Living For Soul Or Self?

It seems every TV commercial, every sales ad, and every billboard reads “You do what you want” and the famous “Have it your way.” So how are we, as Christians, supposed to live and act in a “me” society? In Ecclesiastes 2, the writer lists things he did to please himself. He gained great possessions and had great herds and flocks of livestock (2:7). He also gathered silver and gold and had the treasures of kings (2:8). He goes on to say, “whatever my eyes desired I did not keep from them,” (2:10). Everything the world tells us we need to be happy, he got for himself. In verse 10, it says his heart found pleasure in all his toil. Then, he sat back and looked at what he had amassed. When the writer had made every dollar, gone on every vacation, and bought everything he could dream of, he looked at his life.

Can you guess what was going through his mind? Was it “I’m so happy with my life” or “I finally have enough to enjoy my life”? When he reflected on his time living for himself, he saw that all of it was vanity. He uses the phrase, “striving after wind.” There was one thing missing in the man’s life. God. Without God, we can get all the stuff and riches of this world and still be empty, lacking purpose. What will it profit a man to gain the whole world and lose his soul, says the writer of Matthew (Matt. 16:26)? God is the reason it is all worth it. If we strive to live a godly life, a life a Christian should live, we should see that the things this world offers are empty promises, but God offers eternal life, joy, and peace. Live for your soul and not for your flesh.