King for One Year | Rabbi Meir Simcha Sperling

Shalom u’Bracha to the entire Vayimaen family. I want to share with everyone an incredible parable from the Chovos Halevavos that applies to everything that we do in this world, but when we apply it specifically to guarding our eyes, we can perhaps shift the battlefield in our favor against the Yetzer Hara, so we can finally get in control. There was once a country with a very unusual custom. Each year, the people of the country elected a new king. But only a foreigner could take the throne. Now the people of this country kept one secret from every new king, and that is that his reign would last only one year. After that year, he would have to leave the country, exactly as he arrived, empty-handed. No money, no palace, no servants, nothing. But during that year, however, he ruled with absolute power and could have anything in the world that he wanted. So what did most kings do? Not knowing this secret, they poured everything into that single year. They built magnificent palaces. They brought in furniture, gold, possessions, even their families from other countries. They brought in everything. They lived lavishly and felt on top of the world. Then, after 12 months, came a knock on the door. Your time is up and you need to leave and you can take nothing with you. Oh, and one more thing. Never return. So they left broken, devastated, penniless, shocked. Like, where does this come from? Anyways, year after year, the same fate met every single one of these kings and that's how the story went. One year, something was different. The king was wise, he was smart, and he uncovered the secret and he understood that his kingship was temporary. Knowing that he only had one year, he told himself: I'm not going to be a fool. So what did he do? He did not waste a single day chasing honor or prestige, nothing. He didn't build palaces. He didn't live for the quick pleasure. From day number one, he began sending everything valuable out of the country. Every piece of gold, every diamond, every treasure, he shipped it right away. The only thing that saddened him was how quickly the year was passing by. If only he had more time, he could have done even more. And then his year came to an end, as well, and the knock on the door came. But there was no sadness. There was no regret. There was only tremendous joy. He had used his year as well as he possibly can. He left truly a rich man. What a powerful story. Rabosai, this is our story. This world is that country. We're here for a short time. And a person who thinks that this world is everything is going to invest in this world. He's going to spend all his time making his life here comfortable, and he's going to focus on honor and on money and physical pleasures, and he's not going to prepare for anything after. And when his time is up, he leaves with nothing, and he has nothing but regret for wasting his time on temporary things. But a smart person, a Vayimaen Yid, does the opposite. He knows that this world is temporary, so he uses his time here to guarantee his eternity. How? By doing Mitzvos, by learning Torah, and all the things that Hakadosh Baruch Hu tells us to do. And you shall choose life. And you know what else he does? And when I say ‘he’, I mean ‘you’. He is willing to sacrifice greatly to guard his eyes. He works on it every day. He's not afraid of it. He fights and he never gives up. And Rabosai, every single time that we look away, every time we overcome a temptation, we are shipping a treasure out of this world and into the next world. We are not losing anything. We are becoming rich forever. So let's not get fooled by this temporary kingdom. Let's grab every single chance we have to control what we see. And we can all do this. Every single one of us. Rabosai, good luck out there.