{"id":7360,"date":"2023-11-29T08:21:15","date_gmt":"2023-11-29T08:21:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/eotcmk.org\/e\/?p=7360"},"modified":"2024-01-10T08:04:22","modified_gmt":"2024-01-10T08:04:22","slug":"all-is-vanity-ecclesiastes-12","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/eotcmk.org\/e\/all-is-vanity-ecclesiastes-12\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cAll is vanity\u201d (Ecclesiastes 1:2)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cAll is vanity\u201d (Ecclesiastes 1:2)<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Wise King Solomon described what yield has a man of all his labor which he takes under the sun. He said \u201call is vanity\u201d from what he learned in life. He exceeded all men in wisdom, sage, wealth, and power. (1 kings 4:29-30). He saw everything but he knew everything was temporary. The writing starts saying \u201cthe word of the preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem\u201d then \u201cVanity of vanities, say the preacher, vanity of vanities; all is vanity.\u201d (Ecclesiastes 1:1-2)<\/p>\n

The reason Wise Solomon said this was after he looked all that is under the sun, he couldn\u2019t find anything that made him happy nor anything that gave him eternal rest. He did not find delight other than God. The world\u2019s wealth, power, wisdom and sage didn\u2019t give him rest, in fact they were like guttation which appeared in the morning and disappeared in the afternoon. All things he had hopes on became hollow. Having a lot of concubines and wives did not give him happiness.<\/p>\n

The Wise Solomon understood what the world is all about and said it is vain. So he knew there was nothing we could count on in this world said \u201call is vanity.\u201d Pride is in the reliance in God. The Prophet Jeremiah said \u201cThus said the Lord, let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches\u201d in his prophecy. Jeremiah (9:23)<\/p>\n

The light of the world Saint Paul added to this taught saying \u201cThat no flesh should glory in his presence. But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and satisfaction, and redemption. That according as it is written, He that glory, let him glory in the lord.\u201d (1 Corinthians 1: 29-31)<\/p>\n

The world\u2019s wealth, wisdom or sage as the owner of all the savior of the world Lord and Savior Jesus Christ told we are like the flowers of the desert. The flowers in the desert bloom in their season, the appear very attractive. But they are not boastful so they give the seed which will be there replacement. Our lord Jesus said \u201cAnd why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they toil not, neither do they spin, and yet I say to you, that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.\u201d (Matthew 6: 28-29)<\/p>\n

Humans should take lessons from flowers and understand that the world\u2019s beauty, sage, power and wisdom are fleeing, what is better is to do works that are eternal by using the temporary wealth and power and the fading youth. The savior of the world Christ said in the gospel \u201cFor what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lost his soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?\u201d (Mattew 16: 26). So if this world\u2019s wisdom, sage, power and wealth depart us from the Lord it is vain. If the Lord is not in it, it is like following the wind. You could follow the wind but you will never reach it, you won\u2019t get a hold of it. What the attractive in the world doesn\u2019t give rest or happiness. If we ask why it is because God is not in and he is not praised with in them.<\/p>\n

It is important to mention story of the young in Matthew\u2019s Gospel Chapter 19 verse 16-19. \u201cNow behold, one came and said to Him, \u201cGood Teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life?\u201d So He said to him, \u201cWhy do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God. But if you want to enter into life, keep the commandments.\u201d He said to Him, \u201cWhich ones?\u201d<\/p>\n

Jesus said, \u201c\u2018You shall not murder,\u2019 \u2018You shall not commit adultery,\u2019 \u2018You shall not steal,\u2019 \u2018You shall not bear false witness,\u2019 \u2018Honor your father and your mother,\u2019 and, \u2018You shall love your neighbor as yourself.\u201d
\nThe young man said to Him, \u201cAll these things I have kept from my youth.<\/p>\n

What do I still lack?\u201d Jesus said to him, \u201cIf you want to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.\u201d But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.<\/p>\n

Then Jesus said to His disciples, \u201cAssuredly, I say to you that it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. And again I say to you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.<\/p>\n

These words of our Lord clearly indicates wealth is surely not important for the life of us in spirituality. He has told the man, who is also young and rich is to leave everything and even donate his money to the poor and follow Him. These two vital notions about wealth and youth hood are to be realized and keep in heart of only our good virtue of righteousness could inherit us Kingdom of Heaven but not fame, money or power that we might have during our youth-hood.<\/p>\n

Dear Brethren! Lets be valuable and rich in heart. All these worldly longings we urge to obtain are worthless and vain for us Christians. They are flaws in our spiritualty hindering our ways in enriching God\u2019s Kingdom. It is what keep us apart from our Lord and realize His work of salvation. We are not to be able to repent, baptize and take part in the Holy Communion if we are sinful and live vanity life. We shall wake up and realize all is vain and realize to be redeemed.<\/p>\n

May God grant us mercy and be our guide in life, Amen!<\/p>\n<\/div><\/section>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Wise King Solomon described what yield has a man of all his labor which he takes under the sun. He said \u201call is vanity\u201d from what he learned in life. He exceeded all men in wisdom, sage, wealth, and power. (1 kings 4:29-30). He saw everything but he knew everything was temporary. The writing starts saying \u201cthe word of the preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem\u201d then \u201cVanity of vanities, say the preacher, vanity of vanities; all is vanity.\u201d (Ecclesiastes 1:1-2)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[45],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7360","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/eotcmk.org\/e\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7360"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/eotcmk.org\/e\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/eotcmk.org\/e\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eotcmk.org\/e\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eotcmk.org\/e\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7360"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/eotcmk.org\/e\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7360\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7473,"href":"https:\/\/eotcmk.org\/e\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7360\/revisions\/7473"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/eotcmk.org\/e\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7360"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eotcmk.org\/e\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7360"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eotcmk.org\/e\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7360"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}