Read: Ecclesiastes 1:11-18 & Philippians 3:4-11
No matter your degree, your experience, or your brain power you can’t change anything. There is a reason we have elections every four years for president and a “new” crisis that needs “immediate” attention with every election. We can’t change anything.
That explains Solomon’s frustration in Ecclesiastes. Solomon wrote the book at a time when he was literally considered the wisest man in the world. People would come from thousands of miles to hear his judgments and his decrees. Also during this time, he was probably the richest man on earth. Yet he was so frustrated. No matter how much he worked and no matter how many problems he solved, nothing changed! It was like some sick rendition of Groundhog Day, everything is always the same.
Don’t we feel like that sometimes? No matter how much we work, nothing changes. No matter how much we save, we always need a little more money. No matter how hard we try to point our kids in the right direction, something draws them off course. No matter how much we clean up our act, it feels like we can never get rid of our guilt. Don’t even get me started on trying a new diet.
Paul writes something in direct contrast to modern thinking in the book of Philippians. Our degrees don’t matter, our smarts don’t matter, and our work doesn’t matter. What we really need is a new life in Jesus. Paul understood that it is impossible to “fix” what is broken with our world because you can’t fix what is dead. What we need is resurrection, new life.
That’s the good news of the gospel. Jesus brings us new life. If you are a Christian, you can let go of your own merits and plans, let them die because God has something so much better. If you are not a Christian, you can’t change yourself much less change the world around you. Only by giving your life to Jesus can you experience new, real change.