Ecclesiastes 1 – 2

Verse 1:2 starts the melancholy chapter of the Bible:

Teacher: Life is fleeting, like a passing mist.
        It is like trying to catch hold of a breath;
    All vanishes like a vapor; everything is a great vanity.

This is easy to do when you really start thinking about it. When you compare out life to time itself or to just the sheer number on earth today, it’s really nothing. We are no more than a flash in a chaotic mess. This is what Solomon started to realize as he gained more wisdom and saw the folly of it all. Every time I read this I think of Macbeth’s words “Out, out brief candle” and see that all we are is just a blip in time.

Not to get too depressed, because thinking of this can eat one up as we see with Solomon and Macbeth. We need to refocus not on the meaningless of our lives and understand the significance of Jesus’ death. Think about how He died for YOUR sins, yep that “vapor” was considered on the cross at Calvary. Also, think about how one man from a far off community in a backwards time has come to be the most well-known name in history.
Ask anyone about Hernan Cortez, Nikolai Tesla or Carl Linnaeus and you will get a blank start, but almost anyone can identify Jesus. Almost the entire world will take December 25, 2014 off to celebrate the birth of Jesus and almost every nation follows a date based on his death. So get amped, not depressed, that this man died for YOU!!

Verse 1:9 seemed true when written:

What has been, that will be;
        what has been done, that will be done.
    Nothing is new under the sun;
        the future only repeats the past.

Nothing new has happened until recently. When you think about it, the last few hundred years have milestones that may not be “new” as an idea but “new” as an invention. Think about the airplane, man always dreamed about flying but now man can. Or the iPhone, where man can organize and communicate anywhere desired. All these were desired, but the devices are new in a sense. Although listening to an early 80’s talk by Steve Jobs, the iPhone is not all that new.

Verse 2:10 is to all you workaholics:

Throughout this experiment, I let myself have anything my eyes desired, and I did not withhold from my mind any pleasure. What was the conclusion? My mind found joy in all the work I did—my work was its own reward! 

He eventually concludes the justification for hard work is really nothing but a waste. Work is great but as with everything it life it has little meaning. Once we are dead our memory is gone shortly after, it may linger with those that knew us but once they are gone that “vapor” is lost in time. Now does that mean eat drink and be stupid? No, honor God with working strong and although your memory may be gone the “pay it forward” will continue.