Thus Saith the Preacher

“Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities; all is vanity.”

This is the lament found in Ecclesiastes 1:2. It’s author is Solomon, also known as the wisest man ever. He’s had his share of beautiful women, endless money, and impressive power. He’s tasted it all and found it lacking.

Quite frankly, I find his proclamation depressing. Is there anything we can do that lasts? Can we have a meaningful impact? Can we do something eternal?

The short answer is yes. Change your focus from yourself to people and there lies gold.

Look Around You

Someone somewhere needs you. You might not know it. You may never realize it. But someone somewhere is in need of time and attention.

How much time and energy do you spend investing in other people? This is what will produce eternal results. You aren’t dealing with an object, but a soul. This soul has a life. She has hopes and fears. He has dreams and struggles.

Life is full of bad influences. You have celebrities doing drugs and living promiscuously. You have absentee fathers. You have other teens who are just as lost as everyone else.

We all need someone in our life who rises above and models a godly life for us.

Have you ever thought of being that person for someone else? Maybe it’s a sibling. A coworker. A fellow student. A friend. We all can be that powerful role model for someone.

You see, when Solomon was calling everything vanity (short-lived, meaningless), he was talking about the things we do for this life. For this earth. He’s right: when you live for now you are living a worthless life.

But when you live for others (starting with God, then moving to those around us), that’s different. That’s making an eternal difference in the soul of another person. That’s guiding them and being a person they can look up to as a godly example. We are talking about eternity, which I personally think is very important.

Do you?

#AQCFaith #Worth