All is vanity?!

Eccl 1:2-9

2 “Futile! Futile!” laments the Teacher, “Absolutely futile! Everything is futile!” Futility Illustrated from Nature 3 What benefit do people get from all the effort which they expend on earth? 4 A generation comes and a generation goes, but the earth remains the same through the ages. 5 The sun rises and the sun sets; it hurries away to a place from which it rises again. 6 The wind goes to the south and circles around to the north; round and round the wind goes and on its rounds it returns. 7 All the streams flow into the sea, but the sea is not full, and to the place where the streams flow, there they will flow again. 8 All this monotony is tiresome; no one can bear to describe it: The eye is never satisfied with seeing, nor is the ear ever content with hearing. 9 What exists now is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done; there is nothing truly new on earth. 10 Is there anything about which someone can say, “Look at this! It is new!”? It was a  lready done long ago, before our time. 11 No one remembers the former events, nor will anyone remember the events that are yet to happen; they will not be remembered by the future generations.

Food for thought!

There are two ways of looking at life: from either below or from above. From either man's vantage point or from God's vantage paint. When seen from below life is lifeless, meaningless, futile and vanity. This is what the author of the First Reading of today did. He looked at life from human perspective, and when he did so, all he saw was vanity, Thus he concluded: Everything is futile!

This is what happens when we look at our life, our problems with human eyes. We can only see misery. The author of the First Reading saw only meaninglessness, that is, he saw life and all in it as having no sense. In all his meditation he never mentions God at all!

Seeing life from above is altogether different. The Bible helps us to see life as Good sees it: Everything comes from him; Everything happens through him; Everything ends up in him. (Rom. 9:36). For everything, absolutely everything, above and below, visible and invisible,…everything got started in him and finds its purpose in him. (Colossians 1:16)

Unless you assume a God, the question of life’s purpose is meaningless. (Bertrand Russell, atheist). As Rick Warren says, "The search for the purpose of life has puzzled people for thousands of years. That’s because we typically begin at the wrong starting point—ourselves. We ask self-centered questions like What do I want to be? What should I do with my life? What are my goals, my ambitions, my dreams for my future? But focusing on ourselves will never reveal our life’s purpose. The Bible says, “It is God who directs the lives of his creatures; everyone’s life is in his power. (Job 12,10).

Contrary to what many popular books, movies, and seminars tell you, you won’t discover your life’s meaning by looking within yourself. You’ve probably tried that already. You didn’t create yourself, so there is no way you can tell yourself what you were created for! you cannot arrive at your life’s purpose by starting with a focus on yourself. You must begin with God, your Creator.

You exist only because God wills that you exist. You were made by God and for God—and until you understand that, life will never make sense. It is only in God that we discover our origin, our identity, our meaning, our purpose, our significance, and our destiny. Every other path leads to a dead end. The easiest way to discover the purpose of an invention is to ask the creator of it. The same is true for discovering life’s purpose: Ask God."