The great use of life is to spend it for something that will outlast it. – William James

He was nicknamed “Captain Outrageous” or “The Mouth of the South.” As a boy, he was continually in trouble. Part of that was the outcome of his father being both an alcoholic and philanderer. In spite of struggling in his early years, he became an American success story.

Ted Turner died on May 6. He was the founder of CNN, creator of the 24-hour news cycle, and owner of the Atlanta Braves. He built one of the largest cable TV empires in the country. Outside of work, he was known as a sailor, conservationist, and, briefly, Jane Fonda’s husband. 

At age 24, Turner took over his family’s Atlanta billboard business following his father’s suicide and ultimately turned it into a media powerhouse and himself into a billionaire. Turner bought local radio stations and a struggling Atlanta TV station, and by 1976, jumped on satellite technology to broadcast around the country. In 1980, he introduced CNN and the 24-hour news cycle. Over the next few decades, he snapped up movie and TV libraries and turned them into channels like Turner Classic Movies and Cartoon Network. In 1996, he merged his massive portfolio with Time Warner in an $8 billion deal. 

He was one of the largest individual landowners in the United States, owning roughly 2 million acres, across eight U.S. states and Argentina. He was married three times, was a four-time Yachtsman of the Year recipient, went duck hunting with Fidel Castro, and donated $1 billion to the United Nations. When he died, he was worth nearly $3 billion. 

Many Christians will remember that Turner had a long history of making provocative and mocking remarks about Christians and Christianity. He called them “Jesus freaks.” He publicly stated on multiple occasions that Christianity was a “religion for losers” and the Ten Commandments were “obsolete” and proposed replacing them with his own “Ten Voluntary Initiatives.” He was known for labeling pro-life Christians as “Bozos.” 

But that was later. When Turner was in college, he was a professing Christian. In his autobiography, Call Me Ted, he shares that while attending a Christian academy “by the time I graduated I had been ‘saved’ four times, once by Billy Graham himself when I attended one of his crusades and I even considered becoming a missionary.” 

What happened?

Why did Ted Turner become so antagonistic to Christianity? His younger sister, Mary Jean, died of a horrible death of lupus. He writes, “Up until this time I had been a religious person and I prayed for Mary Jean’s recovery almost every day…But seeing my kid sister ravaged by this disease challenged by beliefs. How could a just and loving God do this to someone so young and so innocent? To me it didn’t make any sense…” 

Suffering is probably the hardest question for Christ-followers to answer. I know it rattled my beliefs after my mom was killed in a car wreck when I was ten. Even though we don’t understand, I believe Psalms 18:30 is true (it was my mom’s favorite verse): As for God, His way is perfect…

I’ve long been fascinated with Ted Turner’s life because of his connections with my hometown of Atlanta. And I loved that he helped the Braves become world champions. His sad life has lessons for us. 

The greatest warning from his life is the deadliness of bitterness. 

No other sin puts us so at odds with a loving God like bitterness. Whether we realize it or not, all bitterness is ultimately toward God. If you’re bitter at your parents, who gave you your parents? If you’re bitter at something terrible that’s happened to you, who allowed it? If you’re bitter about your marriage, job or how others have treated you…or whatever, when you boil it all down, God was behind it. All bitterness then is ultimately at God. 

If anyone had a reason to be bitter, it was Joseph, the Old Testament Patriarch. His brothers sold him into slavery. Later when he was a ruler in Egypt and his brothers were terrified that he’d take revenge on them now that their father, Jacob was dead, Joseph said to them: Do not fear, for am I in the place of God? As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good (Genesis 50:19-20). 

Ted Turner’s life would have been so different if he’d had Joseph’s heart. Instead of being embittered against God, if he’d trusted Him, even when he didn’t understand. Sadly, many Christians have poison in their soul that leaches out into every area of their lives because of bitterness toward God.

Ted Turner’s life warns us that you can have it all yet have nothing. 

Turner left his estate to his five children and philanthropy. Jesus warned, What does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? (Mark 8:36). Living for this world and it’s stuff has a lose-lose outcome. 

Though Turner left his children great wealth, ultimately they’ll leave it all too. Please understand, there’s nothing wrong with leaving wealth for your children, particularly if they’re minors. There’s nothing wrong with having a nice house or a great vacation. As Christ-followers, we’re foolish though if our focus is on this “blink” of an eye life and world. Wise are the words of Missionary C.T. Studd, Only one life, ’twill soon be past, only what’s done for Christ will last. Do you want your life to matter? Then, invest the short time you have in the real world. How can we do that?

Choose to live for the Lord. 

Your legacy begins in your heart with your own relationship with God. Psalm 112:1-2: Blessed is the man who fears the Lord, who greatly delights in His commandments! His offspring will be mighty in the land; the generation of the upright will be blessed. Take ownership of your own spiritual growth and be a “new creation” in Christ.

Pray that God will use you to accomplish His purposes. 

In 1 Chronicles 4:10, Jabez prayed, Oh that You would bless me and enlarge my border, and that Your hand might be with me … And God granted what he asked. 

What did Jabez pray? To bless him, give him new territory, enlarge his sphere of influence, and to keep him from temptation. It’s a great prayer we could all pray! 

Maybe pray a similar prayer. Choose to walk by faith. Fulfill your God-given mission. Expect God to give you opportunities to advance His Kingdom and impact lost individuals. There’s no greater mission than the adventure of walking daily with the Lord and letting Him use you.

Few today know who Ted Turner was. But Christians have an opportunity to invest in eternity. It means living for the real world. Will you?