Meaningless?
Life is meaningless – as Solomon said, “All is vanity.”
Nothing is worth living for – except God.
Nothing is worth everything – except God.
He is my only reason for living – He is in my heart,
Always on my mind – the possessor of my soul.
He is the great “I Am” – His throne is established from of old.
Jesus is my Lord, my Saviour, my Shepherd.
I am a sheep of His pasture – I know Him.
And that knowledge alone is worth eternity.
The fellowship, the lovingkindness,
And mercy He showers upon me,
I could never give up.
He is the only Way.
He is ultimate Truth.
He is my Life.
He is the only God;
I worship only Him.
I will never turn away,
Or give Him up for anything.
Life is utterly meaningless – vanity of vanities,
From beginning to end –
Without the Alpha and Omega,
The First and the Last,
Who is, who was, and who is to come,
He that liveth, and was dead, and is alive forevermore,
The Almighty,
My Saviour, My God,
Jesus.
August 3rd, 1994
Jerry Bouey
(This poem is dedicated to Cece Garner,
who encouraged me to trust the Lord with the talents He has given me,
and is the reason this poem made it into my first poetry book.)
Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher,
vanity of vanities; all is vanity…
What profit hath a man of all his labour which he taketh under the sun?
…The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be;
and that which is done is that which shall be done:
and there is no new thing under the sun…
I have seen all the works that are done under the sun;
and, behold, all is vanity and vexation of spirit…
Ecclesiastes Chapter One,
written by King Solomon,
the richest, wisest man who ever lived.
Without the Lord Jesus Christ, everything life could possibly offer is only Vanity of Vanities.
In the book of Ecclesiastes:
The word vanity/vanities occurs 37 times (3 of these as vanity of vanities).
Under the Sun occurs 29 times in 27 verses.
Travail occurs 8 times (including twice as sore travail).
Vexation occurs once by itself, but 9 times as vexation of spirit – and of those 9, 7 times as vanity and vexation of spirit and once as travail and vexation of spirit.
As Alexander Grosse said so meaningfully in 1632, “Where Christ reveals Himself there is satisfaction in the slenderest portion, and without Christ there is emptiness in the greatest fulness.”
What are you doing under the sun? Why don’t you set your heart on the things of Heaven. Look above this sin-cursed world with its gaudy trinkets and worthless baubles. Look above the sun, to the Son! Set your heart on the Lord Jesus Christ! And find life’s true meaning in Him.
Colossians 3:1-2 If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth…
Matthew 6:19-21 Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.