Vanity upon vanity

“And he spoke a parable to them, saying, The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully: And he thought within himself, saying, What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits? And he said, This will I do: I will pull down my barns, and build greater, and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods. And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have much goods laid up for many years; take your ease, eat, drink, and be merry. But God said to him, You fool, this night your soul shall be required of you: then whose shall those things be, which you have provided? So is he that lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God” (Luke 12:16-21).

In reality, everything on earth is vain. You may find it hard to agree but believe me, King Solomon was the wisest man on earth. He had wisdom and wealth beyond measure. All these, combined with his experience in life, made him conclude: All is vanity (Ecc. 1:1-2, 13-17).

The marker for the existence of man is the soul. Thus, effort must be steered towards the things that enrich and nourish the soul. Sadly today, people seek things that will glorify their flesh to the impairment or detriment of their souls.  Mark 8:36 says, What will it profit a man, if he gains the whole world and loses his soul? From this verse, we can understand that the intrinsic nature of man is wholly centred on the soul. Unfortunately, much importance is attached to our comfort here on earth, while we have no reckoning of what befalls our souls in eternity. Our good works for God and man on earth enrich our souls and secure us a future in eternity. That happened to be the implication when a young rich man asked Jesus what he must do to make Heaven. When Jesus said he should give all he had to the poor, he went away sorrowfully (Luke 18:18-25). This rich man’s encounter with Christ tells us that your earthly possessions (money, houses, cars, jewellery) will not secure a place for your soul in eternity. Only your good works will.

All your knowledge, wisdom, and understanding are equal to vanity because all you have on earth lack eternal value. Our major purpose in life is to please our Maker and this can be achieved if we enrich our souls by living a life that pleases God. The body will die but the soul never dies. Our soul lives forever. Where will your soul spend eternity? In Heaven with God, Or in hell, in misery with Satan? Your Life on earth will be meaningless if God and eternity are left out of the picture. If only in this life we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable.