Tag: Ecclesiastes

Vain Satisfaction

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He who loves money will not be satisfied with money, nor he who loves wealth with his income; this also is vanity.

Ecclesiastes 5:10 (ESV)

Satisfaction and contentment are the cornerstone of our natural desires. We have an innate drivenness to seek out satisfaction and contentment. We all desire to satiate this inner drive and determination. Where we look for that satisfaction and the level of determination in that pursuit is different in each person, but make no mistake… we all seek satisfaction and contentment. The Preacher in Ecclesiastes is pointing to one object that we all struggle with in our pursuit. All of us will at some point struggle with the pursuit of wealth and a desire to find contentment by pursuing money. Money is not in itself a bad thing or something to be abhorred. What the Preacher is pointing out is that our love for money can lead to a craving that is never satisfied. If we are in love with money, the pursuit of money, or the prestige of money, we will never be content with the level of wealth that we attain. When our love of money is driving us, we will always want more and more. Satisfaction, true satisfaction, will never be found in money and wealth.

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Patient Beauty

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He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man’s heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end.

Ecclesiastes 3:11 (ESV)

There are moments in life where everything seems to working against you. Moments where chaos, agony, suffering, hardship, and trials seem to be so overwhelming that it is difficult to see an end to the pain. These times of walking through the deep darkness of the valley where confusion, fear, and doubt are continually pressing in on you. It is in these moments of depression and fatigue that this passage speaks to me in a special way. I need to continually be reminded that this world around me, this life “under the sun” that the Preacher is talking about is not all there is or ever will be. That yearning in my heart is for eternity. A yearning for this life under the sun to give way to the future where all things are made beautiful in the light and glory of Jesus Christ. I yearn to leave this mortal world behind and find my rest in the Beautiful One of heaven who is preparing a room for me in his kingdom.

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Lesson 2 – Happiness

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This is a lesson I prepared for a Sunday School class series on Ecclesiastes in the Spring of 2025. The lessons are meant to be a mix of teaching and interactive discussion in the group. This is an outline of my presentation that guided the teaching and discussion. It was adapted from the Gospel-centered life in the Bible Series – Ecclesiastes: Life in the Light of Eternity.

View Ecclesiastes Lesson Series

Ecclesiastes 1:12-2:26

Big Idea

“The more we try to find lasting satisfaction in the many offerings of happiness in this world, the more we find we instead need to look somewhere else entirely.”

Just as the Preacher is teaching us that “all is vanity,” so too is the ability to fully explore all that is in this section!

1:12-18 & 2:12-17 Wise living is better than being foolish, but still vanity.
2:1-11 Vanity of indulging in pleasures, acquiring possessions, and achieving success.
2:18-26 Hard work going for nothing

C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity
“If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world. If none of my earthly pleasures satisfy it, that does not prove that the universe is a fraud. Probably earthly pleasures were never meant to satisfy it, but only to arouse it, to suggest the real thing. If that is so, I must take care, on the one hand, never to despise, or be unthankful for, these earthly blessings, and on the other, never to mistake them for the something else of which they are only a copy, or echo, or mirage. I must keep alive in myself the desire for my true country, which I shall not find until after death.”

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House of Mourning

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Journal Entry // June 8, 2021

Sorrow is better than laughter, for by sadness of face the heart is made glad. The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning, but the heart of fools is in the house of mirth.

Ecclesiastes 7:4 ESV

Mourning and Mirth. Sorrow and Amusement. It is not too difficult to discern which of these any person would rather experience. We would all rather have the daily experience of amusement over and above a daily experience of sorrow and mourning. Yet, the Preacher tells us plainly that the person who is wise will have their heart in the house of mourning.

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Not Satisfied

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Journal Entry // June 7, 2021

All the toil of man is for his mouth, yet his appetite is not satisfied.

Ecclesiastes 6:7 ESV

Satisfaction… How is it that my toiling and striving and labor results in dissatisfaction? This statement and discussion by the Preacher is entirely spot on with how I have felt about my life over the last many years. I have had this insatiable lust and desire prevalent in my every moment that will not allow me to enjoy the good things of this life. There has been a continual unhappiness with my present state at every point of life.

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True Satisfaction

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Journal Entry // June 7, 2021

All the toil of man is for his mouth, yet his appetite is not satisfied.

Ecclesiastes 6:7 ESV

Satisfaction… How is it that my toiling and striving and labor results in dissatisfaction? This statement and discussion by the Preacher is entirely spot on with how I have felt about my life over the last many years. I have had this insatiable desire prevalent in my every moment that will not allow me to enjoy the good things of this life. There has been a continual unhappiness with my present state at every point of life.

Continue reading “True Satisfaction” →