Success

Death is the Great Leveler of all men. Whether rich or poor, wise or foolish, powerful or weak, renowned or obscure--no one can rise above it, cheat it, or escape its eventual claim on his life.

Harry Ironside

Read

Today's Scripture is Ecclesiastes 2:12-26. What is the end result of our work under the sun? How do we find enjoyment in our labor? Where can we find meaning in our work?

Think

You might think that ministers have the corner on meaningful and fulfilling careers. After all, we spend our days serving others, studying the Bible, and teaching people how to know God and know Him more fully. And this work is extremely fulfilling. But as much as any other career you can choose, it is easy to view things "under the sun" and lose sight of what really matters in the world. I have to constantly remind myself that what I do will only have true, deep, and lasting meaning if God is at the center of it all.

It doesn't really matter what career we choose, the temptation is to build our own little kingdoms complete with serfs and subordinates where we can establish our reign and feel significant, even if only for a little while. And sometimes pastors/youth pastors are guilty of this more than others.

Solomon makes it clear that the best thing we can do is enjoy the fruit of our labor, and even this is a gift from God. Because even if we reach the top of our profession, making the highest salary and receiving the most awards, when we die, the next guy takes over and our work is soon forgotten. Not to mention that our fortune is passed to someone who will also die and be forgotten. So it is better to enjoy our work, to find our significance in how God views us, for only then will it all make any sense or have any meaning.

Our culture is a cotton-candy world--sugary and seductive--a pink swirl of empty calories. Today you might be the "flavor of the month," with Hollywood or Wall Street at your command. Tomorrow your pockets may be as empty as your soul.

David Jeremiah, Searching for Heaven on Earth

Pray

Thank God for creating us with such significance. Ask Him to keep your focus on Him, so that in everything you do, He is at the center, and He alone receives the glory.

Do

Write down the things that you care most about. Beside each one, write what gives these things significance in your life. How can you arrange things so that God will be at the center of your life?

Trivial

All our knowledge brings us closer to our ignorance.

T.S. Eliot

Read

Take a couple of minutes and read Ecclesiastes 1:12-2:11. Try to notice the 4 things that Solomon tried out in his search for significance. What did he find in each of these things?

Think

Keep in mind that Solomon is acting "under the sun". He has looked around and noticed that everything is meaningless and empty, that nothing ever really changes, and that this monotony is boring and frustrating. So now he does something about it. He tries all of our most treasured pursuits: knowledge, fun, work, and wealth.

And he finds that, as it is in all of life, none of these things are able to fulfill. This truth has been proven throughout history, that no matter how much we learn, no matter how pleasurable our lives are, no matter how great our legacy, and no matter how rich we become, none of these things ultimately have the power within themselves to invest our lives with the significance we desire. After the dust settles and we have the time to ourselves so that we are able to consider and evaluate the course our lives have taken, the emptiness rushes back like a flood, intensified by the understanding that these pursuits that have so commanded our time have proven themselves trivial, devoid of any real meaning.

...in the end, it was "meaningless--utterly meaningless." Solomon, in today's language, would have said, "I had it all; I had it my way, and I climbed to the highest peaks of human achievement. But the one thing I sought was never within my grasp."

Solomon made a timeless error in his quest for meaning: he sought it in things and experiences. He searched in wisdom, in wild living, in work, in wealth--all in vain. The object of his search was, in fact, unavailable under the sun.

David Jeremiah, Searching for Heaven on Earth

Pray

Pray that God will continue to remind you of the significance that He has given His creation. Pray that He will help you to do all things for His glory, and that He would help you feel the significance you so desire.

Do

Evaluate your motivations. Are you trying to fill your own void? Are you trying to squeeze fulfillment and validation from things that have never been intended for this purpose? Ask yourself this question: Where's God in all of this?

Bored

There is a God-shaped vacuum in the heart of every man that cannot be filled by any created thing, but by God alone made known through Jesus Christ.

Blaise Pascal

All things are wearisome; Man is not able to tell it.

The eye is not satisfied with seeing, Nor is the ear filled with hearing.

That which has been is that which will be,

And that which has been done is that which will be done.

