Ecclesiastes 1.14 -”I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and, behold, all is vanity and vexation of spirit.” Solomon starts out this book by saying “Look, I’ve seen it all and everything done under the sunis vanity and vexation of spirit.” The key to everything Solomon is putting forth in these passages of “vanity” is turned upon the hinge of that phrase in italics “under the sun”. It denotes anything done in a temporal manner or for temporal gain. Its repeated again and again throughout the first section of Ecclesiastes and is always followed by the summary of it “vanity”. This is reaffirmed in I Pet. 1.24 where the apostle writes “All flesh is as the grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower falleth away:” .
With such a bleak proclamation from the Old and New Testament’s what is the reason for living? Why not sink into the slough of despond and just labor like a beast? I Pet. 1.25 Continues with a conjunction-”But the word of the Lord endureth for ever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you.” The crucial crux of a human life ever having any “profit” is found in those three words in verse twenty-five: “of the Lord”. When something is “of the Lord” it can be said of that thing “endureth”. When something is “under the sun” it is going to fade away! Jesus talks about meat that perisheth in John 6.27, the writer of Hebrews talks about everything on earth waxing “old as doth a garment”. But Jesus says in John 6.27 not to labor for that perishing meat. Dont work for the meat that is going to spoil and rot, instead labor for the meat that endureth to everlasting life. How does that mean endure forever? Because it comes from the hand of Jesus! It is of the Lord. But does that mean that we shouldnt work? Does that mean that we dont earn money to buy food? No! It just means have something more that your living and eating and breathing and waking up morning after morning for! You can either labor like a beast, searching day after day for some kind of fulfillment and never find it, dying without ever having lived, or you can live a life of eternal value. You can work your job for the rest of your life for a few years of comfort in retirement and having nothing to show for it in eternity or you can work the rest of your life in a job and give the fruits of your labor, give your own self to the labor of the Lord and have meat that endures. Which is going to fulfill? The truth is that the phrase used in Ecclesiastes 1.14 “vexation of spirit” means literally eating up the spirit. It is something that is chewing and gnawing and consuming the soul. You face a choice, a choice to let you feed a soul eating disease of vanity or feed your soul with the eternal meat of God glorification. That choice, is one that everyone faces. Hebrews eleven, that great Hall of Faith, is a list of people who were tired of having their souls devoured and instead chose to give their lives to meat that would last forever. They lived lives that were pointing to Jesus, who is called in I Pet. 2.25, the Shepherd and Bishop of our souls. What is a shepherd? Its someone who is to tend and feed the sheep. Jesus wants to feed us Himself, and when we are being fed by Him, we are glorifying Him by humbling ourselves before His all sufficiency. We are yeilding ourselves to His power and His glory and admitting that anything we do “under the sun” and not “of the Lord” is a waste so feed me Lord Jesus! That brings glory to God! Which will you choose? Waste your live? Or lose it in Christ?
Here therefore is your choice; be vexed with vainity and your soul eaten alive by fruitless labor, or you can labor for meat the endures to everlasting life at the nail scarred hand of the Good Shepherd, who gave His life for the sheep. Which will you choose today?
