Vanity of life is the product of all forms of ungodly practices. Life is made up of actions and it is not an object. Life process your data and gives you your information. If you collate ungodly data then life would process it to vanity. While godly data is always processed to Beauty of Life.

Today’s message would give a sincere meaning related to vanity of life and the perspective of King Solomon to this topic.

Why is vanity a keyword in the book of Ecclesiastes?

It is unfortunate that many depressed people quote this book to justify their suicidal action and all other forms of evil acts. You can’t hate life because king Solomon said he does!

I read Ecclesiastes many times before putting up this message and through the help of the Holy Spirit I would tell you the truth about king Solomon and his book of lamentation (Ecclesiastes).

The book of Ecclesiastes comprises of king Solomon’s personal experience, personal view and personal deduction about life under the sun. God’s input, inspiration or instruction was not in the book, so be careful with the way you handle his expression.

King Solomon described his life to be vanity when he discovered the extent at which he missed God’s presence in his life. The whole book is all about bitter lamentation of an individual!

The book of Ecclesiastes does not have God’s authority to tell you that this life is bound to be meaningless for you. Ecclesiastes was written by a depressed writer!

What Caused King’s Solomon meaningless life?

If you study the context of king Solomon in the book of Ecclesiastes, you would discover that he was full of regrets. He was bitter. He hates everything about himself. The life of the old man was miserable.

He was a happy king in his early days as recorded in the books of the Kings. His expressions in the book of Proverbs was well composed. But why did his life become vanity in his old age?

I searched through the Bible and discovered that towards the end of his life he disobeyed the commandments of the LORD. He lived his life without God’s input and this led to the emptiness of his life. So, he picked up his pen and wrote everything about his empty life (vanity).

“For it was so, when Solomon was old, that his wives turned his heart after other gods; and his heart was not loyal to the LORD his God, as was the heart of his father David.

For Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and after Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites.

Solomon did evil in the sight of the LORD, and did not fully follow the LORD, as did his father David.

Then Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the abomination of Moab, on the hill that is east of Jerusalem, and for Molech the abomination of the people of Ammon.

And he did likewise for all his foreign wives, who burned incense and sacrificed to their gods.

So, the LORD became angry with Solomon, because his heart had turned from the LORD God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice, and had commanded him concerning this thing, that he should not go after other gods; but he did not keep what the LORD had commanded.

Therefore, the LORD said to Solomon, “Because you have done this, and have not kept My covenant and My statutes, which I have commanded you, I will surely tear the kingdom away from you and give it to your servant.

Now the LORD raised up an adversary against Solomon, Hadad the Edomite; he was a descendant of the king in Edom.” (1King 11: 1-14)

My heart is always filled with tears whenever I read the above passage about king Solomon.

8 Ways to Know the Vanity of Life!

The life of a Christian is not vanity because Jesus had come to give us life in abundance and not meaningless as described by king Solomon.

Jesus Christ says: “The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.” (John 10:10)

Vanity of life are all forms of pride celebrated without God’s consent. The following lifestyles are some of the indication of a meaningless life:

1. Life full of Parties

A meaningful life does not spend days or every weekend throwing parties. When you are too frequent at parties, you are likely to lose your godly mind.

2. Award Celebration

Life will go into vanity for any child of God that receives awards from men. Awards makes you feel big (pride) and celebration of pride leads to meaningless of life.

Jesus avoid award celebration when he says: “…Why 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…” (Matthew 19:17)

3. More than One Wife

God gave a template of one man one wife in the Genesis. So, any man with wives or vice versa would run into vanity of life.

“But King Solomon loved many foreign women, as well as the daughter of Pharaoh: women of the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians, and Hittites-from the nations of whom the LORD had said to the children of Israel, “You shall not intermarry with them, nor they with you. Surely they will turn away your hearts after their gods.” Solomon clung to these in love.” (1Kings 11:1-2)

4. Concubines, Co-habit and Extramarital affairs

All these practices are no more abomination in our society. Anyone involved in these would suffer vanity of life.

“Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor reviles, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God.” (1Corinthians 6:9-10)

5. Careless Love for Diversity and Varieties

This kind of love lured king Solomon into idolatry. So, if you are not restricted to the confinement of God’s commandment in the Bible. Your love for knowledge about Catholism, Mormorism, Muslim, or the Dark World, can make you fall into idolatry which is vanity.

6. Disobedience to God’s commandments is vanity

Solomon disobeyed the commandment given to him and he disliked himself when the consequences came on him. So, he suffered vanity of life when everything around him went empty and meaningless.

7. ‘To Fight God’

To seek the transfer of godly Pastor from your church…, to chase away Evangelists from your area…, refusal to help the poor…, removal of Bible from homes or public places and the likes are vanity of life.

“…Solomon therefore sought to kill Jeroboam. But Jeroboam arose and fled to Egypt, to Shishak king of Egypt, and was in Egypt until the death of Solomon.” (1Kings 11: 31-40)

8. Accumulation of Excessive Wealth

This is vexation of the spirit and vanity of life because the wealth is inherited by people who may not appreciate the labour of the rich man.

Your name on the list of the richest people is vanity. So, it is meaningless to have your name attached to hundreds of Estates, fleets of expensive cars or aeroplanes.

But life is not vanity if you share your wealth with the poor.

Listen to Jesus: “If 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.

But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions. Then Jesus said to His disciples, “Assuredly, I say to you that it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven…” (Matthew 19: 21- 24) 

Vanity of life is for the backsliders. Life is not generally meaningless as mentioned by the bitter king Solomon. Neither the Prophets of the LORD nor Jesus Christ told us that life in its originality is vanity.

Life is meaningful if you obey all the instructions of Jesus in the Bible. Life is meaningless when you disobey the rules of the LORD. Life is sweet and interesting! Please don’t give-in to depression or suicidal thoughts. God Bless you!!