LIFE IS GOOD: ONLY IN CHRIST

 Ecclesiastes 1:1-11

LIFE IS GOOD: ONLY IN CHRIST

   

    This book - Ecclesiastes - is a compendium of what Solomon, the king of Israel, discovered by the hand of the Lord about life. Most of the discoveries were though his personal life experiences (when he was in tune with the Lord, and when he backslided from Him). A common feature in the book is the denial of any profit or gain to a person's labour. The term 'gain' is unique to Ecclesiastes. Generally, it refers to what is left over (a gain or a profit), after removing the principal invested in a business; or metaphorically, to what is advantageous or of benefit. Solomon affirmed at the outset that humans earn no essential advantage or profit from all their toil down here on the earth (this is what the phrase 'under the sun' means). He supported his opinion by referring to the ceaseless rounds of human generations through the temporal nature of  a person existence (v.4)  and of  nature (sun, moon and the sea) in constant  motion but which  never  arrive  at any fixed goal or lasting rest (v.5-7).

    The above description by Solomon is of a life without Christ. Jesus says, 

'I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly'(John 10:10). 

When one lives in Christ, everything becomes profitable to God and to the world around the person. Our lives in Christ glorify God, and bless humanity. Even the person would not have lived in vain because the Scriptures, 

'There, my  beloved  brethren, be steadfast, unmovable, and always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labour is not in vain in the Lord' 

 (1 Corinthians  15:58).

 Life is 'not in vain' if it is lived according to the will of God, and that is what Solomon teaches today in the power of the Holy Spirit.

PRAYER:    Dear Lord, cause my life to be profitable to You, the people I come across today, my family,                         and myself in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen