Years ago there was a show on cable that made headlines and won numerous awards. The show was Breaking Bad. In this long running series, we’re first introduced to a defeated science school teacher. The scene opens up with him working in a “dead-end” job devoid of any excitement. To further add to the drudgery, his financial situation seems dire as his family is already enduring hardship. Then the final blow, his doctor tells him he has cancer and will need expensive treatment or die.
He then breaks and descends into a downward tailspin. He ends up a drug dealer, murderer, liar, manipulator, king pin, cheat, betrayer and sadly leaves his family and loved ones in the reckless wake. All throughout he proclaims to his wife he is doing all this is for his family. Ironically, he has to keep all this from his children to also “protect” them. As the series goes on we witness his wife and children try to bring him back. They constantly tell him not to go down this path and tell him they only want him. He dismisses them.
Nothing in the end
At the end of the series we reconnect with him after he has lost it all. The money, power, position, freedom and loved ones. What’s more, his cancer has returned. He tries to make amends with everyone as this time the cancer will inevitably take his life. When he encounters his wife, she does not want to hear he did all this for them. Finally he confesses “I did it for me. I liked it. I was good at it. And I was… I was alive.”
He was looking for the secret formula. The formula that would bring him satisfaction and fulfillment. Unfortunately he chose wrong and it lead to the destruction of all the good in his life. In the end he died alone and with nothing. Psalm 16:11 tells us the right formula for fulfillment.
Encouragement:
We were not created for our own glory but rather for His glory. When we align under this authority we will find true satisfaction in life.
Challange
What have you been chasing? What will it look like when you finally grasp what you’re looking for?
