Grace for Your Day August 16

In 1988, Hugh S. Moorhead, professor of philosophy at Northeastern Illinois University, published a book entitled The Meaning of Life. In the book, he interviewed 250 famous scholars in order to ask them the question: “What is the meaning or purpose of life?” Among those interviewed were some of the most brilliant minds of the 20th Century: Leonard Bernstein, E.E. Cummings, T. S. Eliot, Aldous Huxley, Bertrand Russell, and Paul Tillich, to name a few. This was their response:While the Bible does have an answer to this question, the Book of Ecclesiastes does not seem that way. Solomon sounds very similar to these secular scholars when he writes in 1:1-2:
The word for “vanity” here can be translated “meaningless” or “fruitless” and it is used 37 times in the Book of Ecclesiastes because it is the theme of the Book. Solomon says that a life lived without God is vain. It has no purpose whatsoever so that everything you pursue leaves you empty. Pleasure leaves you empty (2:9-10) and so does money (5:10-12). Worldly wisdom is pointless (6:10-12) and so is living for sin (8:10).

However, a life lived for God is very different because “God has set eternity in the heart of men” (3:11). “For in many dreams and in many words there is emptiness. Rather, fear God” (5:7). Solomon says that the road to a meaningful life is found in pursuing God because you were created to bring Him glory. God has put you on this earth to give Him praise and you will never be content until you do. The only way to find true and lasting purpose is to trust in Him which is what we are going to talk about this Sunday morning at Grace Fellowship Church.

This week we are going to talk about “Vanity of vanities! All is vanity” at our 8:30 and 10:15 services. It will also be available Sunday morning on our You Tube Channel and website for all who cannot be with us in person. The temptation to despair is everywhere in our world today. So many people are going through life without hope because they cannot find the meaning of life and yet the Bible has an answer to that crucial question. It does not leave us in despair because it tells us that “it will be well for those who fear God, who fear Him openly” (8:12).

Please join us as we consider what this means. This world is a gloomy vain place but not if you keep God in the picture. He is the source of all true joy. – Jeremy Cagle