Series: Lost Plot  
Message: Seeking Meaning & Purpose this New Year 
Preacher: David Smith

Refresh: Open with prayer. Read of listen to Psalm 48:1-8.

Read: Ecclesiastes 12 - Re-read in the ESV translation for new insights/questions. 

Reflect:  Yesterday we looked at the way “hebel” can be used to describe the brevity of life. However, another way that we see the word used in Ecclesiastes is to describe the futility and lack of worth of things found in this world. 
Jim Winter in his commentary Opening Up Ecclesiastes on page 15, puts it this way: 

“Many things of this world have a habit of disappointing us. They only flatter to deceive. We may invest our lives pursuing things that at first seem almost priceless, only to discover that we have been wasting our time in pointless activity. It is vanity because such time is irretrievable—lost for ever.” 

This underscores why the author begs his readers to seek their Creator in their youth. There are many things that can captivate our attention and energy, but life has taught the author that most of what we pursue and value is indeed worthless. The call is for us to live in the present in such a way that when we look back on our lives, we don’t live in regret having spent most of our life “chasing after the wind”. 

Recalibrate: 

1. If you could change something about your earlier choices in life, what would it be? 
2. How can you live “in the moment” in a way that honors God today? 

Respond: Pray for resolve to live a meaningful life.

Research: Review the life of Solomon as recorded in 2 Chronicles 1-9.