So, What's the Purpose?

Ecclesiastes 3:11 - He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also He has put eternity in their hearts, except that no one can find out the work that God does from beginning to end.

Ecclesiastes is quite a book. It can be difficult to read. We aren't told who wrote the book but some suppose it to be Solomon. I see Ecclesiastes as this author's blog! He contemplated things on parchment. As he wrote, he sought the meaning of life.

He describes everything "under the sun" as vanity and a grasping of the wind. Then I looked on all the works that my hands had done And on the labor in which I had toiled; And indeed all was vanity and grasping for the wind. There was no profit under the sun (Ecclesiastes 2:11).  Nothing he did had not already been done and it would be that way in the future...so what was the point?

Later he says: Nothing is better for a man than that he should eat and drink, and that his soul should enjoy good in his labor. This also, I saw, was from the hand of God (Ecclesiastes 2:24 and 3:12).  Sandwiched in between he shows us As it happens to the fool, it also happens to me (2:15).  In other words righteous or wicked, doesn't matter, God allows us all to experience the same thing. He goes on to say there is a time and season for everything...you've heard it before:  A time to be born, a time to die...  There's always a beginning and an end, the ups and downs of life, the work and the rest. 

Take the part of the scripture I started out with He has put eternity into their hearts...I've heard that when God created each of us He put a God-sized hole in our hearts that we should seek what it is that would fill the void in our lives, which is God. Do we feel we are missing something? Do we say, If only I could win the lottery I'd be happy? If I had that new car, a better job, new home, new _____ (you fill in the blank)... We've all done it. Always striving for more and never being satisfied.

God is the Beginning and the End. He gives all things. Whatever has happened will happen again. Eternity is there for the taking but it must be sought out. We are to seek God. Could there be a connection?  Hmmm.  And all the work we do, the "toiling under the sun" that seems to just end for us and is passed on to the next person? What's the purpose?

The question a lot of people consider is where do we go when we die? What is our purpose in life if we are born, live and then just die? Let me just tell you what God tells us: We were made to seek, worship and serve God. Plain and simple. Then He will fill that void  and make life meaningful. We must allow God entrance into that hole.

Monday I wrote about how God is for all people. We all fit into one of the categories of sinful people found in the Bible. That's part of why the Bible was written. When we accept Jesus as Lord and Savior of our life  all of life makes sense. We are to enjoy our lives and believe it is God's gift. What we do on earth is totally meaningless (a grasping of the wind) without the knowledge of God, His offer of salvation and eternal life. It boils down to a relationship with God, living (and working) in this life on earth for God with the promise of an even better, permanent, life in heaven with God.

Ecclesiastes 4:9-10 - Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their labor. For if they fall, one will lift up his companion. But woe to him who is alone when he falls, for he has no one to help him up. This, I believe, shows us deep within the recesses of the Word, how we cannot live without God as our center.  On our own we're powerless, but with God by our side, we are strong.  When we fall, He will be there to pick us up.

This author contemplated life. In the end he realized that life without God was meaningless. Being in Christ, receiving Him as our Savior, brings life--and meaning to it.  If you are not satisfied with everything in your life today, if there seems to be something missing, that there's no purpose, consider Christ.  This seems to be the key verse to all of Ecclesiastes:

Ecclesiastes 12:13 - Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter:  Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is man's all.