I want to share with you an epiphany I had earlier this year about the meaning of life. Sorry this is long, but it takes a little bit to explain.
Ecclesiastes is probably the strangest book of the Bible. The author, Solomon, sets God aside, looks around, tries to find meaning in life and comes up empty. He examines the evidence and concludes: there is no meaning to life.
Meaningless!
Pointless!
Empty!
Futile!
Vanity!
According to Solomon, here’s why:
#1 You, me, everybody—we all end up dead. All that’s left is a corpse in the ground, and once you die, you will soon be forgotten.
#2 Life isn’t fair. The corrupt live in McMansions; good people struggle to pay the rent.
#3 Life is hard. And is it worth it? Probably not.
#4 Great achievements are meaningless. You spend your whole life climbing the ladder; when you get to the top you discover—there’s nothing there.
#5 Pleasure too is meaningless, empty, devoid of meaning.
Yeah, it’s a bleak book, but also witty, eloquent, and sometimes practical.
But when we get to the end of the book, we find these words. (And they seem completely out of place.)
“Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the duty of all mankind. For God will bring every deed into judgment, including every hidden thing, whether it is good or evil.” Ecclesiastes 12:13-14 NIV
For many years I read that and I didn’t get it.
Yeah—standard biblical advice. But how does it fit this book?
At the end of the book, Solomon, who has mostly been ignoring God for the whole book, brings Him into the picture.
That does change things. His arguments melt away:
#1 Yes, we all die. But life doesn’t end in the grave. Life goes on. And the meaning for our lives is found in that greater life that is to come.
#2 And yeah. Life isn’t fair. But it doesn’t end there. God is still in charge of this universe. He has seen what has happened to you. He knows. He cares. And all wrongs will be righted.
#3 Sure, life is hard. But there is no pain without purpose. God will redeem all the pain and trouble we have experienced if we let Him.
#4 While we cannot find our significance in our achievements, there is a way that our accomplishments can have meaning and lasting significance.
Years ago I listened to a mega church pastor tell about his near death experience. He stood before Jesus and realized that all of his rock star Christian accomplishments meant nothing at all. Nothing. Nada.
The only thing that mattered was: Did I do what Jesus asked me to do?
More on that in a minute, but yes—our accomplishments can mean something, if they’re what Jesus asked us to do.
#5 Is pleasure meaningless? Apart from God, yes. But when we invite God in, He gives us good things to enjoy, which we can celebrate with gratitude as gifts from God.
We can gather all of this from the rest of the Bible. But Solomon doesn’t zero in on any of those things. Instead, he tells us to fear God, keep His commandments, because all our deeds will be judged by God.
How does that give us lasting significance?
Here’s my epiphany:
Someday we stand before God in judgment.
Judgment Day.
I used to think of Judgment Day as a court date with God. He declares is guilty or innocent; He sends us to heaven or to the lake of fire.
But what if God is saying something else here?
What if Judgment here in this passage is not a court date with God, but rather a Father meeting with His child and helping that child—that’s you and me—helping us make sense of this “meaningless” life?
This was my epiphany.
Judgment is when God looks at your life with you, and says, “Remember what you did there? It mattered. It has lasting significance. You have lasting significance. Your life has meaning.”
Judgment is the moment in our existence when God reveals the hidden meaning to your lives, when He takes away the curtain and shows you how and why your life mattered.
Are you rich or poor? Are you smart or slow? When you post on social media, do you get 75 comments and 200 likes? Or do you get crickets? Are you an up front leader or are you invisible? Will a thousand people come to your funeral or will your death go unnoticed?
None of that matters.
All that matters is this: Did you do what Jesus asked you to do?
That matters. That gives your life lasting significance.
And let me add a footnote to that.
Some people have the idea that Jesus is here to steal your autonomy, your identity, your sense of self—that He wants to rob you of you, and turn you into some kind of goody-two-shoes religious fanatic, turn you into somebody you aren’t.
Uh, no.
Not my experience.
When I ask Jesus, “What do You want me to do?” most of the time He turns the question around: “What do you want to do, Dwight?” He invites me into the process, and we make a plan together.
What does all of this mean?
God is wanting to work with you to give your life lasting significance and deep meaning. He’s offering that to you.
All you need to do is ask.
So ask!
God intends for you life to be filled with meaning and to achieve lasting significance. He wants to help you find that meaning today and every day, and someday, when you stand before Him, you’ll celebrate that significance together.
Be encouraged!
Dwight
