Ecclesiastes by Scott Risley (2021)

The early years of King Solomon, the wisest man to ever live, were filled with wise decisions worthy accomplishments, his latter years were given over to indulging his every desire. Toward the end of his life he recognized the utter folly of living for one's self and the emptiness of living as if there is no God. All the riches and pleasures of the world are meaningless apart from God. God wants you us to see the futility of pursing anything other than Him.

King Solomon in spite of all his wisdom and wealth found no meaningful satisfaction in any of the pleasures he indulged in. No amount of sex, wine or entertainment satisfied his soul. Solomon realized he tried to enjoy the gifts apart from the Giver. All these pleasures come from the hand of God, but we can't enjoy them unless they are put in their proper place. We can experience pleasure under His loving guidance.

Even though King Solomon was the most accomplished ruler of all time, in the end he found all his accomplishments to be meaningless apart from God. He found that in spite of all his extraordinary accomplishments, he was alone. He was at the top and had no one to share it with. He discovered it was better to have less and a friend to share it with because "two are better off than one, for they can help each other succeed."

Under the sun, or apart from God, life on this earth is enduring the time between birth and death. What if there was a way to overcome death, to get safely from "now" to "eternity"? The eternal Son of God entered "now" to open a way for us to enter eternity and overcome death. When one takes the first step by getting right with God, one can then live with meaning and purpose because one's actions now have eternal significance. One can now enjoy life and live wisely, knowing there is a God. One can now see life from His eternal perspective and look forward to a wonderful afterlife.