Is Everything Vanity?

Is it wrong to enjoy the good things of life? There was a "Playboy" of the Old Testament who wrote:"There is nothing better for a man than that he should eat and drink, and find enjoyment in his toil." (Ecclesiastes 2:24)

He was honest. He could not see much for the future. Heaven and hell were not ideas with which he was familiar. Death for the writer was mostly a nothingness. And so he believed that life was meant to be enjoyed while you had it.

Perhaps he has a good lesson for us to learn. Why do we get so tense with one another...so upset...so irritable? Is it not because we have our noses to the grindstone and do not take time to just enjoy the moments that we have, and the friends that we can enjoy. Sometimes we do not even have fun with our children while we have them. At times we ignore good health while we have it. We are always pushing for that time in the future when we can enjoy ourselves and that time never comes.

What does life mean? Are there things of significance, of value? One of the conclusions that Ecclesiastes comes to is that we ought to learn to love life...not indulge life, or glorify indulgence, but to glorify Him who gave us life. You see, life was meant to be enjoyed. Jesus said, "I am come that you might have life, and have it abundantly." (John 10:10)

Ours is not to be tearful preaching, but cheerful teaching. Ours is not to be doleful proclamations, but soulful exclamations. We are to love life!

We make the tragic mistake of believing that our task is to make a living, whereas our task is to make a life that is worth living. We might even say: "What shall it profit a man to make a darn good life in the future, and not be able to have good living now?"

Is it wrong to enjoy the good things in life? No. The question is: do we know what the good things in life really are?

Enjoy your children while you have them. This is good. To be obsessed with only your security for the future is vanity.

Enjoy your neighbors. This is good. To be so busy with day by day pursuits that you do not learn to know them is vanity.

Enjoy your faith. This is good. To put it aside as a luxury to be had when you are older, or as a chore to perform, is to miss the glory of life. It is vanity and emptiness.

Enjoy the privilege of giving, of sacrifice. This is good. To hoard and to keep everything to yourself is like cancer. It eats out the heart and meaning of life and is vanity.

Enjoy your God. This is good. There is an old creed that says: "Man's chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy Him forever." All else is vanity.

Do we have the time for good reading?
No, we make the time for good reading!
Otherwise, life becomes vanity.
You can establish those moments of importance
They are yours for the taking...a good book
can make life fascinating
A good book can make bad moments into
good moments.
Do you want some good reading?
A free call to 1-888-280-7715, and all of
Guither's books can be yours for a
few dollars. You are invited to give
it a try.