Elvis had it all—but it wasn’t enough. The summer after high school graduation he cut his first record. It cost him $4, not a bad investment for a career that would generate millions. At twenty, he signed with RCA for an unprecedented $45,000. At twenty-one, “Heartbreak Hotel” went gold and Elvis was on a roll. The Ed Sullivan Show paid him $50,000 to appear three times. The show attracted the highest ratings ever for a TV variety show. Fifty-five of his records sold a million copies or more. He appeared in thirty-one movies. His TV show, “Elvis: Aloha from Hawaii” was seen by more than one billion people. He had homes, fame, and a lot of money!
Elvis had it all, but all wasn’t enough! It wasn’t enough to keep his wife from divorcing him. It wasn’t enough to keep him out of the hospital for hypertension, colon difficulties, and hepatitis. It wasn’t enough to keep his weight down. It wasn’t enough to calm his aching heart from his mother’s death. It wasn’t enough to keep him from taking pills to go to sleep and pills to wake up. It wasn’t enough to ward off weeks of sullen seclusion or the sad delusion that he had supernatural powers.
Elvis had it all. His bank account was full, but his soul was bankrupt. Pick up the Old Testament book of Ecclesiastes and you would think you are reading a page from his life:
I also tried to find meaning by building huge homes for myself and by planting beautiful vineyards. I made gardens and parks, filling them with all kinds of fruit trees. I built reservoirs to collect the water to irrigate my many flourishing groves … I also owned great herds and flocks, more than any of the kings who lived in Jerusalem before me. I collected great sums of silver and gold, the treasure of many kings and provinces. I hired wonderful singers, both men and women, and had many beautiful concubines. I had everything a man could desire. But as I looked at everything I had worked so hard to accomplish, it was all so meaningless. It was like chasing the wind. There was nothing really worthwhile anywhere. Ecclesiastes 2:4-8,11 NLT
Like Elvis, the writer of Ecclesiastes had all the pieces of the puzzle of success—except the God piece. Without that piece life was not only puzzling, it was meaningless. More money in the bank, more home in the yard, more car in the driveway, more titles on the business card, more friends on the contact list . . . it all adds up to a lot of nothing without God!
Elvis and Ecclesiastes teach me that “more” isn’t bad, it just isn’t enough! More will never be enough until my “more” is God.
For who can eat or enjoy anything apart from him? Ecclesiastes 2:25
When more is God, more is enough because God gives the joy in the eating, the rest in sleeping, the satisfaction in working, and the fun in living. When you have Christ, you really don’t need more, because you have Enough!
And that is reason enough to give thanks today!