Last January, shortly after Nelson Rockefeller died, I read an article about his career written by David Broder. He is a reporter for the Washington Post. and a man highly regarded for his knowledge of politics and politicians.
I was astonished when I read the article, for it was not what I expected at all. The headline read: “A Sense of Incompleteness.” and the story said that Nelson Rockefeller’s career was incomplete and frustrated.
Can you imagine that’? Here’s a man who was heir to one of the greatest fortunes in the country who rose to become governor of New York and then to become vice president. And the story said Rockefeller was frustrated.
I didn’t believe it. I have a friend in Washington who is also a reporter, and who wrote about Rockefeller when he was governor of New York, and then covered his activities in Washington while he was vice president.
I took the David Broder article and showed it to her. I asked her if it was true. She thought for a long minute, and she answered simply: “Yes.”
By the standards of most of us. Nelson Rockefeller had everything a man could want in life. He had great wealth, important friends, positions of power and authority, and thus he had great influence. In fact, he had everything.
Everything, that is, except what he wanted most.
Nelson Rockefeller wanted most of all to be president of the United States, but he was thwarted every time he tried to get his party’s nomination to run. Thus, to reporters who knew him, Rockefeller was a frustrated man.
This happens time after time. No matter how much we have, no matter how greatly we are blessed, it never seems to be enough. Just one more pay raise. Just one more promotion. Just a little bit bigger house. It never seems to stop. Even if you become vice president of the United States, as did Nelson Rockefeller. you probably wouldn’t be satisfied until you became president.
This shouldn’t surprise us. God tells us time and time again through the Bible that it is foolish to seek after material gain because it does not bring contentment. And isn’t that what people are really looking for?
In the Book of Proverbs we learn this: “Do not weary yourselves to gain wealth. … When you set your eyes on it, it is gone. For wealth certainly makes itself wings, like an eagle that flies toward the heavens.” Elsewhere in Proverbs we’re told simply: ”He who trusts in his riches will fall.”
These words are written by Solomon. One of the wealthiest kings of ancient times. He ought to know. Notice though, that we’re not told riches are evil in themselves. It’s our attitude about them that’s important. If Cod has blessed us with lots of material things, we’re to enjoy them. But if getting them becomes our chief motive in life, then we’re sure to be frustrated, because the Scriptures tell us so clearly they do not bring happiness.
People who have riches learn this lesson fast. O. J. Simpson. the famous football player with the Buffalo Bills. learned the lesson after he was traded to the San Francisco 49ers and became a second-string player. One day he told a teammate: ”Fame is a vapor, popularity an accident. and money takes wings.”
The friend asked where he’d heard that. O. J. replied: “I was watching a late hockey game on TV one night, and all of a sudden a guy just said it. Brought me right out of my chair. I never forgot it. “
God, speaking to us through theBible, asks us never to forget it either.
Copyright © 1980 by the author or Christianity Today/Leadership Journal. Click here for reprint information on Leadership Journal.
