Ecclesiastes is the perfect book of the Bible for our current cultural times. King Solomon, the wisest man to ever live, is looking back on his life and offering sage advice for the people who are listening to him. In Ecclesiastes, Solomon will help all of us answer two questions that we all have: What’s the meaning of life? and What’s my purpose on earth?
Each of us get so caught up in the rat race of gathering “stuff”. We do things in our life that we think is going to fulfill us and satiate us. We amass money, relationships, sexual encounters. We get caught up in food, alcohol, pills. We think all of these things will satisfy us. Solomon says he’s tried all of that to the “nth” degree and all of that isn’t it.
Solomon was so rich and powerful, he had the ability to pursue every possibility to find joy and happiness in them. At the end of his life, with all of his life experiences, he lets us know as we are on life’s journey, we could do one of three things on the road we travel on.
If we are not careful, we could end up in the ditch of fatalism, believing nothing really matters. You can try to fill your life with money, sex, substance, or the party scene because you’ve resigned yourself to nothing really maters. But Solomon is telling us, he’s tried all of that and it’s like chasing the wind.
He says we could also wind up in the ditch of humanism which just makes everything about me. It’s an egocentric lifestyle that screams my weekends are about me, my relationships are about me and my goals are just about my self-fulfillment. This way of life says we are out to tantalize all five of our senses. It’s about self-actualization. But Solomon says God wants to get you off that hamster wheel.
Each of us have a God-shaped hole within us. That space draws us closer to God when we let it. And when we decide God’s call overrides what the world says, we begin walking on the road of faith.
Solomon is telling us, he’s tried everything and the only thing that brings joy and happiness, the only thing that satisfies, the only thing that affirms our purpose is God. No amount of money, sex, pleasure or prestige will ever amount to what God will do in our lives.
A.W. Tozer wrote in “The Pursuit of God”, “It is not what a person does that determines whether their work is sacred or secular. It is WHY they do it. The motive is everything. Let a person sanctify the Lord God in their heart and they can thereafter do no common act.”
You don’t have to have 14 degrees or a boat load of money to have purpose. You don’t need to find importance in your relationships or power in your sexual exploitations. You don’t need to be a king or president to find significance. You simply need to follow God.
It’s in God you’ll find purpose and meaning. It’s in him you’ll discover peace and a life that is satisfying. Don’t chase the wind but chase after the God who created you and loves you. Blessings on your journey.