MEANINGLESS

I love old cemeteries. I'm not sure why, but ever since I can remember, I have been fascinated by them. I know it's odd, but I find it sobering and thought provoking to walk slowly through an old cemetery, reading the inscriptions on the gravestones. The oldest cemetery I have encountered is in Georgetown, South Carolina where some of the graves date back to the 1700's.



Although it's been many years since the last time I was there, I remember that most of the gravestones there bore a basic epitaph: a name, year of birth, and year of death. That's it. Nothing more. Many of them were barely legible, showing the effects of time and weather. It was not at all unusual to encounter graves of people who only lived forty or fifty years, as life expectancies were so much shorter then. Occasionally I came across the graves of husband and wife next to each other. That made me pause and think about my own marriage, and the blessing of a good wife. Some of the gravestones were very tiny. These were the children, who never made it past infancy. This made me sad, and thankful for the joys of raising our own children.


Among the basic gravestones, there were those which are a bit "fancier". Some had short poems, or a reference to a person's military service or contribution to society. Some had a brief sentiment etched in the stone. One thing I never encountered in that old cemetery in Georgetown is anything with an ounce of humor. Like the following actual epitaphs:


"Here lies old Fred. A Great Big Rock Fell on His Head.: R.I.P."


"WILLIAM H HAHN Jr. 1905 - 1980 I TOLD YOU I WAS SICK"


"Here lies my wife: Here let her lie! Now she's at rest. And so am I."


"Here Lies Mary Smith Silent At Last"


I have never encountered a humorous gravestone, and I doubt that I will ever encounter one that has this as the epitaph either: "MEANINGLESS!" Can you imagine walking through a cemetery and finding a gravestone that reads "John Smith 1940 - 2012 HIS LIFE WAS MEANINGLESS!"? "Poor John Smith", you say. "He must have lived a pathetic life." Imagine that you walk a bit further, where you find a gravestone with YOUR NAME, your year of birth, a blank for your year of death, and the inscription " HIS LIFE WAS MEANINGLESS!"


Your Name 1950 - _____. HIS LIFE WAS MEANINGLESS!


Your mind begins to race, and your thoughts run from "How did this get here?" and "Who would/could have done this?" to a quick summation of all that you have done in your life that is good and meaningful. You find yourself talking out loud, as though debating with that piece of stone that dares to call your life meaningless. "What about...?", you say. "What about my success in business, the children I raised, all the money I have given to churches and charities, my volunteer work? What about...? What about? What about...? " The gravestone stands silent and unchanged. Beginning to feel a bit silly, standing alone in a cemetery, talking to a gravestone, you walk around to the back of the stone. There you find one word: "ECCLESIASTES" Imagine that!


The book of Ecclesiastes begins with these words:


The words of the Teacher, son of David, king in Jerusalem: “Meaningless! Meaningless!” says the Teacher. “Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless.”


Other versions read:


The words of the Preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem. "Vanity of vanities," says the Preacher, "Vanity of vanities ! All is vanity."


The word translated "vanity" means "breath, or vapor". Walk outside on a cold winter day and exhale. You can see the vapor of your breath in the air. In a very brief moment it is gone - and the world around you is unchanged. It's as though it had never been there. Meaningless.


When I was a young believer, I found Ecclesiastes discouraging and depressing. A few decades later, I see more of the true perspective shared in Solomon's divinely inspired words. The basic message of Ecclesiastes is that all of life is meaningless - useless, follow, futile - if it is not rightly related to God.


Over the past few weeks I read Ecclesiastes again. Here are just a few truth claims that really stood out to me:


• Anything done without God is ultimately meaningless.

• Life not centered on God has no purpose.

• Apart from God, man's wisdom is faulty, and leads to grief and despair. (Ecc.1:18)

• All the accomplishments - the "successes" - of a person's life are by themselves meaningless. Only that which is done with God at the center has any worth or meaning. (Ecc.2:11)

• Work is meaningless unless submitted to God and done for him. (Ecc.2:17)

• God is in heaven - the sovereign ruler. I am on earth - his subject. I must stand in awe of him, and listen. (Ecc.5:2)


There is much wisdom available to us in Ecclesiastes, and I encourage you to read it for yourself. Perhaps you, like me, will find it to be a much needed reminder of how we are to live.


May it be so...


John


Soli Deo Gloria