All is Vanity
Solomon the wisest man that ever lived, and the wealthiest, pondered the meaning of life. He concluded that it was all vanity if the purpose was to live for self and pleasures. He realized that the rich man was only storing up riches for those after him who would likely squander it. Maybe you have thought about this too. Who will inherit all your toil and labor? Solomon likewise concluded that the poor man and the rich, the wise and foolish all would share the same fate in the end, which is death, and both likewise would be forgotten momentarily. This led him to ponder life beyond the grave. Have you thought about this? After 80 years if lucky in this world, what next?
The world to come is eternal. Doesn’t it deserve more of your attention and consideration? It is a life where money, influence, and power cannot bribe their way through. God has appointed that all men shall account for their lives and what they did with the sacrifice of his SON to die for their sins. After death, we are all at the mercy of a judge who cannot be bought or bribed with our wealth because he made all things, including us. The truly wise realize this. He desires a free-will relationship with us while we are alive. He sent Jesus to die for our sins so we could have his righteousness and eternal life after this brief life.
I pray you will consider giving him your life today. He offers a greater inheritance after death than all the riches and wealth we could accumulate here. He loves you so much that he gave Jesus his son to die for your sins. God bless you as you ponder your eternal destiny.
Ecclesiastes 2- Written by Solomon the Great:
Pleasures Are Meaningless
2 I said to myself, “Come now, I will test you with pleasure to find out what is good.” But that also proved to be meaningless. 2 “Laughter,” I said, “is madness. And what does pleasure accomplish?” 3 I tried cheering myself with wine, and embracing folly—my mind still guiding me with wisdom. I wanted to see what was good for people to do under the heavens during the few days of their lives.
4 I undertook great projects: I built houses for myself and planted vineyards. 5 I made gardens and parks and planted all kinds of fruit trees in them. 6 I made reservoirs to water groves of flourishing trees. 7 I bought male and female slaves and had other slaves who were born in my house. I also owned more herds and flocks than anyone in Jerusalem before me. 8 I amassed silver and gold for myself, and the treasure of kings and provinces. I acquired male and female singers, and a harem as well—the delights of a man’s heart. 9 I became greater by far than anyone in Jerusalem before me. In all this my wisdom stayed with me.
10 I denied myself nothing my eyes desired;
I refused my heart no pleasure.
My heart took delight in all my labor,
and this was the reward for all my toil.
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.
Wisdom and Folly Are Meaningless
12 Then I turned my thoughts to consider wisdom,
and also madness and folly.
What more can the king’s successor do
than what has already been done?
13 I saw that wisdom is better than folly,
just as light is better than darkness.
14 The wise have eyes in their heads,
while the fool walks in the darkness;
but I came to realize
that the same fate overtakes them both.
15 Then I said to myself,
“The fate of the fool will overtake me also.
What then do I gain by being wise?”
I said to myself,
“This too is meaningless.”
16 For the wise, like the fool, will not be long remembered;
the days have already come when both have been forgotten.
Like the fool, the wise too must die!
Toil Is Meaningless
17 So I hated life, because the work that is done under the sun was grievous to me. All of it is meaningless, a chasing after the wind. 18 I hated all the things I had toiled for under the sun, because I must leave them to the one who comes after me. 19 And who knows whether that person will be wise or foolish? Yet they will have control over all the fruit of my toil into which I have poured my effort and skill under the sun. This too is meaningless.
20 So my heart began to despair over all my toilsome labor under the sun. 21 For a person may labor with wisdom, knowledge and skill, and then they must leave all they own to another who has not toiled for it. This too is meaningless and a great misfortune. 22 What do people get for all the toil and anxious striving with which they labor under the sun? 23 All their days their work is grief and pain; even at night their minds do not rest. This too is meaningless.
Jesus gives us hope, life, and purpose both here and, in the world, to come. In him, life is not vanity!
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Have you given your life to Jesus Christ to be your Lord and Savior? He loves us so much that he, our creator, left heaven and came to earth, died for us on the cross taking our sins upon him so that we may be forgiven and receive his righteousness. He conquered death by rising from the dead and made a way for us who were dead in sin to be reconciled back to the Father (God). What’s more, he has prepared a wonderful home for us in heaven, where those who love him and obey him will spend eternity with him. Learn more here about how to be born again and have eternal life after this brief life on earth.
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