The book of Ecclesiastes teaches what every man or woman on the planet already knows in their heart. That life apart from
God is meaningless. You see, God created mankind with a purpose. We were created in His image, given life, and placed on
this planet to "Glorify God and enjoy Him forever". When we recognize this meaningful purpose we experience life and peace
to the fullest. Sadly though, God and His original intent are often the last places we turn in our search for significance
and fulfillment.
As a result, our world and we as individuals have found ourselves chasing success, respect, wealth, security, and the pleasures
of life in a vain attempt to find meaning and contentment. Consequently we have also selfishly turned from God's plan for our
lives and are consistently living lives that compromise God's law in thought, word, deed, and attitude. These compromises are
called sin. The Bible teaches that our sin renders us spiritually dead and separates us from God now and in eternity. Romans
3:23 says that "all have sinned and fallen short of the Glory of God". Romans 6:23 goes on to say that "the wages of sin is
death". In that condition, men and women are not only bound to feel meaningless on earth, but ultimately to spend eternity in
hell separated from God as a punishment for their sin.
The good news or gospel is that God was not satisfied to see us separated from Him for eternity. The Bible teaches that God
"desires that none should perish". So God made a way that the just requirements of the law could be fulfilled, while still sparing
our lives and restoring us to a relationship with Him. The way that God did this was through the person of Jesus Christ. Jesus was
100% man and 100% God at the same time. He came to earth in the form of a man, lived a sinless life, and heralded the availability
of the Kingdom of God to mankind. Christ took the sins of the world upon Himself, died on the cross to pay the penalty for our
failures, and rose from the grave after three days. By graciously dying in our place Christ satisfied the law through the shedding
of His blood, but spared us for a continued relationship with Him.
Jesus taught in Matthew 4:17 that we must "repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand". This simply means that if we will
turn from our selfish way of life, recognize our sin and its consequence, and make Christ the King of our lives we can live in the
Kingdom of God instead of the kingdom of self. This not only allows us to have a relationship with God now, but in eternity as
well, when we will live with Christ in Heaven. Once we have determined to make Christ our King we can begin to live lives of
purpose, as we glorify Him with our thoughts, words, deeds, and attitudes. In the last chapter of Ecclesiastes, the author
encourages us to "remember your Creator in the days of your youth" as the solution to an otherwise meaningless existence. It's
as simple as that.
Jesus Christ loved you so much that He laid down his life in your place. So now will you surrender your life to Him as King,
or will you continue to live for yourself? The choice is yours.
- Admit your sinfulness.
- Turn from your sins.
- Trust that the blood Jesus Christ shed on the cross for you will cleanse you from all unrighteousness.
- Through prayer, invite Jesus Christ to come in and control your life through the Holy Spirit.
We invite you to contact us for more information and resources for living your new life with Christ.
