Ecclesiastes, if you read it right, is actually a very encouraging book.
no joke.
everything under the sun is meaningless...but...that's only apart from God. God isn't under the sun, he is the son. (hehehe). And he can give happiness. With all other earthly things, we think "ok, if I do this, I'll be happy", or "accomplishing this will be meaningful.", but in the end, we don't believe ourselves.
at my church, the sunday school answers are 'God, bible, Jesus, and the glory of God". if you ever get asked something, you can nearly always answer 'the glory of God', and be ok. But even in such a refreshingly focused church, I think we forget that giving glory to God is NOT our source of happiness. It is God himself, giving himself to us. He is so great and complex, he can literally give us emotion, where all other things are only instruments for us to give emotion to ourselves. another great motto of my church (Bethlehem Baptist, by the way) is "God is most glorified when we are most satisfied in him." see that logic? being satisfied with God is the first thing to do, and glorification will follow after. the westminster shorter catechism states "the chief end of man is to glorify God", but they neglect to tell you how we glorify God.
are you feeling depressed today? ask God for joy. there is no joy apart from God.
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