Send us some feedback!
| Mark Twain is one of the America’s great writers. He is widely acclaimed as an author, thinker, and satirist—to the delight of many. Yet, at end of his life he became morose and disenchanted. Shortly before death he wrote: “A myriad of men are born; they labor and sweat and struggle . . . they squabble and scold and fight; they scramble for little mean advantages over each other; age creeps upon them; infirmities follow . . . those they love are taken from them, and the joy of life is turned to aching grief. It [the release] comes at last—the only unpoisoned gift earth ever had for them—and they vanish from a world where they were of no consequence . . . a world which will lament them a day and forget them forever.”
This sounds remarkably like the book of Ecclesiastes in the Old Testament. King Solomon wrote, “All is vanity, a striving after wind.” “Vanity” is used 22 times in Ecclesiastes. He means that all is futile, meaningless, and empty. Solomon dedicated his life to searching and studying life from every angle and every advantage. His conclusion is that when all is said and done life is empty and futile because it always ends in the grave. This is the same sentiment expressed by Mark Twain.
Life can be a crushing disappointment because we expect more. We expect meaning, purpose, and significance from life and it fails to deliver. We want inner peace and contentment; we want justice and fairness; we want assurance that who we are and what we do matters. But Ecclesiastes teaches that at the end of the rainbow there is not a pot of gold but a pot of lima beans and liver (or whatever it is you don’t like). Ecclesiastes is a relentless series of pessimistic salvos. This is not exactly what we expect to read in the Bible.
But that is not the whole message. There is another key phrase, “under the sun” (used 29 times). It is a figure of speech that means life on earth from cradle to grave. But it is more than a time frame, it represents a metaphysical perspective that says that the earth and the physical realm is all that there is. It is seen in materialism that says that matter is all there is–-no spiritual dimension. It is seen in naturalism that says that nature is all there is. So “under the sun” refers to life without any spiritual dimension; nothing beyond the grave (no immortality), no higher level of existence, no personal God. It is this perspective that renders life hopeless, empty, and futile. It is this orientation in Mark Twain’s mind that led him to the despairing thought that nothing he did mattered. How sad!
But Solomon’s conclusion is different. Because there is life above the sun, beyond this earth, and because there is a God in heaven we are to “Fear God and keep his commandments . . . for God will bring every deed into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or evil” (Ecclesiastes 12:13-14). It matters what we believe and it matters how we live! But most of us seem to have a tremendous capacity to fill our lives with diversions to avoid thinking deeply about meaning, significance, and mortality. As a pastor for over 25 years I have observed that the death of someone close forces us to think deeply about these things. Let me leave you with an intriguing thought from Ecclesiastes 7:2, “It is better to go to the house of mourning than to go to the house of feasting, for death is the destiny of every man; the living should take this to heart.” |
|
by Dr. J. Patrick Curtis, Senior Pastor |
Send us some feedback!