Weekly Devotional 1-29-18 What Is Your/My Purpose
Have you ever considered why you were born? Have you asked yourself, “What is the reason for my being?” Maybe you have thought there really is no meaning or purpose for my being. Maybe you have echoed these words of the human author of Ecclesiastes. “2’Vanity of vanities,’ says the Preacher; ‘Vanity of vanities, all is vanity.’ 3What profit has a man from all his labor In which he toils under the sun? 4One generation passes away, and another generation comes; But the earth abides forever. 5The sun also rises, and the sun goes down, And hastens to the place where it arose. 6The wind goes toward the south, And turns around to the north; The wind whirls about continually, And comes again on its circuit. 7All the rivers run into the sea, Yet the sea is not full; To the place from which the rivers come, There they return again.
8All things are full of labor; Man cannot express it. The eye is not satisfied with seeing, Nor the ear filled with hearing. 9That which has been is what will be, That which is done is what will be done, And there is nothing new under the sun. 10Is there anything of which it may be said, ‘See, this is new’? It has already been in ancient times before us. 11There is no remembrance of former things, Nor will there be any remembrance of things that are to come By those who will come after.
12I, the Preacher, was king over Israel in Jerusalem. 13And I set my heart to seek and search out by wisdom concerning all that is done under heaven; this burdensome task God has given to the sons of man, by which they may be exercised. 14I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and indeed, all is vanity and grasping for the wind.
15What is crooked cannot be made straight, And what is lacking cannot be numbered. 16I communed with my heart, saying, “Look, I have attained greatness, and have gained more wisdom than all who were before me in Jerusalem. My heart has understood great wisdom and knowledge.” 17And I set my heart to know wisdom and to know madness and folly. I perceived that this also is grasping for the wind. 18For in much wisdom is much grief, And he who increases knowledge increases sorrow.”
The writer, most likely Solomon, looking at life through the eyes of the natural man, the unregenerate man, saw no purpose to life. His father David and he, himself, had reached the pinnacle of life. Both were kings over Israel, both were wealthy beyond belief, and Solomon was acclaimed as the wisest of all persons. Throughout the book he wrote of the despair of the natural man. In the last chapter he concludes that the natural man sees all as vanity (12:8).
In actuality, this would be a sad commentary on human life if the view of the natural man was true reality. However, the natural man’s view is a wrong view. There is purpose to one’s life, to know and experience God presently and forever. Jesus, God the Son, when He dwelt among us as the Son of God, said of those who were and are His, “I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly” (John 10:10c).
Many who read these thoughts have already entered into this enlightened life and are experiencing a life that the natural man, the unregenerate man (perhaps you) cannot imagine. If you want to know what the purpose of life is, if you want to know what your reason for being is, search out the Scriptures and learn of God and His anointed Jesus Christ. As you learn of them and commit your life to them you will enter into a life that is meaningful and blessed.
Lovingly Submitted
stevelampman@comcast.net stevelampman.com
Transforming Power; The Work of God on Behalf of Man