Daily Bread

Meaningless to Meaningful – Ecclesiastes 2:11

“Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done and what I had toiled to achieve, everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind; nothing was gained under the sun.” – Ecclesiastes 2:11

Meaningless! Meaningless! Everything is meaningless!

The pursuit of an ending wants for pleasure has always been human’s greatest downfall and focus. We are so focused on providing ourselves pleasure and satisfaction but what is really the most important thing in our lives? Is it pleasure? Relationship? Wisdom? Money? Alcohol? Sex? Accomplishment? 

These are all examples of the few things people think is important in their lives. As human, we crave for this satisfaction; we seek to quench these cravings for satisfaction to the point that we shape our lives around it. We are so focused in achieving and getting a hold of these things so that we can finally say that we are satisfied and pleased. However, as we try and try to get these things, we find ourselves failing. Are we really failing or our level of satisfaction just keeps on rising up?

As we reflect on those questions, let us remember the story of King Solomon in the book of Ecclesiastes. Since the first chapter of Ecclesiastes, King Solomon has already declared that everything in life is meaningless. Every pursuit of pleasure is meaningless for he doesn’t know what more he needs. A quick background, King Solomon was a very rich king. He had everything. In fact, he listed one by one in chapter two what he did to find that pleasure and satisfaction. 

He pleasured himself; he laughed; he tried cheering himself with wine; he built houses and planted vineyards; he made parks and planted all kinds of trees; he bought male and female slaves; he had the most number of flocks; he acquired male and female singers; and had many concubines to satisfy his man’s heart but he still declared that everything is meaningless! A chasing after the wind. 

As we reflect on King Solomon’s search for his life’s meaning and significance, we can also relate to this. We are all so busy finding the meaning and significance of our lives. We are so busy searching for the right pleasure that can really satisfy us and we are so busy feeding our enormous need for satisfaction but we did not realize that we are just chasing after the wind. It is indeed meaningless and vanity. 

We might think, “If only I am as rich as them,” or “If only I am as wise as them,” or “If only I am happy as them,” yet all of these ideologies are just meaningless. We thought that if only we can have everything, we can be satisfied but we must know that it is a false belief. Even the person who had everything, a person who was very rich and he can do anything found out that all of these trivial possessions are just meaningless. 

Through this, we can reflect that our pursuit of pleasure is just meaningless. We are searching for our satisfaction, pleasure, meaning and significance in the wrong area. We are very goal-oriented and focused on what we think we need that we forgot to stop and look at the cross. We forgot that everything we need can only be found in Jesus Christ. We always forget that everything is meaningless without Him. 

Just like King Solomon, we are just chasing after the wind if we fail to understand and remember that everything we need can only be found in Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. As we journey our life in pursuit of our meaning, we forget that the meaning and significance of our lives has already been laid off in front of us through the cross. 

God wants us to submit everything to Him and leave all of these meaningless pursuits to Him. He wants us to understand that He made King Solomon as a testimony that we can never be satisfied if we are pursuing our meaning and pleasure through our own accord. He wants us to remember that true peace and satisfaction can only be found in Him. 

Again, we should think about all the times we have already achieved something or did something that pleased us, did it satisfied us? Not even a bit, right? It is because we are very sinful and we always crave for something more. We delight in sin and the moment we give in, it just entangles quickly and as a result, it will make us crave more thinking that we need more but in fact, we don’t. So God wants us to understand that it is meaningless and folly to chase after the wind. 

Instead, He offers and promises us the real pleasure, satisfaction and meaning that can only be found through Him. He offers us the cross, in where we can find what we are looking for. The death and resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ can provide us satisfaction and meaning that nothing in this world can offer. He provides us eternal life and salvation that even our folly pursuit of significance cannot offer. 

Therefore, let us always be reminded that our lives were not gifted to us to pursue temporary satisfaction and to chase after the wind, but it was given to us so that we may find our meaning in Jesus Christ. We lived, we are justified and we are saved because of the grace and mercy of God. Aside from Him, we can never gain true satisfaction and meaning. The hole inside us that has never been filled even after all we did in this world to find the filling, can only be filled by the blood of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. 

May we always remember that chasing after the wind is not worth it. May we always remember the story of King Solomon and make his life our lesson on not to pursue foolish things for we can only find everything in God. He has provided us everything we need, even our salvation so let us put our trust, our effort and our faith in Him. Instead of a pursuit of pleasure and meaning, let us have the pursuit of Jesus Christ. Let us not seek other things, only Him— our atoning sacrifice, our satisfaction, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. 

Meaningful! Everything is meaningful in Christ! A chasing after Christ is meaningful!

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