Walk On Water

Everything is Meaningless
King Solomon spent years searching for the meaning to life. He experimented with everything and afterwards declared, “‘Meaningless! Meaningless!’ says the Teacher. ‘Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless!’”1 Wow. That’s depressing. But at some point in our lives, we all need to come to the same conclusion. Yeah, that’s right. All of us need to experience the despair of looking for lasting purpose in this world. Why? Because it is precisely here that we see our need for something more. Until we reach that understanding—that life is meaningless—we will continue to believe the lie that this world will satisfy our souls.
Nothing has changed since King Solomon wrote Ecclesiastes in 935 B.C. We still ask the age-old question: “What do people gain from all their labors at which they toil under the sun?”2 And yet most of us still look for fulfillment in this world. We expect way more from our jobs than they could ever give us. We put unrealistic expectations on our relationships which often let us down. We numb ourselves with drugs to relieve our pain, and we entertain ourselves with hobbies to escape boredom. Everything disappoints. And it always will because we are searching for something to fill a void, and God is the only one who can do that.
Jesus warned his disciples about it: “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives.”3 In other words, the world cannot give you peace! If we find ourselves discontented, it is probably because we are looking for fulfillment in the wrong places. Jesus also told everyone that he came so we could “have life, and have it to the full.”4 That full life is found only when we quit trying to satisfy ourselves with all this other stuff.
Most people won’t do it, though—give up the search. They, like Solomon, think they will find purpose for their lives if they keep looking for things to make them happy. The irony is that we only find happiness when we cease to live for ourselves. That was Solomon’s real problem. He was self-centered. He was bored with life and complained that there was “nothing new under the sun.”5
We do not need to waste years of our lives—as Solomon did—searching to find the meaning, longing for peace, yearning for joy, and wondering about the purpose of it all. There is only one place we will find all those things: Christ. “If anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!”6 Life in Christ is meaningful, peaceful, joyful, and purposeful—a new adventure every day! Nothing boring about that!

1 Ecclesiastes 1:2 2 Ecclesiastes 1:3 3 John 14:27 4 John 10:10 5 Ecclesiastes 1:9 6 2 Corinthians 5:17