WE LIVE IN VAIN OR IN HOPE— YOUR CHOICE!

WE LIVE IN VAIN OR IN HOPE— YOUR CHOICE!

Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher, vanity of vanities! All is vanity. What does man gain by all the toil at which he toils under the sun? A generation goes, and a generation comes, but the earth remains forever. —Ecclesiastes 1:2-4

Then I considered all that my hands had done and the toil I had expended in doing it, and behold, all was vanity and a striving after wind, and there was nothing to be gained under the sun. —Ecclesiastes 2:11

There is nothing better for a person than that he should eat and drink and find enjoyment in his toil. This also, I saw, is from the hand of God, for apart from him who can eat or who can have enjoyment?  —Ecclesiastes 2:24-25

            Apart from God there is no fulfillment.  Really, if God does not exist, then what is our purpose in life?  Where did we come from?  Where are we going?  Why am I here?  Am I here by “chance.”  Am I no better than a piece of dirt?

            Truly, all is vanity, emptiness, pointless and hopeless if all there is in life is this life.  Why do we work?  Why do we have children?  What is the purpose behind it all?  Why do I have to follow someone else’s laws?  Why can I not do just what I want to do?  Why is there order?  Why is there love or compassion?  Why work?  My generation is just going to die like any other generation.  So why bother?  Why all these things and so much more?  What is there to be gained?

            For sure, apart from God, none of this makes sense.  Otherwise, let us eat, drink, find enjoyment because tomorrow we die. “If the dead are not raised, “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die” (I Corinthians 15:32).  And that will be that.  We die and that is it.  No purpose to life.

            “But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead.”  And “the gospel he promised beforehand through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures regarding his Son, who as to his earthly life was a descendant of David, and who through the Spirit of holiness was appointed the Son of God in power by his resurrection from the dead: Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 1:2-4).  So, “we wait for the blessed hope—the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ” (Titus 2:13).  And so “That is why we labor and strive, because we have put our hope in the living God, who is the Savior of all people, and especially of those who believe” (I Timothy 4:10).

Thank You, Dear Father, for Jesus being our Blessed Hope.  Otherwise, none of this would make sense.  Now may I live for Him by the power of Your Holy Spirit and in the authority of Jesus and encourage others to do the same.  Yes, so may it be!   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u-1fwZtKJSM