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Highway
4-W
Every
person in the world wants to have a life of purpose,
meaning, and happiness.
Each one of us spends a lifetime looking for
these things.
The
book of Ecclesiastes is the story of one man’s
search for life's meaning and true happiness. The
man’s name was Solomon, the 3rd king of
the nation of Israel.
Solomon’s search was made while he was
alienated from God.
His wives "turned away his heart"
from serving God (1 Kings 11:3), just as God had
warned (1 Kings 11:9-10).
Solomon’s quest was based on the question: What
profit is a life without God?
Solomon’s
search took him down what might be called “Highway
4-W.”
Solomon
searched for true happiness and fulfillment in WISDOM
(Ecclesiastes 1:12-18). He "set his heart to seek
and search out by wisdom concerning all that is done
under heaven" (v. 13).
Did wisdom make him happy?
Note Solomon's conclusion: "And I set my
heart to know wisdom and to know madness and folly. I
perceived that this also is grasping for the
wind" (v. 17).
He learned that to seek happiness in human
wisdom is 'a
striving after the wind,’' i.e., it is like
trying to catch the wind in a sack - an impossible
task.
Solomon
searched for true happiness and fulfillment in WORLDLY
PLEASURE (Ecclesiastes 2:1-3).
He said in his heart, “Come now, I will test
you with mirth; therefore enjoy pleasure'"
(Ecclesiastes 2:1).
He sought for worldly pleasure in wine (v. 3)
and a large harem and many wives (1 Kings 11:1-3).
Did these things bring him happiness?
His conclusion:
“This also is vanity (meaninglessness,
emptiness)” (v. 1).
Solomon
searched for true happiness and fulfillment in WORK
and WEALTH
(Ecclesiastes 2:4-11).
His works included houses, vineyards, gardens,
and orchards
(vs. 4-6). He acquired male and female servants and
greater herds and flocks than all who were in
Jerusalem before him (v. 7).
He also gathered for himself silver and gold
and the special treasures of kings and of the
provinces (v. 8).
He acquired male and female singers and musical
instruments of all kinds (v. 8).
Whatever his eyes desired he did not keep from
them (v. 10). Did
these things make him happy?
"Then I looked on all the works that my
hands had done and on the labor in which I had toiled;
And indeed all was vanity and grasping for the wind.
There was no profit under the sun" (v. 11).
At
the end of the book of Ecclesiastes, Solomon is an old
man. He
has searched for true happiness and fulfillment in
everything that the world had to offer.
He ends the book with his final conclusion:
"Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter:
Fear God and keep His commandments, For this is the
whole duty of man"
(Ecclesiastes 12:13 KJV), literally, "For
this is the whole of man" or “This is what
makes man whole."
Solomon also stated another important reason
for his conclusion:
“For God will bring every work into judgment,
including every secret thing, whether it is good or
whether it is evil” (Ecclesiastes 12:14).
Are
you traveling "down"
Highway 4-W today?
Listen
to Solomon! The
ONLY life which brings true happiness and
fulfillment is found when we revere God and keep His
commandments.
Today,
God is calling EVERYONE - EVERYWHERE to: faith
(Hebrews 11:6), repentance
(Acts 17:30), confession
(Romans 10:9-10), baptism
(Acts 2:38) AND faithful living (1 John 1:9).
How will YOU
respond to His call?
God bless
you!
David A. Sargent,
Minister
Church of Christ at Creekwood
1901 Schillinger Rd. S.
Mobile, Alabama 36695
*
Adapted
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