The past few days I have been captivated by the words of King Solomon in the book of Ecclesiastes.
The first part of Ecclesiastes describes the separation between heaven and earth and the emptiness of human life apart from God and eternity. Ecclesiastes states the absolute vanity of all things under the sun. In fact, vanity is mentioned 33 times throughout this book and under the sun is occurs 29 times.
““Meaningless! Meaningless!” says the teacher. “Utterly Meaningless! Everything is Meaningless.” What does man gain from all his labor at which he toils under the sun?”-Ecclesiastes 1:3
Throughout the first few chapters of Ecclesiastes we start to see that King Solomon connects biblical vanity to all things on this earth and all things which are limited by time. It is true there are many things on this earth which are limited in time and are not vain or evil in themselves, but once you examine these things in the light of eternity, they are all worthless or vain.
How true are all of the items King Solomon declares as meaningless: everything, wisdom, pleasures, folly, toil, advancement, and riches! None of these matter in an eternal sense. “Naked a man comes from his mother’s womb, and as he comes, so he departs. He takes nothing from his labor that he can carry in his hand.” – Ecclesiastes 5:15. Thankfully we can carry more in our hearts and minds than in our hands anyway! Eternal life with God is worth more than any tangible object on this earth. (2 Cor 4:16-18)
Take heart my friends! Although life might seem meaningless and empty at times, remember the eternal riches we are promised when we put our faith in Christ Jesus. Faith is putting trust in and fixing our eyes to the unseen things rather than the things we can visibly see (2 Cor 4:18).
“We live by faith, not by sight.” – 2 Corinthians 5:7
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