The Daily Fountain Devotional of the Church Of Nigeria (Anglican Communion) 15 October 2021 – The Vanity Of Life
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TOPIC: The Vanity Of Life
READ: Ecclesiastes 1:1-11 (NKJV)
- 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?
- [One] generation passes away, and [another] generation comes; But the earth abides forever.
- The sun also rises, and the sun goes down, And hastens to the place where it arose.
- The wind goes toward the south, And turns around to the north; The wind whirls about continually, And comes again on its circuit.
- All the rivers run into the sea, Yet the sea [is] not full; To the place from which the rivers come, There they return again.
- All things [are] full of labor; Man cannot express [it.] The eye is not satisfied with seeing, Nor the ear filled with hearing.
- That which has been [is] what will be, That which [is] done is what will be done, And [there is] nothing new under the sun.
- Is there anything of which it may be said, “See, this [is] new”? It has already been in ancient times before us.
- [There is] no remembrance of former [things,] Nor will there be any remembrance of [things] that are to come By [those] who will come after.
THE MESSAGE:
The word vanity’ is a key word in the book of Ecclesiastes. It indicates what is momentary, transitory and non-permanent. The preacher established his view on the unchanging value that can be found in this life. As he tries each of the ways proposed by humanity to achieve the value being sought, he finds them fleeting and elusive.
“What profit has a man from all his labour in which he toils under the sun” (verse 3). All our activities on earth are meaningless and purposeless when carried out, away from God’s will. The preacher tries to alert us to the false hopes people place on the secular world, today. Our society is full of evil, injustices and killings and the preacher wants us to realise that life without Jesus has no meaning and cannot produce the joy we deserve or seek. The remedy to this situation is found in our faith and trust in God (Proverbs 3:5-6). Joy, peace and eternal life can only be experienced when we look beyond earthly things and focus on the heavenly things. Though we still need these earthly things, we must look beyond them and embrace heavenly riches which last forever.
PRAYER: When you lose sight of the ultimate, you become a slave of the immediate.
