Vanity of Vanities
Scripture Reading: Ecclesiastes 1:2
Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher, vanity of vanities! All is vanity.
If anyone was in a position to experiment with all that this world could offer it was Solomon. He set out to find what would give a sense of meaning and purpose to life. He tried education, wealth, sexual pleasure, entertainment, and power. None of it gave him the sense of satisfaction he sought. He wisely looked at it and saw it all for what it was -vanity.
Does this mean we are doomed to a futile, meaningless, empty life? Not at all.
C. S. Lewis said, “The Christian has a great advantage over other men, not by being less fallen than they, nor less doomed to live in a fallen world, but by knowing that he is a fallen man in a fallen world.”
Ecclesiastes is grouped among the wisdom books for a good reason. It is meant to lead us into wise living. Solomon helps us by keeping us from wasting what little time we have here frantically running up steep roads looking for utopian cities of gold at the top of a mountain and only ending up in desert wastelands.
While the bulk of Ecclesiastes is about what to avoid, Solomon does point us toward the source of all true contentment, happiness, and peace. He points us to God. He ends this book with the conclusion he came to after all of his experimentation and dabbling in the idols of this world:
Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.
Reverent submission to God is the way.
