King Solomon, the richest and wisest man ever walked on this planet, said,

“The words of the Preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem.

“Vanity of vanities,” says the Preacher,
“Vanity of vanities! All is vanity.”

What advantage does man have in all his work
Which he does under the sun?
A generation goes and a generation comes,
But the earth remains forever.
Also, the sun rises and the sun sets;
And hastening to its place it rises there again.
Blowing toward the south,
Then turning toward the north,
The wind continues swirling along;
And on its circular courses the wind returns.
All the rivers flow into the sea,
Yet the sea is not full.
To the place where the rivers flow,
There they flow again.
All things are wearisome;
Man is not able to tell it.
The eye is not satisfied with seeing,
Nor is the ear filled with hearing.
That which has been is that which will be,
And that which has been done is that which will be done.
So there is nothing new under the sun.
Is there anything of which one might say,
“See this, it is new”?
Already it has existed for ages
Which were before us.
There is no remembrance of earlier things;
And also of the later things which will occur,
There will be for them no remembrance
Among those who will come later still.” Ecclesiastes 1:1-11NASB

Just look at each statement and see how each one of those statements speaks the truth!

I meaning, let me tell you: I just finished my work few minutes ago and I am putting my pj to sleep AGAIN, to get up in the morning, to do what I did today and the previous days.

Isn’t this life then vanity? To hear the things I have heard before; to eat the meal I ate before; to feel what I felt in the past, NOTHING NEW!

You know the meaning of “vanity?”

Some commentaries define it as meaningless or worthless. But is this life meaningless or worthless?

In my opinion, it depends on how you look at it.

If people live for the sake of living, this life sure is a meaningless life. What is the point of living for 10 years or 100 years of worthless life? You know what I mean.

I recently heard another meaning, or I will say, the Hebrew meaning of this word King Solomon used, “vanity.” It actually means, simply, “vapor.”

Whatever we have, whatever we touch, feel and smell soon fades away or dies out. This includes people we know, including us.

So, when you really think about it, none of us can make any sense to this life all by ourselves. Some people throw a party every weekend so they can avoid this feeling of “meaninglessness” or, I will say, awareness of the meaninglessness of this life. But will parties and drinks give this life any meaning?

Hmm!

Only those who tried that path can give an emphatic no as an answer to that question. Trying to put meaning to this life is like trying to catch and safe “vapor.” How can you?

But Jesus Christ entered into this world to give it all meaning, not only meaning to us human beings but meaning even to creatures.

Listen what Paul writes:

“For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God.” Romans 8:19-21 NASB

Did you read that?

Just imagine different flowers sitting together and discussing like this: “We came out this morning being excited, wearing our magnificent and beautifully colored outfit but here we are now within few hours ready to be thrown into fire because we got withered away and ugly so quickly! When are we going to be free from this corruption?”

One of the oldest of all who lived for 12 hours says: “Don’t worry! Originally, our Creator didn’t create us for corruption. But because of the devil, the enemy of every good creation of God, Adam sinned against God and we all are destined to fade and wither away. But not forever! A day will come soon that we shall all be restored to never die again.”

The youngest of all who lived for a couple hours shouted, “How? When?”

The oldest one said in a quiet voice, “Soon! The Son of God will take over the land and run His Kingdom. The sons and daughters of God will also be revealed, come back from death to live forever! So, we all shall be called back to life again to live to make the children of God’s life beautiful and we shall bud forth and blossom, never to die again.”

And all those dry and withered flowers go into fire joyfully knowing what lies ahead of them.

Yes, everything we see, touch, feel, hear and smell is like vapor, here now and gone tomorrow, including our lives and the lives of people next to us. And we may quickly look around and conclude that this life is meaningless and worthless. However for those who are in Christ, those who trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, just like the flowers we saw above, they look forward to “the glory that is to be revealed” to them. So, they enjoy this life. They see the meaning and purpose of this life. They know that each day is actually a precious gift from God to do or say something that will have an enteral effect and impact.

But if people don’t know their Creator, their Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, how can this life be meaningful? How can this life be worthy of living?

Some people say, “You know, I do all kinds of good things to people; so I love living for the sake of others.” It sounds good but really?

Why did Jesus come to earth?

For one purpose! To die on the cross for our sin!

But was that the only thing that kept Him going for 33 years? (Jesus died at the age of 33)

Are you kidding?

Every day of His life was a struggle and He didn’t comfort His soul by saying, “It is okay. Others will live while I wither and die away! I rejoice in that!”

Are you serious?????

Listen:

“let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” Hebrews 12:1b-2NASB

Did you see it?

For the joy set before Him!

Jesus was looking forward! He had something in His mind that kept Him going even to face the shameful death on the cross. That “something” is the honor, glory and praise waiting for Him in glory.

In the same way, Paul, encourages Christians to look forward, to look ahead and see the unseen glory that is in store for them while they go through this life which can correctly be described as “the shadow of death” saying:

“For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us.” Romans 8:18 NASB

And he says,

“For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison, while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.” 2 Corinthians 4:17-18 NASB

Let me ask you this quick question: Do you have this similar hope in your heart, the hope Paul is talking about, the hope that can only be found in Jesus Christ, the hope of looking ahead, passing death, seeing eternal life, glory and joy?

If you don’t, then today is the day for you to know this Eternal Life, Jesus Christ. Jesus said, “And this is the way to have eternal life—to know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, the one you sent to earth.” John 17:3 NLT

Please know Christ Jesus now before it is too late because this life is given to all of us only for one purpose, to reconcile with our Creator, God the Father, through His Son, Jesus Christ. We absolutely need to do nothing to reconcile with God. Jesus Christ did it all on our behalf on the cross. All we have to do is to put our trust in Him, trust in His work. We need to know Him now because we all have only one shot in this life, not two. ///