Is Vanity Everywhere?
Good Morning Friends,
Every morning, well almost every morning, I get up in the silence to prayerfully consider, with a bit of self-examination, my life in the light of scripture. And typically I will ponder a question about my will and priorities that prompts me to at least consider living a little different. I have found that there are always areas of our lives that we need to navigate with greater skill to avoid the path of greed, vanity and ego. The Wisdom Literature and Beatitudes are always a good place to find a little humble pie and to draw inspiration from the light of the path that brings us the fullness of life. But even with a daily walk with Jesus vanity is difficult to avoid. Is Vanity Everywhere?
Scripture: He composed three thousand proverbs, and his songs numbered a thousand and five. He would speak of trees, from the cedar that is in the Lebanon to the hyssop that grows in the wall; he would speak of animals, and birds, and reptiles, and fish. People came from all the nations to hear the Wisdom of Solomon; they came from all the kings of the earth who had heard of his wisdom.
I Kings 4:32-34 (NRSV)
Do not forsake her, and she will keep you; love her, and she will guard you. The beginning of wisdom is this: Get wisdom, and whatever else you get, get insight. Prize her highly, and she will exalt you; she will honor you if you embrace her.
Proverbs 4:6-8 (NRSV)
Vanity of vanities, says the Teacher, vanity of vanities! All is vanity.
Ecclesiastes 1:2 (NRSV)
Then I said to myself, “What happens to the fool will happen to me also; why then have I been so very wise?” And I said to myself that this also is vanity.
Ecclesiastes 2:15 (NRSV)
so I am allotted months of emptiness, and nights of misery are apportioned to me.
Job 7:3 (NRSV)
But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation.
Luke 6:24 (NRSV)
A mortal, born of woman, few of days and full of trouble,
Job 14:1 (NRSV)
He is the source of your life in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification and redemption,
I Corinthians 1:30 (NRSV)
Message: Down through the ages, knowledge and wisdom have been highly prized by civilized people. And the mark of wisdom, for many people, has been the number of books they possessed. I am writing this devotional surrounded by books. But Solomon’s wisdom wasn’t measured by the number of books he owned. His wisdom was measured by how much he wrote… and how much he knew.
And so when we think of Solomon we think of wisdom. Solomon asked God for wisdom and wisdom is what he told his son to get in the Proverbs. But when we put our mind to the text from Ecclesiastes, we read that chasing after wisdom brings us sorrow and grief and is a kind of madness and folly.
So… what’s going on here?
Solomon tries to convince his son of the value of wisdom in one book (Proverbs) and then turn around in Ecclesiastes and tells us how worthless wisdom is. And then Jesus tells us that it is woe to the rich in the Beatitudes. Everything is turned upside down. So, no it is not crazy. Here is the deal. There is the world’s wisdom and then there is God’s wisdom. There are man’s riches and then there are heavenly riches. And the only place one can get heavenly wisdom and richness is from Jesus of course.
Friends, if being so smart and wealthy is the final answer then Solomon would not have told us that his wisdom ended up being empty and disappointing. You see, it is not what we do as individuals that counts in building up the best image of ourselves but what we do with Christ. Real success is not a measure of our intelligence but our emotions balanced in Christ’s love. Worldly wisdom has all kinds of short term benefits but we are called to a higher standard of integrity and honor. Wisdom without God is vain and empty. Consider for a moment if you were told you had but a short time to live. Would you change the way you live? Wisdom has a great many advantages. But without God there is little to protect us from the despair and the fears of life… and from the fear of death. Even the wisest man faces sorrow and despair. Even the wisest men die! This world can be harsh and cruel and unfair. Friends, wisdom without God is not only boring, it is deadly. Vanity is everywhere God is not. And no amount of earthly wisdom can stop that from happening. But what gives us our advantage as Christians is the Wisdom of God that we received by the power of the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Pray our attachment to riches and things not become idolatry. Pray we not be prideful. Pray we realize that we have all that we need in God. Pray we learn the value of being humble. Pray we gain the capacity to go deeper and to understand the greatness of God. Pray we gain the wisdom of God to deal with our despair, and the wisdom to deal with our fear of death. Pray we find Wisdom in Jesus. Pray we learn to trust God. Pray we open the door to meekness and walk through it with the attitude of Jesus.
Blessings,
John Lawson
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