July 31, 2022 Text: Ecclesiastes 1:2, 12-14; 2:18-26
Dear Friends in Christ,
Years ago the Chicago Tribune did an article on the creator of the “Dilbert” comic strip. Reporter Jane Meredith Adams writes: “In an office just slightly bigger than a cubicle, Scott Adams transforms tales of idiotic bosses and meaningless empowerment teams into Dilbert, the chinless comic-strip hero to millions of confined workers.
“Since Adams published his internet address . . . he has been deluged with questions from readers who wonder how he knows the exact level of ineptitude with which their company operates. It’s because he has been there. Adams endured 17 years of cubicle employment – most recently as an applications engineer with Pacific Bell.
“I don’t think I’ll ever forget what it feels like to sit in a cubicle,” says the cartoonist, “and realize you’ve been there for eight hours . . . and everything you did today will become unimportant in the next reorganization.”
While our ESV version translates the word as “vanity” the NIV translates it as “meaningless.” “Everything is Meaningless.” The basic thrust of the Book of Ecclesiastes is that life is futile, useless, and hollow if lived apart from God. Only when living for God and His Word does life have meaning. Where are you?
“WHAT ARE YOU CONVEYING TO THE WORLD?”
These seem like strange words coming from the Bible. Isn’t the Bible supposed to lift us out of despair? The writer of Ecclesiastes, seems just a little despondent. He isn’t manic-depressive. He was inspired to write these words by the Holy Spirit. They are designed to teach us a powerful truth about life in this sinful world.
When the writer speaks about “under the sun” or “beneath the sun” he is equating this to life apart from God. Therefore, he hates his toil. He despises his labor. He experiences sorrow. His heart cannot rest at night. Man, then sees life as meaningless. One big puzzle with no final piece. The everyday routine makes no sense.
This is the existence so many are conveying to the world. With nothing long-term to live for people are questioning their toil and labor. With no faith in the end game, people are cutting their lives short. Without hope, men and women just live for themselves and the next party. Let’s just legally dope it up and have a good time. It’s not gonna last and this too is meaningless. They are walking in a desert with no water in sight. They eventually dry up as dust in the wind.
When mankind cannot understand creation as it is related to the Creator, nothing makes sense. Unless God rescues man from this predicament, everything dissolves into meaninglessness. Only God can bring reconciliation. He reaches out to us.
God is only understood in the context of the cross at Calvary. Meaning is found in God alone as He chooses to reveal Himself. Even our text says, “the hand of God, for apart from him who can eat or who can have enjoyment?” (v. 24b-25)
We struggle with this and the message we convey isn’t so great at times. We can pursue all the wrong things at the wrong times. Most can admit they get depressed and worried about the cares of this world. Recently, it has been magnified in our response to Christ. When we start to show cracks in our trust level with God then the devil is ready to pounce.
God hasn’t given up. He knows things have meaning. He knows you have meaning. He rescues that which has fallen into ruin. God didn’t retreat from the world. He sent His Son into it. Jesus wasn’t just a moral teacher ready to show us a path. The Son of God is beyond our life under the sun. He lived under the fiery sun for us. Remember how parched He was on the cross? He needed a drink. That living water he spilled on Calvary washes over you now. It gave you life in Baptism. It refreshes. It quenches. It works deep into your soul.
Jesus came as a ransom for many and to forgive us for chasing after the wind. He rose from the depths of the grave to grant unto us new life in Him. We now interpret everything in our lives in the context of God and His gift of salvation. We know the end game. It gives our lives meaning.
Is that what you are conveying to the chasers of wind? Life is not like a painting; it does not stand still. If we live that way, then life just passes us by. It is not to be captured. Life is to be enjoyed. When people see less worry in our lives, at this time in history, wow what a difference it can make. Do you see the opportunities? God has given us the gift of life, and those who are wise will live in that gift, trusting in the greater life given to them by God the Father in Jesus Christ, his Son.
Amen.