Meaningless

King Solomon is known for his immense wealth and wisdom and for authoring several books in the Old Testament. He achieved many things in his life, including building the Temple for the Lord and being the last King of a unified Israel. While we could look at his great work and wealth and admire his tenacity, maybe wishing we had a fraction of what he had as King, he wrote a book called Ecclesiastes. In this book, Solomon discusses things like wisdom, life, competition, power and authority, wealth and accolades, and religion carried out with a minimum effort. And he tells us that everything is meaningless. “I have seen all the things that are done under the sun; all of them are meaningless, a chasing after the wind.” He is telling us that he chased after and accomplished many things while living in this world. He had wealth, wives, wisdom, and power, and it all meant nothing without God. He discovered his true purpose in life was knowing God and keeping His commands. Ecclesiastes ends this way: “Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the duty of all mankind” (Ecclesiastes 12:13).

The question we must ask ourselves today is, what are we chasing? Let’s take it from someone who’s been there; it’s all meaningless without God.