To believe that this life is pointless is a prerequisite to wanting there to be a point to our lives! Everyman’s heart aches for things to last, which is understandable since God “has put eternity into man’s heart.”1 At the end of any man’s search is the proof that everything passes away. What we are really longing for is God himself because only he is eternal.
Solomon spent years trying to find the meaning to life. What he discovered was that there was nothing worth doing because nothing lasted. However, he also stumbled upon another truth in his search; that is, while there is nothing worth doing in this life without God, there is nothing better than living life for God. Or, as Solomon puts it, “There is nothing better for a person than that he should eat and drink and find enjoyment in his toil. This also, I saw, is from the hand of God, for apart from him who can eat or who can have enjoyment?2
Can people not enjoy things without God? Yes, of course! Many do. But enjoyment is taken to a different level when paired with eternal value. God even makes our work enjoyable because it is work that has been designed specifically for us. There is great joy in laboring at something that we are skilled at doing and that has lasting purpose. As a matter of fact, Solomon writes, “There is nothing better than that a man should rejoice in his work, for that is his lot.”3 When God is at the center of our lives, then our work, our relationships, even our world becomes meaningful and everything we do is significant.
Often, when adults come to the end of their careers, they retire and find themselves a bit lost. But according to God our working days, and thereby our reason for getting up in the mornings, is never over. And this—contrary to popular belief—is good news! If we wish our joy to continue than “there is nothing better for [people] than to be joyful and to do good as long as they live.”4 There will always be something good to do in God’s kingdom. And, the work will never be boring because we “cannot find out what God has done from beginning to end.”1 And, we will be astounded at the magnificence of the work “for he has made everything beautiful in its time.”1
At some point, people we know who claim to have no need for God, will wonder about the pointlessness of their lives. They may even cry out as Solomon did, “Vanity! Vanity!”5 and wish that there was more to this life. When we sense that happening, we need to give them a copy of Ecclesiastes and tell them that one of the wisest men of all time agreed with them!
Then, in God’s perfect time, our joyful hearts, our good deeds, and our purposeful lives will declare to them that there is something more, something better. Our lives should reflect to the searching world that there really is nothing better than living in the light of God’s love.
1Ecclesiastes 3:11 2Ecclesiastes 2:24-25 3Ecclesiastes 3:22 4Ecclesiastes 3:12 5Ecclesiastes 1:2