[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":73},["ShallowReactive",2],{"\u002Farticles\u002Fin-search-of-a-meaningful-life":3,"\u002Farticles\u002Fin-search-of-a-meaningful-life-surround":62},{"id":4,"title":5,"author":6,"bibleBooks":8,"body":13,"columnName":45,"date":46,"description":19,"extension":47,"image":48,"meta":49,"minRead":50,"navigation":51,"path":52,"postType":53,"publication":54,"publicationUrl":48,"seo":55,"stem":56,"topics":57,"__hash__":61},"blog\u002Farticles\u002Fin-search-of-a-meaningful-life.md","In Search of a Meaningful Life",{"name":7},"Dave Faust",[9,10,11,12],"Ecclesiastes","1 Kings","1 Peter","John",{"type":14,"value":15,"toc":41},"minimark",[16,20,23,26,29,32,35,38],[17,18,19],"p",{},"Someone has said, \"Ecclesiastes asks the questions the rest of the Bible answers.\" The book describes King Solomon's search for a meaningful life, and it begins with a depressing observation: \"Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless\" (Ecclesiastes 1:2). At times life seems empty and pointless, like trying to grasp air in your hand.",[17,21,22],{},"What about education? Solomon devoted himself to study. According to 1 Kings 4:32-34, he became a world-renowned expert on literature (he wrote 3,000 proverbs), music (he composed more than 1,000 songs), botany (he described a wide range of plant life), and biology (he taught about animals, birds, reptiles, and fish). But education alone isn't the key to a satisfying life. While it's good to learn all we can, in the process we discover unsolvable problems. \"What is crooked cannot be straightened; what is lacking cannot be counted. . . . The more knowledge, the more grief\" (Ecclesiastes 1:15, 18).",[17,24,25],{},"What about pleasure? Solomon said, \"I tried cheering myself with wine, and embracing folly\" (2:3). He became an expert at fooling around, making small talk, making people laugh. But even if you're the life of the party, what will you do when the party's over? A vacation, a holiday, a fun evening with friends—it soon ends. What then? Solomon experimented with all kinds of pleasure, but \"that also proved to be meaningless\" (2:1).",[17,27,28],{},"What about possessions? Solomon built houses, vineyards, gardens, and tree-lined parks. The rooms of his enormous palace were paneled with sweet-smelling cedar. In a day when clean water wasn't readily available, he \"made reservoirs to water groves of flourishing trees\" (1 Kings 7:1-12; Ecclesiastes 2:4-6). He owned servants to care for his property, vast herds to provide plenty of meat, choirs of singers to entertain him, a \"bank account\" overflowing with silver and gold, and plenty of women to meet his sexual desires (Ecclesiastes 2:7-9). \"I denied myself nothing my eyes desired; I refused my heart no pleasure,\" he said (v. 10). But all the things money could buy still left him saying that \"everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind; nothing was gained under the sun\" (v. 11).",[17,30,31],{},"What about work? Immerse yourself in your career. Achieve all you can, and make a name for yourself in your profession. Solomon did that too. But he soon discovered that work alone can't fill the void in a person's soul. Eventually you'll retire or die and leave everything you've worked for to somebody else. \"This too is meaningless,\" said Solomon, probably with a sigh.",[17,33,34],{},"His conclusion? \"I hated life\" (2:17-26). Have you ever felt that way? Is life simply a game of Trivial Pursuit in which we work and laugh and try to squeeze out a bit of joy before we grow old and die? And we're never quite satisfied with our current circumstances? The 12-year-old wants to be 16, and the 70-year-old wants to be 35 again. The worker longs to retire, but the retiree misses the respect he enjoyed at work. No matter our situation, we want something more. We want something else.",[17,36,37],{},"Solomon eventually concluded, \"Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the duty of all mankind\" (Ecclesiastes 12:13). For when all is said and done, only the Lord can fill us with \"living hope\" (1 Peter 1:3). Only he gives us life \"to the full\" (John 10:10).",[17,39,40],{},"This article is adapted from* Honest Questions, Honest Answers: How to Engage in Compelling Conversations About Your Christian Faith, *a book by David Faust.",{"title":42,"searchDepth":43,"depth":43,"links":44},"",2,[],"Revealed and Relevant","2012-09-30","md",null,{},3,true,"\u002Farticles\u002Fin-search-of-a-meaningful-life","column","The Lookout",{"title":5,"description":19},"articles\u002Fin-search-of-a-meaningful-life",[58,59,60],"Biblical Theology","Perseverance in Suffering","Spiritual Formation","PBuYqn3dRJCMksmk3slaV3rADFFlzU23wdDQlxcvt7I",[63,68],{"title":64,"path":65,"stem":66,"description":67,"children":-1},"In Pursuit of the Justice of God","\u002Farticles\u002Fin-pursuit-of-the-justice-of-god","articles\u002Fin-pursuit-of-the-justice-of-god","Atheists must contend with hard questions. If God doesn’t exist, how did our complex universe arise from nothing, and how did morality come from amorality? Without God, on what grounds shall we determine what is right or wrong? If we are not created in God’s image and human beings are nothing more than fortuitously evolved cosmic accidents, on what basis do we argue for human rights?",{"title":69,"path":70,"stem":71,"description":72,"children":-1},"In Spirit and Truth","\u002Farticles\u002Fin-spirit-and-truth","articles\u002Fin-spirit-and-truth","Do you want your church's worship services to be \"seeker sensitive\"? Remember, the most important \"seeker\" is the Lord himself! According to Jesus, the Father seeks people who worship him \"in spirit and truth\" (John 4:23)—and for good reason. By worshiping \"in spirit,\" we avoid the problem of empty ceremonialism, and by worshiping \"in truth,\" we avoid the problem of false doctrine.",1790466157313]