Ecclesiastes 1

Bible Passage:  Ecclesiastes 1

“Vanity of vanities, all is vanity.”

Ecclesiastes 1: 2(b)

Alas, we’ve now come back to one of the books of wisdom, written by king Solomon. The book that talks about life and its vanities. And today, we shall look at the first chapter of this book, and I’ll be splitting it into two sections (well, at least that’s what my bible does..).

The Vanity of Life

Last year, Treasureinearthernvessel gave a sharing on this book (Time portal coordinates: http://closerdaybyday.info/2009/10/poetry-ecclesiastes-1-2/). And in the blog entry, *censored gender pronoun* shared a good point, which I think can be kept in our minds and hearts as we continue to read the entire book, plus something for us to ponder about. And I think it resonates in a verse in Paul’s epistle to the Ephesians…

“…that at the time you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world…”

Ephesians 2: 12

I don’t believe that Solomon is telling us not to work or do anything in our lives. But as Treasureinearthernvessel had pointed out in *censored gender pronoun* sharing, the main vanity is that without God in our lives, whatever we do will be a vanity. That is to say, life, without God, itself is a vanity… Meaningless…

We may toil and labour to make our present and future situations more comfortable for living or to satisfy our fleshly desires for a moment. But well, all these things are but for a moment. Life is short, and before we know it, we would all meet with the great equaliser (death, that is… not some last minute goal to make it 1-1 or something). Reminds me of the parable of the rich fool (Luke 12: 13-21), whereby we may enjoy for a while, but we never know when the Lord would require of our souls. If we do not know God… If we do not have God in our lives… And when we die, I think we can agree the life lived had been truly worthless. There never was any sort of hope…

But if we have God in our lives, we all will have a true purpose in life. We will have an aim to strive for that stretches beyond the realm of mortal life. We will have something worthwhile to labour for. And we have something far better than this physical life to look forward to.

The Grief of Wisdom

Being the wisest homosapien ever known, this part might seem kinda ironic, given that this had been written by Solomon himself. However, being the wise king that he was, what we had written does have a good point. And it is so true. It is good to gain some knowledge of things around us, but to just pursue purely for earthly wisdom/knowledge is, according to Solomon, like grasping for the wind (Ecclesiastes 1: 17)…

Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show by good conduct that his works are done in the meekness of wisdom. But if you have bitter envy and self-seeking in your hearts, do not boast and lie against the truth. This wisdom does not descend from above, but is earthly, sensual, demonic…

James 3: 13-15

Earthly wisdom is sensual, and demonic. It brings about bitter envy and self-seeking. I feel that often when one strives and hungers for such knowledge and wisdom, it makes a person proud, and yet remains dissatisfied with what he/she knows, bringing about a thirst to know even more. We do know that in the pursuit for more knowledge, several things have been compromised. And one of these things is morality… Just think about it…

Well, gaining more of such knowledge purely for personal enhancements of our mental capacities and general knowledge is alright (within reason and no selfish desires). But again, like the labours in life, without God in the picture, what good would all this wisdom sum up to be in the end? The earthly wisdom we gather will not follow us after death. Such wisdom cannot teach us how about salvation. An overdose of such wisdom could cause more harm than good.

Not like spiritual wisdom…

But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy…

James 3: 17

Spiritual wisdom, that is given by God, can teach us the way to salvation. It allows us to bear good fruit and attain godly attributes. Spiritual wisdom prepares us for the things beyond this mortal life. Only such knowledge can add meaning to our lives. Whatever wisdom that God grants us from above, it is more than enough, and we will never be wanting or lacking. This is the wisdom that will never cause grief, and won’t catch us grasping for the wind…

I believe Solomon what this “cure” for vanity is. We must have God in our lives. We must let God live in us. The things of this world are meaningless and truly vanities, for they will not benefit us for long and will depart from us when we depart from our bodies of flesh. But the things of God are everlasting and useful for us, for they pertain to eternal life and the hope of salvation.

Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth…

Colossians 3: 2

I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me…

Galatians 2: 20

May we remember to strive on along the path towards salvation, and not to be carried away by the things of this world, the vanity of vanities…