The Meaning of Life

Last week, I was doing my morning Scripture reading on the First Five App, and the passage just really hit home.  For a long time I’ve had this perpetual feeling of being lost and confused.  I was always asking, “Why?”  Why am I here on this earth?  What is my purpose?  I don’t do anything great, I’m pretty simple minded, and I certainly would not describe myself as a tremendous person.  So, what’s the point of me being here? 

 

Over the years I have defined myself by my grades in school, my career and how important my job sounded, to the clothes I wore, to the places I traveled, or things I did.  Once I figured out those material or superficial things didn’t matter as much, I decided that I would define myself by my relationships.  Because, it’s the people in your life that are important, right?  Except, we can’t control what others do or don’t do.  So, I was left feeling really empty and alone a good chunk of the time. 

As I’m writing this, I feel like I sound like such a cliché. 

 

I’ll let the reading below speak for itself, but I was so happy to have a big life lesson that I learned recently reinforced.  The lesson being, if you put God first in your life, you will be so much happier!  By living a life that is in line with what God wants of me, I finally feel like I’m in the right place, or that I’m on the right track.  I have found my purpose.  And, I’m looking forward to seeing where this takes me in my journey of life.

 

Today’s Reading: Ecclesiastes 2

Ecclesiastes 2:11 (NIV), “Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done and what I had toiled to achieve, everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind; nothing was gained under the sun.”

What is the meaning of life? What is my purpose?

Philosophers and theologins have wanted these answers. Scientists and inventors have sought these truths. Most everyone, from every walk of life, wonders the same thing at some point: What am I here for?

Three thousand years ago, King Solomon, the wisest and wealthiest man alive, sought these answers as well. He had everything, and denied himself nothing his eyes desired. But something was missing: meaning.

He tried to find it in pleasure. It wasn’t there.

He searched for it in projects, building houses, parks and gardens. Not there either.

He looked for it in possessions, increasing the wealth of his kingdom. All meaningless in the end.

Solomon’s bucket list, the checklist he believed would lead him to meaning, led him to emptiness. Although this story is ancient, it could be written today. It could be my story.

I sought to find significance in my eduction, career and relationships. But the glow of those experiences fades.

I tried to find my identity in achievements and success. I volunteered and served others. But projects come to a close, success fizzles, the events end. If my identity is found in those places, I will always be on the hunt for the next project.

The desire for more will always disappoint because we will never know when enough is enough. More money, more attention, more possessions. They don’t satisfy the deepest longing of our hearts, so we will always want just a bit more.

God created us to need Him, and we will only find true and lasting satisfaction there. But we are fickle creatures. Our hearts tend to look for meaning and contentment in things rather than the Giver of those things. We exchange the lasting joy of Christ for the fleeting pleasure of this earth.

Jesus knew we would seek after the necessary (and often unnecessary) things of this world, and gave us this advice on how to live life: “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well” (Matthew 6:33).

What a simple solution to our striving. Seek God first. Seek Him in the morning. Seek Him during the day. Seek Him at night. Seek to make Jesus’ name famous rather than our own. Be ambitious for His kingdom, not ours.

We get the sense Solomon knows this truth as well. He knows God is the source of everything his heart wants. We get a glimpse of this when Solomon says, “A person can do nothing better than to eat and drink and find satisfaction in their own toil. This too, I see, is from the hand of God, for without him, who can eat or find enjoyment?” (Ecclesiastes 2:24–25)

Solomon’s still bitterly disappointed in his earthly quest for meaning, but we see a little light start to shine as his thoughts turn toward God. Thankfully we have more than a glimmer of hope. To give us meaning, we have the fulfillment of every promise God ever made: Jesus.

Prayer: Father, so many times I search for meaning and significance in projects and possessions. Help me to see the true need of my heart is to find my identity in You. Thank You for calling me Your beloved child. In Jesus’ name, amen.

 

In Ecclesiastes 2:17-26, Solomon expresses his frustration at the futileness of work, saying “All their days their work is grief and pain; even at night their minds do not rest. This too is meaningless” (Ecclesiastes 2:23).

Was work always a drudgery? Or did God have a different plan for work than Solomon (or we) experienced?

The first reference to work is attributed to God at creation: “By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work” (Genesis 2:2).

At the dawn of creation, in our very first “lesson” about God, we find our Heavenly Father working for six days. But God didn’t just work Himself, He also assigned work to His creation. In the second chapter of Genesis, after God created Adam, Scripture records, “The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it” (Genesis 2:15).

Why would God make Adam work? God could have easily made the garden self-sustaining. He could have made nuts without shells, and pineapples without a hard shell. But God didn’t do that. He made the garden to need human hands to thrive.

Which means God created Adam with the strength, intelligence and creativity to care for the garden. God intentionally designed Adam to work, and gave him purpose this way.

Sadly, because of Adam and Eve’s sinful choice to disobey God and eat from the one tree He told them to avoid, (Genesis 2:16-17) sin entered our world. And because of disobedience, God told Adam he would toil painfully in order to eat (among other consequences).

Work was originally meant to be a blessing, but through sin, it became tainted.

Work is how we live out our God-given design, and use our gifts and talents. It wasn’t supposed to be something we tolerate to get to the weekend, nor a source of our identity.

Today, so many of us get our identity tangled up in our work — whether that work is outside our homes or managing a home and caring for children. It’s only Satan who draws a line from our work to our worth.

God, however, has a different identity for us, one that is independent of our achievements. To Him, we are His beloved children, just as Solomon was. We are cherished just for being His. May that truth settle in our hearts today, and hopefully let us rest rather than strive.

Major Moment: The Teacher searches for meaning and concludes life cannot be enjoyed without God.