Caption: Having everything you desire—the success, the money, the comfort, and the things of this world–still won’t make you happy.
Foundation: Book of Ecclesiastes Chapters 1-7
A new day has begun! Today is the day you come to the realization that life without Jesus is meaningless. By Meaningless I mean that life is not important and lacks purpose. You want to know who else came to that realization? Ask King Solomon, the son of David. The Lord has been having me in Ecclesiastes for a little minute now. He was definitely dropping nuggets on me.
At the beginning in chapter 1, the FIRST thing he says is “Everything is meaningless” in verse 2. Solomon goes on to say in verse 8 paraphrasing that no matter how much we see or hear, we are never satisfied or content. Now I’m sure we all know what it means to be satisfied and content so I won’t go into the definitions of those words. Think about it. How many times have you seen someone wish or tell you that they wish they had more? I’m talking about those that weren’t struggling financially. Im talking about the financially stable or wealthy folks. How many celebrities have ended their lives even though they were extremely wealthy? Too many to count that you know of right? That should tell you in itself that money or having a lot of money does not satisfy your SOUL. Theres a reason why the bible says, “the love of money is the root of all evil” -1 Timothy 6:10. Actually, lets put the entire verse here, “For the love of money is a root for all sorts of evil, and some by longing for it have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs” (NASB 2020). There is a problem when wealth becomes more important than obedience to the Lord. It’s even more of a problem when there is a excessive desire for riches, possessions, or for what others have. Its an even BIGGER problem when people pursue wealth and it causes them to compromise their relationship with God. There are both spiritual and personal consequences of this.
Let’s continue with Solomon. In the first 8 verses of chapter 2, King Solomon talks about how he had everything one could desire yet was not happy. When you get to verse 11, he realizes that it was all meaningless. When you go further down to verse 17, he says that he hates life. Now look at that. He had EVERYTHING. How can you have EVERYTHING but STILL hate life? Solomon still felt a void even with everything he had. Not only that, it turns into a vent session in verses 18-21 as he mentions working so hard for it all only to leave it to someone else who did not work for it. It wasn’t until verse 24 comes where he realized and understood that EVERYTHING COMES FROM THE HAND OF GOD. How many of us have come to that realization? Be honest with yourself and remember we cannot fool God.
What has been our motives? In chapter 4, Solomon talks about how most people are motivated to success because they envy their neighbor which is MEANINGLESS. We have to check our motives. Solomon goes on in chapter 5 verse 10 to state that those who love money will never have enough. He talks about how it is MEANINGLESS (theres that word again!) to think wealth brings true happiness. Is this really how some people think? YES. That is a problem because that means people are living in a false reality. We are reminded in verse 15 that we leave with exactly what we came with, which is NOTHING. We cannot take that stuff with us when we leave this earth. What good would it do to have all of that but never have a relationship with Christ? People get frustrated, discouraged, and angry not realizing that everything they have comes from God as a gift. YES that includes the money. Wealth given under GOD is a gift.
King Solomon tells us in chapter 6 to enjoy what we do have rather than what we don’t have or desiring what we don’t have (vs. 9). Dreaming about nice things is meaningless without desiring God. We should never desire having nice things over desiring God and His will. We find out in verse 10 that everything has already been decided for us and we are told not to argue with God about our destiny. Man thats tough. Life is going to happen whether we agree or not. Life is still going to happen whether we want to accept it or not. Which brings mean to chapter 7 of Ecclesiastes. In verse 14, we are told that prosperity and hard times come from God. WHAT??? You mean everything is not the enemy? Thats exactly what I am saying. Even if the enemy attacks, God looks at our hearts and how we respond to situations that occur in our lives. God has a perfect will for us. That will is for us to have and cultivate a relationship with Christ. Nothing outside of that should be more important. We are called to fill our soul with the Word of God and His Presence. We have the Holy Spirit our comforter in this lifetime to get us through. In verse 14 of chapter 7, we are told that God created us to be virtuous, but WE ARE THE ONES who follow our own downward path (our choice to not follow God or have relationship). That is our biggest downfall as people. We try to live our lives as if God is not in charge. We try to create “our own destiny” or think we can do things better than God. We chase all these things only to realize that it is not enough and never will be. We still feel empty. The good part is there are a lot of us who come to this realization and shift to align with God and His purpose for our life. The bad part is there are others who don’t and will not, hence the reasons the rate of suicide.
Since my blog is mostly for women, did you know that in 2016 a study was done to show that 89,708 American women found that those attending religious services at least weekly had an 84% lower observed risk of suicide than women who never attended? Now you know. In 2020, weekly religious attendance was associated with a 75% lower hazard of suicide with men being 48%. Overall, it was found that having a religious association lowered the odds of suicidal thoughts, attempts, and deaths. Its pays to know that having a relationship with Christ offers spiritual purpose, hope, and a foundation that goes FAR BEYOND material possessions as Solomon admitted in Ecclesiastes. Let me be clear, WE ARE NOT EXEMPT from life and its difficult seasons or circumstances, but we need the body of Christ to survive and thrive. We need community (family, friends, counseling, therapy) and fellowship with Christ and other believers. Our life is NOTHING without God. We cannot survive without God. There is no fulfillment outside of Christ. Those things add to our life, but those things will never replace God in our lives.
Be Blessed!
