Community & Discipleship
The True Path to Enjoy Life (Ecc 1:12-2:26)
The true path to enjoy life is not found in wisdom, knowledge, pleasure, or possessions pursued apart from God. It is found in seeing and savoring God and his daily gifts, starting now.
Knowledge apart from God leads to vanity (vv. 12-18)
Solomon first pursued wisdom and knowledge, but he found that this too was vanity when pursued apart from God. He describes life lived under the sun as life without God, and in that world what is crooked cannot be made straight. True wisdom begins with the fear of the Lord, so increasing knowledge without God only increases sorrow and pride. Paul reminds us that knowledge puffs up but love builds up, so knowledge should increase our love for God.
Pleasure and possessions cannot satisfy the heart (vv. 1-11)
Solomon then tested pleasure and possessions. He built houses, vineyards, gardens, and pools, gathered servants, silver, gold, singers, and concubines, and by the world's measure became the greatest man of his time. Yet he concluded that all of it was vanity. The problem is not pleasure itself but our satisfaction with superficial things, and C.S. Lewis observed that we are far too easily pleased. When a good gift like work or money becomes our ultimate thing, it becomes an idol.
Every path apart from God ends in the same place (vv. 12-18)
Solomon observed that the wise and the fool both die, and both are soon forgotten, so he hated a life lived under the sun, apart from God. Whether a person earns top grades, is rich or poor, or keeps himself pure or lives loosely, a life without God ends in the same place. Solomon also grieved that the fruit of his toil would pass to someone who did not labor for it. Every pursuit apart from God is pathetic because it does not bring true joy and purpose.
Enjoy the gifts of God in your work and daily life (vv. 24-26)
Solomon points to the true path: there is nothing better than to eat, drink, and find enjoyment in our toil, and this too is from the hand of God. Daily bread, work, and even the ability to enjoy are gifts. Work was given before the fall, and Christ's work on the cross redeems our work so that it can bring joy and eternal reward. God gives wisdom, knowledge, and joy to those who please him by trusting him, not by trusting dreams, jobs, or bank accounts.
Stop searching and start seeing God's grace now
We often live in the past or the future, waiting for college, marriage, retirement, or the next stage, and so miss the present. Like someone who keeps a beautiful phone in a cheap case, we fail to enjoy what God has already given us. Our search for happiness ends when we see that all of life is gift. Learn to be content, and also contend for the things of God's kingdom, living and working for eternity rather than temporary things.
Apply to Life
- Let us stop searching for joy in knowledge, possessions, or pleasure apart from God, and seek him first.
- Let us see our work, abilities, and daily bread as gifts from God and enjoy them now.
- Let us trust God rather than our dreams, jobs, or bank accounts.
- Let us stop living in the past or the future and savor the grace he gives us today.
- Let us live for his kingdom and invest our lives for eternity rather than temporary things.
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