Ecclesiastes 2:1-11

FUTILITY OF EARTHLY PLEASURE

    

    King Solomon continued to experiment in his quest to find something worthwhile in life (v.3). He used pleasure in today’s passage and ended up finding that seeking pleasure for happiness and fulfillment is futile.

                Today’s world is pleasure – mad. Millions will pay almost any amount of money to ‘buy experiences’ and temporarily escape the burdens of life. There are three reasons pleasure – seeking will always fail to give joy.

First, pleasure – seeking usually becomes a selfish endeavor; and selfishness destroys true joy. People who live for pleasure will usually exploit people around them to get what they want, and they end up with broken relationship as well as empty hearts. People are more important than things and thrills (Pleasures). 

Second, if you live for pleasure alone, enjoyment will decrease because you will reach a point when there will be little or no enjoyment at all, only bondage. For example, the more people drink, the less enjoyment they get out of it; they must have more strong drinks in order to have pleasure; the sad result is desire without satisfaction, and from here, they will move to drugs, gambling, sex, etc., which consequence is disappointment and emptiness. 

Third, pleasure appeals to only a part of the person and ignores the total being. There will be true joy when the whole parts of you experience joy, not just your body. Pleasure cannot give your soul and spirit fulfillment. Connection with the Creator through Christ (being born again), and daily living by Scriptures and prayers will give total and true joy.

PRAYER:       Dear Lord, I pray that those who are in bondage of addiction to worldly pleasure, whose lives and homes are being destroyed, shall be set free. Give me grace not to live for only pleasure. Amen