The Greatest Tragedy

The greatest tragedy
By Patrick Enilama [pastorpatrick@sunnewsonline.com] 07028242700
Sunday, June 22, 2008

The greatest tragedy in life is not death, but life without a purpose. Many people today are obsessed with finding ways to prolong their lives. They are so caught up with trying to live longer that they never stop to consider why they are living at all. Drifting from one day to the next without purpose, with untapped potential and unfulfilled dreams; this is for many a fate worse than death. The rising suicide rate in modern society bears this truth out.

Many people, bereft of hope, take their own lives because they find death more appealing than continuing what is to them a meaningless existence. Finding our purpose in life is critically important. Second, the greatest challenge in life is knowing what to do. We get up every day and go about our daily activities, but are we doing what we are supposed to be doing?


With all the options and choices that lie before us every day, that can be a difficult question to answer. Do you know what to do with your time? What drive gets you out of bed every morning? What purpose propels you through each day? Are you living for a paycheck? Or are you living for a purpose? With each passing day you grow older and use up more of your time and energy. Are you doing what you are supposed to be doing? Do you even know what to do? These are tough questions, but learning the answer is vital to your future.

Next, the greatest mistake in life is being busy, but not effective. Being busy is a common human pastime. But just because you’re busy doesn’t mean that what you’re doing is worth doing. Many people deceive themselves into believing that being busy all the time gives their lives significance. Significance has nothing to do with busyness but everything to do with effectiveness.

Jesus of Nazareth was the most effective person who ever lived but He was never busy. Everything Jesus did had purpose. He knew what He was supposed to do and did it, and that made Him effective. It is a tragedy to waste time and energy on unfocused busyness because those resources, once expended, can never be regained. We must learn how to live effectively without being busy.

And finally, the greatest failure in life is being successful in the wrong assignment. Success alone is no enough; you must succeed in the right thing. Sincerity alone is not enough because you can be sincerely wrong. Faithfulness alone is not enough because you can be faithful to the wrong faith. Commitment alone is not enough because you can be committed to the wrong cause. Succeeding in the wrong assignment is failure.

If a teacher gives you a test and instructs you to answer only the odd-numbered questions, and you answer the even-numbered questions instead, even if you answer every question correctly you will still fail because you didn’t follow instructions. You succeeded in the wrong assignment, which means you failed. God is not impressed without our sincerity, faithfulness, commitment, or success unless we are pursuing the right assignment – His assignment. Anything else is failure.

• Culled from Applying the Kingdom Rediscovering the priority of God for mankind by Myles Munroe