There was a story of a man who had lost his ring, and went outside and knelt down to the grass to look for it. Soon, his friend stopped by and offered to help, asking “Where did you last see your ring?” “In the house” the man answered. “So why are you looking outside for it?” asked his friend. The man only answered “Well, the light is better out here!”
Sometimes that is exactly our story; we look for the right thing but in all the wrong places. As we continue our walk through the Scriptures in our newsletter series, the author of Ecclesiastes blazes a trail for us to walk, initially by showing us all the wrong places he went looking for the meaning of life, and then finally arriving at the only source that gave it to him: God.
Our world today continues to believe and promote the idea that material possessions bring lasting satisfaction, but Ecclesiastes says no. The flesh teases us with the notion that pleasure is the meaning of life, Ecclesiastes says, “I tried it, it is not”. Even some of the good things like wisdom and hard work, if they are elevated from being good things to “ultimate things” will leave us in disappointment. What we chase is as unreliable as a puff of wind, and if we set our hearts on only obtaining these things, we will find ourselves crying out with Ecclesiastes, “meaningless! It is all meaningless!”
The solution to this is to change our perspective. Rather than looking for meaning “under the sun” as the writer of Ecclesiastes tries to do, we as Christians must look for meaning “under the SON” meaning under Christ and His kingdom. On our own we cannot figure out life’s meaning. That is not to say that it does not have meaning, but it cannot be found in the created realm. Rather we must look to the Creator to find it. The meaning lies not in the things that bring us satisfaction, but instead that bring God glory. The goal for the Christian in life is to make these two things one and the same. If our ultimate goal is what Paul talks about in his letter to the Corinthians, that “whatever you eat or drink or whatever you do, do the glory of God” then this will bring us freedom. It will guarantee us that we can enjoy each of the different realms of life (pleasure, work, material possessions) without feeling like we have to build our entire lives around them or derive our meaning from them. Rather than ruling over us as idols, these things will serve their God-given purpose in our lives because we will see them as servants rather than as masters.
To find true life in Jesus Christ means to find a life full of abundance, meaning, and purpose, and thankfully the author of Ecclesiastes does end his journey at a good place, “to fear the Lord and to keep His commandments. This is the entire duty of man”. May you find that in your relationship with God through Jesus Christ, you have meaning and purpose.
Your Brother,
Craig