Shocking Advice for a Meaningful Life
This post by Joe Tyrpak comes from Gospel Meditations for Young Adults (Day 7).
“It is better to spend your time at funerals than at festivals.” Ecclesiastes 7:2 (NLT)
Ecclesiastes was written for young adults, and it confronts you with a pointed question: “What really gives your life meaning?”
The first half of the book exposes the emptiness of trying to leave a legacy, make a name for yourself, experience all the fun and pleasure you can, get rich, live a long and healthy life, climb the corporate ladder, or crusade against injustice. Young adult, if you think any of that gives your life meaning, you’re headed for a mid-life crisis. All these things are “vanity.”
At the heart of Ecclesiastes is the truth of God’s sovereignty. Life’s meaning comes not from fulfilling your plan for your life but from realizing you’re a part of God’s beautiful plan—a plan that you’ll never be able to understand, predict, or control. In Ecclesiastes 7, Solomon shows how God’s sovereignty inspires a truly meaningful life.
Life’s meaning comes not from fulfilling your plan for your life but from realizing you’re a part of God’s beautiful plan.
Live with your death in view (vv. 1–4).
You’re going to die, and you should anticipate it. Solomon says that the day you die is better than the day you were born (v. 1) because every day you live is one more day to potentially tarnish your reputation. What a happy thought, eh?!
Then Solomon points out that funerals are better than parties (a truth I quote at nearly every funeral I officiate) because funerals bring you face to face with reality. You are going to die, and living with this realization should motivate you to live for what matters.
Value wisdom, but don’t expect too much from it (vv. 5–12).
Solomon recommends listening to rebuke rather than to something that makes you feel good (vv. 5-6). He recommends being mild and patient over being cynical and irritable (vv. 8-10).
However, after both recommendations, Solomon recognizes the ultimate inadequacy of wisdom (vv. 7, 11-12): Life in this broken world doesn’t always go well for the wise. Your wise choices guarantee nothing.
Accept adversity from God just like you accept prosperity from Him (vv. 13–14).
A meaningful life includes constant recognition that no decision can put you in the driver’s seat of your life. Nothing you do can eliminate all adversity from your life and guarantee only prosperity.
God is in control, and His sovereign plan ordains your good days as well as your bad. So, accept the adversity in your life as coming from a good God, just like you accept the prosperity He gives.
Avoid the pitfalls of both legalism and license (vv. 15–18).
Verses 16–17 seem unfitting for the Bible. Is Solomon saying, “Don’t be too good, and don’t be too bad; live somewhere in the middle”? Not at all.
Solomon has been teaching God’s mysterious sovereignty and your inability to predict outcomes (v. 15). He is urging you to avoid the two extremes of legalism and license. If you’re wise, you’ll not think, “My religious habits will secure the good life,” nor will you think, “Since I can’t be in control, I give up.” Simply fear your Sovereign (v. 18).
Lower your expectations of other people—they’re sinners just like you (vv. 19–29).
You are wise if you acknowledge the sinfulness of humanity, remembering that God designed people to be good, but that, ever since Adam, humans—including you—have had hearts that love to rebel (v. 29). If you live in this reality, you’ll be a more pleasant family member, church member, and coworker. You’ll not ignore other people’s sin, but you’ll not be so surprised or offended by it.
This is real wisdom for real life in this really broken world—a world made by Jesus and for Jesus, a world into which Jesus came and for which Jesus died, and a world over which Jesus is now Ruler and will soon be recognized as such by all.
Let the gospel motivate you simply to live for Jesus in this broken world.
Explore the whole book!
The twenty-first century is a uniquely challenging time for the church of Jesus Christ. Immorality has never been so easily accessible. Materialism is rampant. Antagonism to Christianity is increasing.
And yet there is gospel hope. Gospel Meditations for Young Adults is aimed at Christians in their teens and twenties, written to help them stay tethered to Christ, instill in them greater perseverance in the face of opposition, and inspire them with a vision of the deeply satisfying life that will be theirs when they resolve to know, love, and serve Jesus. May the Lord use it for His glory!
