Vanity of Vanities

“What profit has man from all the labor which he toils at under the sun?” Ecc. 1:3

I am sure all of us know of some people who work hard and cunningly to amass money and power. If we listen to the Senate Hearings, we will get amazed and disgusted at how much of our taxes are being stolen and how some leaders refuse to account for millions and even billions of pesos in their budget. Enough said. 

The writer of the Book of Ecclesiastes identifies himself as a King in Jerusalem who searched for understanding and wisdom. He built many beautiful palaces, and had more slaves, treasure, and concubines than many kings combined. “I had everything a man could desire! Anything I wanted, I took!” he claimed. 

“I did not restrain myself from any joy...but as I looked at everything I had worked so hard to accomplish, it was all so meaningless. It was like chasing the wind,” this mighty King wrote in Ecclesiastes 2:10-11. Ecclesiastes is a journal, a diary of a man who accomplished much, experienced almost everything the world could offer during his time. From the vantage point of his privileged life, he found that one could not enjoy life apart from God. 

“What do people really get for all their hard work?” he pondered. People may work hard to accumulate wealth but at the end of our lives, we cannot bring anything more than a poor man may take with him. We can have many trophies, recommendations, and streets in our name, but when we lie on our deathbed, none of that matters if we are not right with God. 

Although as the writer of Ecclesiastes says, “Vanity of vanities! All things are vanity!”, we know that what God values is not vanity. When we die, we will find that faith, truth and love remain, and the greatest of these is love. (1 Corinthians 13:13)