Life under the Son

"Of course, we do not use the word cool to describe true greatness. It is a small word. That's the point. It's cheap. And it's what millions of young people live for" (John Piper, Don't Waste Your Life).

The writer of Ecclesiastes speaks of "life under the sun"--that is, a world without God. Now whether or not this book has come to us from the hand of king Solomon -- a man blessed with extraordinary wisdom -- or some other prudent character, is not really that important. The indisputable fact remains that the author has demonstrated, in frightfully clear terms, the end result of life without God: meaninglessness.

There's a lot one could say about this. We could examine the relevancy of the the author's experiences to our current lifestyles. We could launch into a chilling description of the sinner's true state of godlessness. We could beg and plead with our fellow Christians to throw off their preocuppation with self and live a life worthy of their calling, to recoil from living a life under the sun without life in the Son.

But what good would it do? Honestly, assuming my experiences are at least relatively close to the norm, how far can such discussion go? Passion fades. Resolve deteriorates. Vision clouds.
When we allow our pleasure to supercede our purpose, how can anything truly great, noble, or good move us?

When we allow our perspective to morph into a Christ-less, self-centered vision, joy cannot last. Without the life of Christ in the soul of man, our world is reduced to a land of missed opportunities and unfulfilled potential; a land of incompletion and imperfection; a land of agravating almosts and disappointing endings. If disappointment is slow in coming, we need only wait a little longer. It's coming. Only the infinite God can fully satisfy.

There's so much more to say. But the writer of ecclesiastes gives a good summary of the correct response to such a potentially meaningless lifestyle: fear God, and keep his commands; remember your creator in the days of your youth.
Such a life cannot be invoked by passionate pleading or clever rhetoric. Only the life of Christ in the soul can produce a life in Christ. And for that, you must go to the cross.