So there is nothing new under the sun.

Is there anything of which one might say, "See this, it is new"?

Already it has existed for ages Which were before us.

There is no remembrance of earlier things;

And also of the later things which will occur,

There will be for them no remembrance

Among those who will come later still.

Ecclesiastes 1:8-11

Life is boring. It's the same thing over and over. Do you recognize the phrase "There's nothing new under the sun"? Well there you go. Not only is life meaningless, not only does nothing ever change, but this meaningless monotony is boring, unfulfilling, and only leaves us frustrated. Nothing is satisfying, nothing is new, and nothing is remembered.

I heard these words from a student this weekend, talking about life in a small town. "There's nothing to do here!" he said. His frustration echoes the voices from centuries past, crying out from their emptiness, searching for meaning and purpose where meaning cannot be found and purpose is like a soap bubble--easily shattered.

We could compare [Solomon] to a spider in an old European fable. It descended one day on a single thread from a barn's lofty rafters and alighted near the corner of a window. From there it wove its web. This corner of the barn was very busy and soon the spider waxed fat and prospered. One day as he surveyed his web, he noticed the strand that reached up into the unseen. He had forgotten its significance and, thinking it a stray thread, he snapped it. Instantly, his whole world collapsed around him.

David Jeremiah, Searching for Heaven on Earth

Without the significant thread that gives us hope and supplies meaning to to our otherwise meaningless existence under the sun, our world is ultimately boring, frustrating, and easily forgotten. Take a few moments and thank the Lord for supplying us a perspective on life that satisfies our deepest longings and fills the giant vacuum in our souls.

This and other posts in this series on Ecclesiastes are inspired by my daily reading in David Jeremiah's book, Searching for Heaven on Earth. I recommend picking up a copy and reading it for yourself.

Cycles of Nature

A generation goes and a generation comes, But the earth remains forever. Also, the sun rises and the sun sets; And hastening to its place it rises there again. Blowing toward the south, Then turning toward the north, The wind continues swirling along; And on its circular courses the wind returns. All the rivers flow into the sea, Yet the sea is not full. To the place where the rivers flow , There they flow again.

Ecclesiastes 1:4-7

As if we're not depressed enough, Solomon moves from how empty life is to how nothing ever changes, and nothing is really permanent. Using a masterful (and ahead of his time) understanding of nature's cycles, we are made to realize that, whether we are here or not, the world keeps moving along in its daily, monthly, and yearly routines. What real, lasting impact do we really have on this stuff?

The answer: None.

It's important to recognize the perspective of the writer. He uses the phrase in verse three that he will repeat 29 times in the book of Ecclesiastes--under the sun. If all we have to consider is the natural world, with its unbroken cycles and our infinitesimal existence in the grand scheme of things, our very existence is empty and meaningless.

To be sure, not an encouraging outlook. But remember, Solomon's pessimism comes from his disconnect with God. When we see only what is under the sun and never what is behind it, we are left with that empty, churning cosmic machine, a great production line running to eternity and producing exactly nothing.

David Jeremiah, Searching for Heaven on Earth

You and I both know that if there is nothing to look forward to, nothing out there, outside of the natural order, that will somehow validate and give hope to our otherwise hopeless existence, then the only thing left to do is die and be forgotten. But there is good news!

We all feel it. We all have an enduring sense that the universe got it wrong, that things are exactly the reverse of what they should be. Shouldn't the ignorant machine of nature be temporary, and we be permanent? W just know this somehow; as Solomon will soon tell us, we have eternity set in our hearts. We refuse to see ourselves as temporal creatures. We're made for everlasting life, and the clock we live on should run down while we go on forever.

David Jeremiah, Searching for Heaven on Earth

There is light above the fog of our naturalist, under the sun understanding that gives us hope. It gives our lives meaning. And nothing frees us to live our lives well than to lift our heads out of the fog to see the eternity that has been written in our hearts.

My Dearest Wife

My wife and I have been married for 8 and 1/2 years. When I look at that number, it seems like such a long time, but I honestly can't imagine where all the time has gone. It's amazing how fast time flies when you're with the one person in the world who fills your heart with joy.

