We’ve been working our way through the book of Ecclesiastes, in which ‘the teacher’, or Qohelet in the Hebrew, has been deconstructing all the different places people look for meaning in life, IF there is no God. Yet even though this book was written close to 3,000 years ago, it’s message is immediately relevant to modern society. Qohelet has looked at humanism, consumerism, hedonism, workaholism and the existence of suffering, with each leading to an utterly meaningless life.
Last week’s sermon then looked at the ever popular principle of individualism; the notion that happiness in life comes from not letting people get too close to us, because they might drain us, judge us or hurt us. This notion is so popular in the west that it has caused the extinction of almost all forms of community in our society. Apart from the local pub or club, the family unit is about all that is left of community living in Australia today, which itself is under threat from the frighteningly high divorce rate.
Qohelet’s message in Eccles 4:7-16 is that as messy as relationships can be, the alternative is a life of loneliness and misery. Even if one is able to enjoy life’s pleasures, such as riches, if they have no one to enjoy them with, their life is lonely and miserable.
The solution: seek out communities of care (or communities of unconditional love) and invest in those communities. This investment requires real self-sacrifice, as we look to ‘the interests of others’ (Phil 2:4), just like Christ did for us.
So whether it is in our marriage, in our workplace, at our local sporting club or pub, or at church, real meaning and happiness in life is found in investing our time, our energy and our money in the people within our communities. Share your life with them, show a genuine interest in their life, listen to their joys and hurts, find ways to care for them, and even ‘invest’ (i.e. ‘give’) your money to these communities. Such communities are there for our benefit. So the more we invest in them, the happier and more fulfilling our lives will be.
