August 24

Ecclesiastes 1-3
2 Thessalonians 2

“Meaningless!” declares the writer of Ecclesiastes as I begin my morning reading, “Everything is meaningless! ... What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun.”  These words were written well over 2,000 years ago, and nothing has changed, has it?  We have new technology that allows us to view almost the entire world at any given time.  Is there any question for which you can’t “Google” an answer?  In fact, I Googled the question of how long ago Ecclesiastes was written.  Yet all of this technology allows us to view a world that is essentially unchanged because human nature is unchanged. 

We have read quite a bit of the Old Testament by now, over half-way through the Year of the Bible.  We have read about wars and jealousy and dirty dealing and sexual sin and murder and heartbreak.  The circumstances of each of these incidences might have been different - the people dressed differently, spoke different languages and had different customs than we do, but their experiences of life and their thoughts and feelings – their humanity, are as familiar to us as the stories we hear on the nightly news. 

When I hear people speak of “the good old days”, I wonder, really, how good were they?  Some areas of life might have been better, but the writer of Ecclesiastes says that a world apart from God is, in fact, meaningless and there is nothing new with humanity.  For every great thing about the good old days, we can find something that wasn’t so great. What do you think?

In 2 Thessalonians 2, Paul writes that he doesn’t want the Thessalonians to become upset thinking they have somehow missed Christ’s return.  Apparently, some people had even sent them letters in Paul’s name telling them this.  What a rotten thing to do.  Going along with the previous theme from Ecclesiastes, nothing is new under the sun – how often have we heard someone today saying something false about Jesus’ return?  Matthew Henry, in his commentary, writes, “False doctrines are like the winds that toss the water to and fro; and they unsettle the minds of men, which are as unstable as water.”  Satan loves for us to get all upset about things like this.  The most important thing to remember is that no matter how many lies are told about the day of Christ’s return, Christ will return and that is the heart of the matter.  I am content to leave the timing in God’s hands.