Ecclesiastes

Everything is meaningless!

This morning, I finished rereading the book of Ecclesiastes and was once again struck by the book's theme, which seems like it should be so simple and obvious, but often is very difficult to live by:

Everything is meaningless, apart from God. So, remember your Creator while you're young.

It's not half and half or divided in some other way, where earthly things have some independent meaning, but God just has more... no, everything is utterly meaningless apart from God.

Even good things like wisdom... when separated from the purpose of glorifying God, wisdom, too, is meaningless.

So, I cannot help but think about all of the things in my life that seem so desperately important on their own: my teaching, my family, my friends, every blessing in my life... it's humbling to realize that it is not I, myself, but God alone that gives all of these things their meaning.

It's not enough for me to say "Well I'll give credit to God later... I'll just live my life the way I want to now and then praise God when I'm older." No, such an amazing truth about the source of meaning demands that I praise now and praise often.

Father, may I never cease to recognize you as the One who fills life and every single blessing in it with meaning. May the importance of that last sentence truly sink in through my often-thick skull, that they may be more than just words on the page. May I respond in praise and worship and seek to glorify your name in all I say and do.

Amen!