IS LIFE WORTH LIVING?

All the days of Methuselah were nine hundred sixty and nine years: and he died. GE. 5:27 “Count no man happy until he is dead,” exclaimed Solon, the philosopher. That is the answer he apparently would give to this ever-recurring question, Is life worth living?

What is our reply to it? That will be determined largely by what we mean by life. And it is our aim to prove to some who think life is worth living that it is not; and also to prove to others who think it is not worth living, that it is! The man who is generally credited with the longest span of life is Methu- selah.

His age is given as nine hundred and sixty-nine years. But was his life worth while?

Look at the records. Although he is mentioned seven times in various parts of the Scriptures, in six cases his name is merely cited in some genealogical table. The remaining passage is quoted here, where to the number of his years is added the interesting fact, “and he died.” One of the shortest lives recorded in the sacred writings was that of him who lived only about thirty-three years.

Yet the impression which Christ’s life made upon the world is immeasurable. Although it was compassed by an obscure Palestinian province, and its sun went down amid thick clouds of horror and shame, its influence is still potent. None can say what it shall yet accomplish. Limited to such a short span, we marvel at the unparalleled splendor of its achievements, the sublimity of its example, the unwavering loyalty to right which marked it.

Between the Master and Methuselah there is really no comparison, and yet, looking at the record of Jesus, we may truly say, what a life! Admitting, however, that there can be no comparison, we immediately manifest our inconsistency by instituting one.

And it reveals this fact: the value of life depends not on its extent, but on its intent and content. It is not duration, but the divine quality of it that really matters. ].

W. G. Ward