Ecclesiastes: Wisdom to Live for Heaven While on EarthSample

By the world’s standards, Solomon had everything.

People came from around the world to see Solomon’s incredible kingdom and listen to his unmatched wisdom. He accumulated more and he accomplished more than anyone. Not only was he wiser than anyone we’ll ever know, he was wealthier, too. He was infinitely more successful. He had more influence and authority.

And yet, he came to the conclusion that every bit of it was meaningless.

Here’s the difference between Solomon and you and me: None of Solomon’s dreams were theoretical; they became his reality. Anything he could see, he could get. And after he got everything he wanted, he realized it still wasn’t enough.

You and I will never be resourced like Solomon. You could go your entire life believing your dissatisfaction is because of some circumstance or dream that didn’t pan out to its fullest extent, even if you got most of it.

Remember that list you made yesterday of what you wanted 10 years ago that you believed would make you content? What about that list now? Do you have a new one? That’s typically what we do.

We make a list, we get most of it, and then, we make a new list.

Here’s the difference between us and Solomon: we won’t live long enough to exhaust every list we ever create.

Solomon did.

He got to the end, he had everything he ever wanted, and as we’ll soon see, he realized God was the satisfaction he was seeking all along.

Solomon had enough power and wealth to live in reality what we will likely only live in theory, so we have to take his word for it. Otherwise, we’ll spend our lives creating new lists and pursuing those instead of Jesus.

You were created for more – but it’s not the “more” the world tries to sell us. God is the more you crave.

God, You are the more I crave. You are the list of what I need to be content. When I feel discontent, God, remind me that it’s not because of something I don’t have, but because I’ve pursued other things more than You. My desire is for Jesus to be my entire list. Amen.