Year 5, Day 331: Ecclesiastes 1

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Calling

• Calling asks whether or not God has called the person to the particular work at this point in their life.

Ecclesiastes is such an interesting book to read.  It is full of grand truth.  However, it is also full of depressing truth because it is such an honest look at life.  Ecclesiastes is not a book to be read unless we are willing to look into the mirror deeply and accept what we see.

This first chapter is an incredibly popular one.  What can mankind do that really is worthwhile?  Can we do anything that will really last?  Is there any lesson that I will learn that will be remembered by the third or fourth generation from now?  What about the hundredth generation from now?  Will anyone even care about me or anything I do after a thousand years of time?

As you can see, this is a rather depressing look at the human existence.

Yet, it is an incredibly profound chapter.  There is something that is the same from Solomon’s day to our day today.  The thing that is the same is God and His desire to save mankind.  The thing that remains unchanged is humanity’s need to be saved by someone greater than life, death, and even time.

Fundamentally, this is why I chose to focus on calling.  If I am interested in my own desires and my own successes, I’ll be lucky to be remembered a generation after I die.  But if instead I am focused upon God’s calling for my life, then whether I am remembered is irrelevant.  This is true because God will still be relevant then.  God’s work will still be going on.  I’ll just be one piece in a very long and very consistent effort on God’s behalf.

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