How to mess up your life
Greg Laurie
www.worldnetdaily.com and www.harvest.org
You could describe him as the hedonist extraordinaire. He was highly educated, yet he went on unbelievable drinking binges. He chased after women like there was no tomorrow. He was an architectural genius. He was known around the world for his great wisdom. In today's economy, he would be worth billions. Yet he was miserable and empty, and he almost completely destroyed his life. This was a man who had tried it all. He sought pleasure at all costs.
His name was Solomon, and he wrote down his experiences in the Book of Ecclesiastes. In effect, it is a document that shows us how to mess up your life. If you want to do the wrong thing, then follow the path Solomon describes in a great deal of this book. Ecclesiastes is the autobiography of Solomon who, for much of his life, squandered God's blessing on his own personal pleasure rather than using it for the glory of God.
But Solomon didn't want his mistakes to be wasted, so he wrote them down. He was very honest and forthcoming about them. The typical autobiography glosses over the author's mistakes or, at the least, rationalizes them. But Solomon put his on display and shows us what he learned as a result. And what he learned he learned the hard way. He basically concludes that all earthly goals and ambitions, when pursued as ends in themselves, will produce only emptiness.
Solomon was writing to younger men and women and saying, "Don't make the mistakes I have made." And if we read just the first three verses of Ecclesiastes, we will have the theme of the entire book:
The words of the Preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem. "Vanity of vanities," says the Preacher; "Vanity of vanities, all is vanity." What profit has a man from all his labor in which he toils under the sun? (Ecclesiastes 3:1–11 NKJV)
Solomon's father was King David. And although David had his shortcomings, the Bible described him as a man after God's own heart (see 1 Samuel 13:14). For the most part, David was a very godly man. Many of the psalms were written by David. Yet Solomon didn't listen to his father, despite the fact that his father was King David. He wanted to find out for himself. He wanted to go out and experiment in the world.
So Solomon went on a search for the meaning of life, and he gives us his conclusion in verse 2: "Vanity of vanities." The word "vanity" is used 38 times in Ecclesiastes and could be translated a number of ways: emptiness, futility, meaninglessness, nothingness, a wisp of a vapor, a hollow, empty ring, or a bubble that bursts. Essentially, Solomon is saying, "Life without God is like a bubble that bursts. Life without God in his proper place is emptiness. It is a hollow, empty ring." The searcher is telling us there is nothing on this earth that will satisfy us completely, apart from God. No thing, no relationship and no pleasure will give us enduring value.
It is sort of like riding a stationary bicycle. You ride and ride, but you are not going anywhere. Now these cycles have screens that make you feel as though you're experiencing an actual bike ride. When you are going up the hill on the screen, the pedaling gets a little harder. You feel like you have had a good workout, but you have never left the gym.
That is how life can be. You are pedaling and pedaling and moving and moving, but you don't feel like you are really going anywhere. You are moving at a frantic pace, but you're always coming up empty.
We always think we have found the new thing when really there is nothing new under the sun. The one thing we learn from history is that we learn nothing from history. We just keep repeating the same old mistakes and doing the same old things over and over again.
That is exactly where Solomon was. He went on this binge of going after anything he wanted. He had the luxury, if you will, of an unlimited checking account. In other words, no one could say no to him. No one could restrain him. He was the king. He had unlimited resources at his disposal and unlimited time to waste. And he took full advantage of it. He was able to chase after what some people could only dream of. And it became a real nightmare.
But Solomon turned it into a research project of sorts. He determined that he would not simply believe what other people say about these things, but he would find out for himself. And he finally got to a point where he saw God for who he is. And then he saw the world for what it is: shallow, empty, temporary and unfulfilling.
Sometimes we have to learn the hard way. For a lot of us, it is process of elimination. Before I came to Christ, to some degree, I had to either observe or try certain things myself. But even before I was a Christian, I knew the world didn't have the answer. I just didn't know where the answers were. I knew it wasn't in the affluent, alcoholic, freewheeling lifestyle of my mother. I knew it wasn't in the things I had engaged in and had been exposed to. But where was it? Then, when I heard the gospel, I realized where it was. And I realized who it was I was searching for all along.
After all of the searching, after all of the mistakes, Solomon concluded, "Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man" (Ecclesiastes 12:13 NIV). Solomon was saying, "Take it from a seasoned pro. I know what I'm talking about. If you leave God out of the picture, then your life will be empty, meaningless and futile. But if you want a full life, if you want to live your life as a whole person, then here is the answer: Fear God and keep his commandments."
