always disappoint. To compound matters, relationships without Christ will also always disappoint.
Without the life-changing power of Christ and his gospel, life will disappoint. In the end, someone will say – it doesn’t matter.
The Holy Spirit chose these words to speak to a materialistic culture. “The kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it.” There is nothing wrong in looking for things of great value. You just have to realize what real value is and what things are pretenders to value.
For the Christian all things matter, because all that we do can to be done for the glory and honor of God. This life is not all that there is. New things will not lead to happiness, but to disappointment. People, no matter how appealing they may be, will bring disappointment. It is the gospel that matters. The gospel matters because it transforms your ability to distinguish between things of value and things that only pretend to offer value.
The gospel matters. There is only one Person who will not disappoint you – his name is Jesus.