Listen up, little ones
Listen for the words vanity or futility.
Reading
Ecclesiastes 1:1-11 Vanity of Vanities
Keys for kids
- Life is short.
- Then we die.
- So live the life God has given you.
Questions
- How would you define vanity or futility?
- How long will your life be?
- How should you live?
Notes
In this complicated book of Ecclesiastes, the Preacher (likely Solomon, but it’s uncertain) examines life. Life is short. Gibson states that you know what happens when you blow out a candle. How long does the puff of smoke last? You can smell it and see it. It’s very real. But it is also transient, temporary, and vanishes quickly. It comes and goes without a permanent impact or a lasting impression on the world.
For many of us, the older we get, the briefer life seems. “Just yesterday” we were doing this or that—in school, our first job, when we first married, holding our first child. Life is short. Death will be here before we know it. For you are like vapor that appears for a little while, then vanishes (James 4:14 CSB).
If the reality is that life is short and then you die, how then should we live? Gibson suggests that the reality is, we spend our lives trying to escape the constraints of our created condition. Opening our eyes to this is a significant breakthrough. To be human is to be a creature, and to be a creature is to be finite. We are not God. We are not in control, and we will not live forever. … the Preacher is going to show us what we should, and should not, expect out of life. He is not just saying there’s no gain after we’ve chased the wind; he will insist there’s no need for the chase in the first place. There is no gain to be had under the sun, and that’s precisely the point. None need be sought.
Swedish Method questions
Praise
Psalm 121c, 119s
Prayer
- Ask God to help you live your brief life well.
- Pray for the preparation for preaching God’s word this Sunday.
- Pray for a member of our church, for your family, and for a non-Christian friend/family member.