Day 4 - For it is [not your strength, but it is] God who is effectively at work in you, both to will and to work [that is, strengthening, energizing, and creating in you the longing and the ability to fulfill your purpose] for His good pleasure. - Philippians 2:13 [Amplified version]
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As King Solomon began the book of Ecclesiastes, he tells us that everything is meaningless. Seeking wisdom, finding pleasure, having fun, hard work, worry and strife- all of it. [Paraphrasing] In Chapter 2 he tells us how he knows: “I undertook great projects, built houses and vineyards with all kinds of trees, I had many slaves, girlfriends and children. I had more wealth in herds and gold than any other in Jerusalem. I had everything my heart desired and there was no one greater than me. And yet it was all meaningless. Not only do we waste our days working for it but then we aren’t fulfilled by it nor can we take it with us. We have to leave it all to someone else.”
And the end of Chapter 2 he says: “For without God who can find enjoyment?” You can spend all of your time and energy going, doing, losing sleep, striving and working for something but you will never be satisfied. More times than not the high of a victory is short lived and then it becomes the new level to beat or a notch on a belt moving forward. Something else will need to be attained. Your accomplishments will never enough to satisfy you. You will never see, nor hear, nor taste or do enough. Yet with God, you can find joy and contentment in the even the most mundane tasks or activities.
Commentary on these passages says that some of the pleasures Solomon sought were wrong and some were worthy but even the worthy pursuits were futile when he pursued them as an end in themselves. We must look beyond our activities to the reasons that we do them and the purpose they fulfill. Is your goal in life to search for meaning or to search for God who gives meaning?
Think About It
1. On a scale of 1-10 how “fulfilled” would you say that you are? Do you feel that you and your life has purpose? Why or why not?
2. Do your activities draw you closer to God or take you away from him? List them all and consider them each separately.
3. If you could add and remove one thing right now, what would they be? If an answer doesn’t immediately come to mind, spend some time in prayer and meditation. Then come back to answer.
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