OCTOBER 2022.
TRUE MEANING.
The Queen’s funeral was a magnificent display of royalty and splendour in honour of a great person. Another great person of royalty passed away in 931 BC. His wealth and fame is considered to have surpassed that of any other king or queen. Towards the end of his life, he took stock of his days, bringing to mind all that he had seen and all that his hands had accomplished. His grand conclusion of it all may seem rather surprising: “…Behold, all is vanity and a striving after wind.” (Ecclesiastes 1:14) As the months pass by, one after the other, it is good for us to follow King Solomon’s example by taking stock of all that we have seen and all that our hands have accomplished in days gone by. We too might conclude that everything is vanity… but is that really true? Is it really all in vain? As King Solomon recognised, from an eternal perspective, our vain accomplishments might indeed be meaningless. On the other hand, if our meaning is derived by the One who created our days, that changes everything. In a few weeks time, the whole world will turn it’s head and look for a moment towards a baby who was born in a manger. Many will say that such an event was meaningless… but others will be moved to a fresh sense of worship. I hope that our response will be the latter, because when we come to understand that the One who was born in a manager also flung stars into space and created every rhythm of this earth, we come to see that His humble birth was far from meaningless. In fact, His life, death, and resurrection is the very source of true meaning. Perhaps it is true that everything under the sun is meaningless, but in the Son, we find our meaning. Ask God to help you walk in life’s true meaning this October.
The Queen’s funeral was a magnificent display of royalty and splendour in honour of a great person. Another great person of royalty passed away in 931 BC. His wealth and fame is considered to have surpassed that of any other king or queen. Towards the end of his life, he took stock of his days, bringing to mind all that he had seen and all that his hands had accomplished. His grand conclusion of it all may seem rather surprising: “…Behold, all is vanity and a striving after wind.” (Ecclesiastes 1:14) As the months pass by, one after the other, it is good for us to follow King Solomon’s example by taking stock of all that we have seen and all that our hands have accomplished in days gone by. We too might conclude that everything is vanity… but is that really true? Is it really all in vain? As King Solomon recognised, from an eternal perspective, our vain accomplishments might indeed be meaningless. On the other hand, if our meaning is derived by the One who created our days, that changes everything. In a few weeks time, the whole world will turn it’s head and look for a moment towards a baby who was born in a manger. Many will say that such an event was meaningless… but others will be moved to a fresh sense of worship. I hope that our response will be the latter, because when we come to understand that the One who was born in a manager also flung stars into space and created every rhythm of this earth, we come to see that His humble birth was far from meaningless. In fact, His life, death, and resurrection is the very source of true meaning. Perhaps it is true that everything under the sun is meaningless, but in the Son, we find our meaning. Ask God to help you walk in life’s true meaning this October.
One in Christ
Pastor Simon
