Chasing After the WInd

I used to despise the book of Ecclesiastes. It seemed so defeatist, pessimistic and depressing. Just griping about life. Now I think that is because I used to be young. I still believed the world was going to heal to my desires – that I was going to be somebody important. That I was going to make a difference. When older people would tell me that I would someday settle down, I denied it.

But I have settled down. In an odd way I now find great comfort in the writings of ‘the Teacher’, Solomon. The book is just the dose of reality I need to remind me how important my faith in Christ is. As Solomon paints us into a corner with the absolutely oppressive plodding of time toward death and the pointlessness of wealth, knowledge and works, my salvation shines more brightly than it ever has. I have begun to agree with Solomon’s philosophy of life on this planet:

All things are full of weariness; a man cannot utter it; the eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing. What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done, and there is nothing new under the sun.

At least I have come to realize at this point in my life that if there is anything new under the sun, I will not be the one to discover or market it. I’ll be the one stuck on the treadmill continuously rediscovering that which my predecessors already knew. I’m okay with that.

I’ve been conversing online with a young man who is far from this place. His dreams are still a reality to him. With his life ahead of him, he has every expectation that he will leave a sizable mark on the world. He hasn’t said that, but I know it because I was once in his shoes. His confidence is yet in mankind; that we are smart enough, resourceful enough and honest enough with ourselves to save ourselves. He is a young Solomon. 

Like the older Solomon, I realized several years ago that I am mortal. Then I realized that mortality is not merely an issue for the body. Mortality draws nearer every day to take away all that I have learned, all that I have created and all of my hopes and dreams. At least that would be the case if all of those things were mere earthly treasure. If my faith were in science, death would be the end of all that I am because death is the only part of dying that science recognizes. Within a few generations very little would be remembered of me. Then only my name for a while. Then nothing at all.

Christ must have understood the crushing weight of this realization. Though he was not mortal he understood how oppressive mortality was. In Matthew 6:19-21 he said:

“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

You have an option, he says. There is life eternal. There is an alternative to nothingness. If you choose to lay up your treasures here – your wisdom, your creativity, and your wealth – mortality will swallow them up. But lay up your treasures in heaven and they, along with you, are eternal. I don’t think he is teaching that we should live for the day when we die and go to heaven. In order to live this life with any joy and hope, there must be some kind of continuity between our time here and our time there, else life here is a mere chasing after the wind. When I set my heart on the things of this world, I am acutely aware that they will be taken away by mortality. But if I set my heart on heavenly treasure I can use and enjoy the things on this earth without making idols out of them. I do not fear losing them because they are not my treasure.  Christ is my treasure.

I will not mention the young man’s name, but I would ask that you would pray for him – that the Spirit will draw him to be reconciled to God. He is lost and the things of Christ are utter foolishness to him. Perhaps he may come to his senses before he has to run smack up against mortality. I will pray for him and preach to him with that hope.

God Bless