Finding Meaning

Do you ever try to step back from you life and take a 40,000 foot view of it? Do you ever wonder what gives substance to your life, and what it will look like when everything is said and done? I don’t recommend asking these questions all the time, but an examined life is a good thing.

These questions ultimately lead me to ask questions about meaning and purpose. What does it all mean? Ultimately, does it matter if I get out of bed this morning and give it my all, or if I lay around and watch movies all day?

The book of Ecclesiastes speaks to these questions better than any other book in the Bible. The book is Solomon’s grand thesis on the meaning of life. If you have never read it, I strongly recommend it.

Ecclesiastes 2:17-26

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. I hated all the things I had toiled for under the sun, because I must leave them to the one who comes after me. And who knows whether he will be a wise man or a fool? Yet he will have control over all the work into which I have poured my effort and skill under the sun. This too is meaningless. So my heart began to despair over all my toilsome labor under the sun. For a man may do his work with wisdom, knowledge and skill, and then he must leave all he owns to someone who has not worked for it. This too is meaningless and a great misfortune. What does a man get for all the toil and anxious striving with which he labors under the sun? All his days his work is pain and grief; even at night his mind does not rest. This too is meaningless.

A man can do nothing better than to eat and drink and find satisfaction in his work. This too, I see, is from the hand of God, for without him, who can eat or find enjoyment? To the man who pleases him, God gives wisdom, knowledge and happiness, but to the sinner he gives the task of gathering and storing up wealth to hand it over to the one who pleases God. This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind.

Solomon discusses pleasure, work, power and wealth and comes to the conclusion that they are all meaningless. He finally comes to this conclusion:

Ecclesiastes 12:13-14

Now all has been heard;
here is the conclusion of the matter:
Fear God and keep his commandments,
for this is the whole duty of man.

For God will bring every deed into judgment,
including every hidden thing,
whether it is good or evil.

Ultimately, what does God’s word say the answer is to finding meaning? “Fear God, and keep is commandments.” He sums up the meaning of life in 6 words. Of course, vaste tomes have been written on how to fear God and keep his commandments, but my suspicion is that its much simpler than we think.

Related posts:

1. Listening to God
2. Does God Really Provide?