Focus: Vanity Of Vanities (Pt.2)

Text: Eccl.1:2

"Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities; all is vanity."

The Qoheleth has labeled life under the sun as hebel. In this book of Ecclesiastes we are confronted with the truth - an inescapable reality of the highest order. Everything on this side of life bears the stamp of impermanence on it. 

John writes, "For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world." In all our earthly pursuits, priorities and values, this is life's irreducible minimum - the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life. In the following verse, John says, "And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever" (1Jh.2:16,17). Here in this verse we see two contrasts - the world that passes away and the doers of God's will who abide forever.

We can see that true value lies with the eternal, not with the temporal.

Do you know that the Hebrew word 'hebel' for vanity is the same as the name of Abel. Abel's earthly life was vapory - transient, transitory. His life was cut short by his own blood brother out of the emotion of anger and the wickedness of heart, and out of envy and jealousy. He had no children to succeed him. The only thing he left behind was the testimony of his faith.

John tells us that Cain belonged to the wicked one - Satan, and that his works were evil. Jude describes Cain's way of life as "the way of Cain." Humanity has since been trapped in the way of Cain. Many people are daily walking the path of Cain, getting it all wrong in matters of religion and relationship. Cain was a slave of his own negative emotions. He could not bear being a failure where his own brother was a success. He was consumed with hatred for his brother. John writes, "Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer: and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him" (1Jh.3:15). Anger and hate turned Cain into a murderer. 

James writes, "From whence come wars and fightings among you? come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members?" (Jam.4:1). He goes on to say, "Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not. Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts" (Jam.4:2-3). 

This is what we have reduced life to - getting it all costs even if we have to kill. This is indeed the error and evil of personal ambition.

We have made life to be all about us, not about any one else. No wonder Thomas Brooks wrote that ambition is "a gilded misery, a secret poison, a hidden plaque, the engineer of deceit, the moth of hypocrisy, the parent of envy, the original of vices, the moth of holiness, the blinder of hearts, turning medicines into maladies and remedies into diseases."

We need change, and indeed change of a radical nature. We need new sets of values - values with God at the center. We need a new vision - vision for the eternal. We need a new perspective of things that truly matter. We need a new longing - longing for the things that God longs for and making His heartbeat our own. 

We must rise from under the sun and connect with the things that are above the sun.

I pray that in your own life, let the heavens and the earth come together as one. Let your investments be only on the things that last forever - God's word and the souls of men. God's word has eternal value. Man's soul has eternal value. The doer of God's will shall last forever. Therefore, invest your all in God's word through those who truly preach it. Invest heavily in souls, for people matter to God, and their salvation is paramount to Him. Also, ensure that you are in the list of those who do the will of God, and be assured that only doers of God's will shall live forever. Refuse to have the label of hebel over your earthly life.

by Bishop Moses E. Peter