In my case, it's flown so fast I can remember exactly how I fell in love with Misha. Some of you may want to stop reading, because it gets pretty mushy from here.

I went on a date with Misha the other night, and we spent some time remembering specific things that attracted us to each other. I expected to have a hard time remembering specifics, having been 8 1/2 years and all, but I was pleasantly surprised to find that it's still as clear as anything. I can remember the specific conversations, playful looks, a certain smile just for me, and all the special things about Misha that drew me to her, and eventually won my heart. I say eventually, but it didn't take very long.

Misha and I were not exactly love at first sight, we're not Romeo and Juliet, but I can't imagine life without Misha. It's really kind of amazing to me. I've always known how much I don't deserve her, but for some strange reason, she keeps hanging around. And for some strange reason, she looked my way in the first place.

I was taken with Misha from the first time we had a real conversation. I knew from the beginning, as does everyone who meets her, that she is smart, funny, talented, the kind of person you enjoy being around. I was intoxicated. I couldn't get enough. I would watch for her to walk across the commons from my 3rd story window and race down the stairs to non-chalantly turn the corner and "accidentally" bump into her, sometimes quite literally. Then we would walk around campus for hours, just talking. I began to delve the depths of her compassion, kindness, humor, intelligence, and I spent hours memorizing the lines of her face, the exact color of her eyes, and, yes, even the shape of her body.

I don't remember much about the two years we dated that doesn't include Misha. Even when we weren't together, I was thinking about her. It was like a dream. A beautiful, wonderful dream.

But as beautiful as it was, I feel like our relationship now, 8 1/2 years, 3 kids, 4 dogs, and 3 cats later, is infinitely more beautiful and rewarding than it was then. I still can't get enough of her, I am still intoxicated, and the smell of her perfume still sets my heart on a wild sprint.

I am more deeply in love with my wife than I was all that time ago. Amazing.

Meaningless

The words of the Preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem.
"Vanity of vanities," says the Preacher;
"Vanity of vanities, all is vanity."
What profit has a man from all his labor
In which he toils under the sun?

Ecclesiastes 1:1-3

Delightful. Encouraging. Meaningful. Light hearted. These are not exactly the words you'd use to describe the mood of the writer of these verses. They're a little bit depressing, actually. Vanity, meaningless, empty, everything is meaningless, like smoke, a vapor that is here, fleeting, then gone as quickly as if it never existed. What profit, what benefit does a man really receive for all his work?

Implied answer: none.

An attitude like this doesn't seem in keeping with a king who reigned over a forty year golden age of Israel, who built one of the seven wonders of the ancient world, who had all the success a king could ask for, who had his choice of a thousand women, who was the wisest man who ever lived. Solomon had reached the pinnacle of success, and found it empty. I think if we're honest with ourselves, we all feel that somewhere up the ladder of success lies our fulfillment, our happiness, the meaning that we long for so deeply. But as we accomplish our goals, achieve success, or even as we fail, we find that Solomon was right.

It's all meaningless.

Straddling the top of the world, one foot in China and the other in Nepal, I cleared the ice from my oxygen mask, hunched a shoulder against the wind and stared absently down at the vastness of Tibet...I'd been fantasizing about this moment, and the release of emotion that would accompany it, for many months. But now that I was finally here, actually standing on the summit of Everest, I just couldn't summon the energy to care...I snapped four quick photos...then turned and headed down. My watch read 1:17 p.m. All told, I'd spent less than five minutes on the top of the world.

Jon Krakauer, Into Thin Air

I've been reading Searching for Heaven on Earth by David Jeremiah. I'd suggest picking it up if you can. 31 days of a search for meaning based on the book of Ecclesiastes.

Plot spoiler: The conclusion Solomon comes to in the very last verse in the book, when it's all said and done, the meaning of life is--fear God and keep His commandments, because this applies to every person. God is the one who infuses this life with meaning, and we will only truly find this meaning as we pursue Him with all our hearts.

But from there you will seek the LORD your God, and you will find Him if you search for Him with all your heart and all your soul.

Deuteronomy 4:29