The Great Answer Lies Not In Our Activities

843 Acres Lent post: When All You've Ever Wanted Isn't Enough


Lord, There is nothing new under the sun. The Great Answer lies not in our activities, but in Christ. And it is his resurrection that gives meaning to our daily lives. May we be people who receive your gifts with joy and pleasure, not rushing through them to get to more "important" things. May we savor them, spend time with them, and thank you for them. Amen.

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Success: "If the book of Proverbs is about wisdom for people who want success," writes Mark Dever, "the book of Ecclesiastes offers wisdom for people who have success. Particularly, it is for individuals who have gotten what they wanted out of life, or at least what they thought they had wanted, and then have found it wanting."

Vanity: The author of Ecclesiastes was wealthy and wise. Yet he laments the daily drudgery of life that seems to be nothing but repetitive: "Vanity of vanities! All is vanity. What does a man gain by all the toil at which he toils under the sun? ... What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done, and there is nothing new under the sun."

Enjoying: In When All You've Ever Wanted Isn't Enough, Harold Kushner writes that the dailiness of our activities is the beauty of life: "When we stop searching for the Great Answer, the Immortal Deed which will give our lives ongoing meaning, and instead concentrate on filling our individual days with moments that gratify us, then we will find the only possible answer to the question, What is life about? It is not about writing great books, amassing great wealth, achieving great power. It is about loving and being loved. It is about enjoying your food and sitting in the sun rather than rushing through lunch and hurrying back to the office. It is about savoring the beauty of moments that don't last, the sunsets, the leaves turning color, the rare moments of true human communication. It is about savoring them rather than missing out on them because we are so busy and they will not hold still until we get around to them ... When we come to that stage in our lives when we are less able to accomplish but more able to enjoy, we will have attained the wisdom that Ecclesiastes finally found after so many false starts and disappointments."

Prayer: Lord, There is nothing new under the sun. The Great Answer lies not in our activities, but in Christ. And it is his resurrection that gives meaning to our daily lives. May we be people who receive your gifts with joy and pleasure, not rushing through them to get to more "important" things. May we savor them, spend time with them, and thank you for them. Amen.