What’s the Point?

There it is again. That wretched sound that breaks the silence and peace. You just want to ignore it, but it keeps calling out to you. Beckoning you to leave your comfort causing your dreams to dissipate before they are even remembered.

As you belligerently hit alarm clock to silence it’s annoying chirping, you are struck with the thought of the day. Why should I even get out bed? What does this day hold for me? Can’t I just go back to sleep forever.

We all have those days were it seems the best thing to do is never get out of bed. Maybe it’s because of difficulty of classes or an upcoming test. Maybe it’s because you dread encountering the person you recently had a fight with, or the reality that your parents are splitting up, or the last day of a job you thought you’d have forever, or that every time you look in the mirror you are reminded of your huge mistakes.

It leads us to ask the question, “what’s the point?”

The sad truth is we all think we are alone and special asking these questions. The enemy of our souls wants us to think we are unique in our inquiry and that nobody would understand our plight. Yet if we were to turn to a 3,000 year old book we would be surprised to hear a man who has written down many of own thoughts, as if he has crawled inside our head and relates our deepest struggles on paper.

We’ve been going through the book of Ecclesiastes on Sunday mornings and learning of how the wisest man to ever live, aside from Jesus, examines the meaning of life. What is the point indeed? The oldest and most profound question to man.

The truth is there is only two real directions to go in your answers with this question: the pointless life and the fulfilled life.

You may have heard someone say it this way, “Life is hard enough, I can’t imagine going through it without Jesus.” It’s a clue to someone who has found the way to the fulfilled life examining someone who is stuck in the pointless life. However, that person may not realize they are on the path of the pointless life, and so the sentiment comes across as condescending and cold.

But that very sentiment underscores the very truth, that there is a Person that brings sense to the chaos of life. If you have a moment read Ecclesiastes 3:1-14. Here we encounter a truth that God is sovereignly in control of the events and seasons in our lives.

The Pointless Life

If you do not know God this brings no comfort. The list just highlights the mundane cycle of life and the lack of control we have. It goes on and on and then it stops. Done, boring, purposeless.

It reminds you that your work and life pursuit will lead to nothing. Verse 9 asks the question “what do we gain from our toil?” and the answer is NOTHING! All that striving is chasing something that will never last. And when we can’t find meaning and purpose, it leads to hopelessness and bitterness. “What is the point?”

The Fulfilled Life

The pointless life leads to one interpretation, but verse 11 gives us a key to bring in a proper understanding. There is a pattern, a purpose for everything, and God is making it beautiful in its time.

What is the time frame I should expect for my pain to be made beautiful? How can my loss be made beautiful? How is this divorce going to be beautiful? 1 year, 5 years, 20 year? Come, on?

God’s reply is that He has set eternity in our hearts. We are to have an eternal perspective and look beyond our current struggles and losses and look to Him. Only then will we agree with the Apostle Paul when he says, “I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared the to glory which shall be revealed in us” (Romans 8:18).

But to get to that place you have to see beyond just a list here. There is a pattern and a constancy to life. God is moving and shaping in ways we cannot imagine. Good things and bad things happen every day and God doesn’t allow anything to be wasted.

Speaking of time, we see that when God saw that the time was right, He sent fort His Son into our world in order to redeem this world and our time (Galatians 4:4-7).

This cycle that he speaks of in chapter 3 is one that the Son of God entered. He moved into our neighborhood. He experienced the cycle of life and saw the injustice and pain. He knows the cold of night and the feeling of an empty stomach. He knows the sting of betrayal and the agony of death. Yet He has overcome death and offers life.

He brings balance to our life and perspective. He brings ultimate beauty to our lives and gives us blessings to hold on to. When we get our eyes off of our current situation and gain an eternal perspective we let go of our hold to this world and we look forward in anticipation to the next.

Yes, there is still sufferings in this world. Yes, there is injustices all around us. Yet knowing Jesus brings hope, meaning and comfort through trials. And He gives direction on how to ease the suffering and pain of those around us. We are not called to escape this world, but to be His ambassadors in this world.

So don’t just offer up the, “I don’t know how they get through it without Jesus Christ.” Be Jesus to them. Love them. Help them. Comfort them and share Christ with them.

He makes everything beautiful in its time.