Vanity part 1
"Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities; all is vanity" (Ecclesiastes 1:2). It feels like that sometimes, doesn't it? Like no matter what you do you're always trying to get to the top of the hill... and you're always just sliding further and further down the slope. One step forward, two steps back, right? You finally get a little bit of a breakthrough... and then you get hit in the face with another setback. And, yes, I believe that a setback is simply a setup for a comeback. But after a while it gets harder and harder to come back. The more your hand gets slapped away... the less you want to reach out. Look what that word, "vanity," means: It is number 1892 in Strong's Hebrew Concordance and it means, "emptiness." To me it means giving everything you've got and feeling like you've got nothing left. Like screaming into the void. Like pouring yourself into a black hole that just takes, and takes, and takes. And that's hard, man. That's really hard. I think the Preacher, Solomon, the wise son of David, wrote an entire twelve chapter book about this theme because it is so universal. We all feel that way sometimes. Maybe a lot of the time, depending on different things. Life is tought. Life is hard. In this world you WILL have tribulation. But. Right? But God? While that may be part and parcel to the universal human condition... that's not the whole story. That's not all there is. Let's skip ahead to the end of Ecclesiastes, see what old Solomon came up with. See, he started with "Vanity of vanities; all is vanity." And he went through it all. Trying to find "The Meaning of Life." He looked at music, and food... whatever he thought might be able to fill that emptiness inside. And he was one of the richest men ever, right? So he could do it right. Anything he desired, boom, it was right there at his fingertips. This guy didn't have to deny himself anything. If it sounded good to him, he could have it. Or do it. or experience it. And yet, he still felt that it was vanity. He still felt empty. Jump to Ecclesiastes 12:13, "Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man." After coming to the conclusion--the same conclusion that Paul would have later on--that everything else is but dung... Solomon got to the bottom line. "Fear God and keep his commandments." And that doesn't mean, "Be afraid of God and do what He says or else." It means, "Revere God and love others as He has loved you." That's His commandment--the New Commandment for the New Man. And that's when the emptiness is filled. Because it's a God-shaped, love-shaped hole that we're trying to fill. And you can only fill a God-shaped (love-shaped) hole with one thing: God (love). It's all about God. Because it's all about love. I always say, "If you don't know what to do, do what you know. Love." If we don't have anything else at all figured out... we still have the foundation that God is love and He loves us. And we can build on that foundation. When we feel empty, we can fill ourselves to overflowing with what we've already been filled with. We can draw on what we have. Even when we feel empty. Especially when we feel empty!