Personal happiness is built on two things happening simultaneously. Not doing some things and doing other things. So here is your choice. You can do the wrong things or you can do the right things. But if you want to take the advice of a seasoned pro, then listen to what Solomon had to say. Don't try to live in two worlds.
His name was Solomon, and he wrote down his experiences in the Book of Ecclesiastes. In effect, it is a document that shows us how to mess up your life. If you want to do the wrong thing, then follow the path Solomon describes in a great deal of this book. Ecclesiastes is the autobiography of Solomon who, for much of his life, squandered God's blessing on his own personal pleasure rather than using it for the glory of God.
But Solomon didn't want his mistakes to be wasted, so he wrote them down. He was very honest and forthcoming about them. The typical autobiography glosses over the author's mistakes or, at the least, rationalizes them. But Solomon put his on display and shows us what he learned as a result. And what he learned he learned the hard way. He basically concludes that all earthly goals and ambitions, when pursued as ends in themselves, will produce only emptiness.
Solomon was writing to younger men and women and saying, "Don't make the mistakes I have made." And if we read just the first three verses of Ecclesiastes, we will have the theme of the entire book:
The words of the Preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem. "Vanity of vanities," says the Preacher; "Vanity of vanities, all is vanity." What profit has a man from all his labor in which he toils under the sun? (Ecclesiastes 3:1–11 NKJV)
Solomon's father was King David. And although David had his shortcomings, the Bible described him as a man after God's own heart (see 1 Samuel 13:14). For the most part, David was a very godly man. Many of the psalms were written by David. Yet Solomon didn't listen to his father, despite the fact that his father was King David. He wanted to find out for himself. He wanted to go out and experiment in the world.
So Solomon went on a search for the meaning of life, and he gives us his conclusion in verse 2: "Vanity of vanities." The word "vanity" is used 38 times in Ecclesiastes and could be translated a number of ways: emptiness, futility, meaninglessness, nothingness, a wisp of a vapor, a hollow, empty ring, or a bubble that bursts. Essentially, Solomon is saying, "Life without God is like a bubble that bursts. Life without God in his proper place is emptiness. It is a hollow, empty ring." The searcher is telling us there is nothing on this earth that will satisfy us completely, apart from God. No thing, no relationship and no pleasure will give us enduring value.
It is sort of like riding a stationary bicycle. You ride and ride, but you are not going anywhere. Now these cycles have screens that make you feel as though you're experiencing an actual bike ride. When you are going up the hill on the screen, the pedaling gets a little harder. You feel like you have had a good workout, but you have never left the gym.
That is how life can be. You are pedaling and pedaling and moving and moving, but you don't feel like you are really going anywhere. You are moving at a frantic pace, but you're always coming up empty.
We always think we have found the new thing when really there is nothing new under the sun. The one thing we learn from history is that we learn nothing from history. We just keep repeating the same old mistakes and doing the same old things over and over again.
That is exactly where Solomon was. He went on this binge of going after anything he wanted. He had the luxury, if you will, of an unlimited checking account. In other words, no one could say no to him. No one could restrain him. He was the king. He had unlimited resources at his disposal and unlimited time to waste. And he took full advantage of it. He was able to chase after what some people could only dream of. And it became a real nightmare.
But Solomon turned it into a research project of sorts. He determined that he would not simply believe what other people say about these things, but he would find out for himself. And he finally got to a point where he saw God for who he is. And then he saw the world for what it is: shallow, empty, temporary and unfulfilling.
Sometimes we have to learn the hard way. For a lot of us, it is process of elimination. Before I came to Christ, to some degree, I had to either observe or try certain things myself. But even before I was a Christian, I knew the world didn't have the answer. I just didn't know where the answers were. I knew it wasn't in the affluent, alcoholic, freewheeling lifestyle of my mother. I knew it wasn't in the things I had engaged in and had been exposed to. But where was it? Then, when I heard the gospel, I realized where it was. And I realized who it was I was searching for all along.
After all of the searching, after all of the mistakes, Solomon concluded, "Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man" (Ecclesiastes 12:13 NIV). Solomon was saying, "Take it from a seasoned pro. I know what I'm talking about. If you leave God out of the picture, then your life will be empty, meaningless and futile. But if you want a full life, if you want to live your life as a whole person, then here is the answer: Fear God and keep his commandments."
Personal happiness is built on two things happening simultaneously. Not doing some things and doing other things. So here is your choice. You can do the wrong things or you can do the right things. But if you want to take the advice of a seasoned pro, then listen to what Solomon had to say. Don't try to live in two worlds.
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