Well… ok, one post on Ecclesiastes.

What a marvelous train wreck of a Bible book! I don’t mean that in a derogatory way, but in a worshipful one. It is this way because it takes my life, and the things that I naturally and normally value, and it one by one rips them away from my grasping fingers.

Pleasure? Fleeting. Wisdom? Huh. Like it matters. Achievement? You’ll be forgotten, and soon. Time? Justice? Can’t control either one. Merit? Worth nothing. Riches? Rusting, and you’re a pauper anyway. Death? Certain and without escape, no matter how ‘good’ you’ve been. Fool? Yes, that’s you.

When I act in a certain way in order to get longer life, or reward outside of the deed itself… my self-righteousness is exposed, and my actions worthless.

Despair would rule supreme in this world of absurd meaninglessness… were it not for the reality of an outside meaning, an outside rescuer, a kingdom that was not this world.

“Who will save me from this body of death? Thanks be to God, through Jesus Christ our Lord!”

Thank you, Lord, for giving us this wise book that shatters our little dreams, to drive us to more in you. Thank you that Jesus is our everything, and that you love us even though we fill our lives with self-righteous striving. Forgive us, Father, and help us to grow up in Jesus Christ.