Living for Fame is Vanity – Ecclesiastes 2:12-17
12 So I turned to consider wisdom, madness and folly; for what will the man do who will come after the king except what has already been done? 13 And I saw that wisdom excels folly as light excels darkness. 14 The wise man’s eyes are in his head, but the fool walks in darkness. And yet I know that one fate befalls them both. 15 Then I said to myself, “As is the fate of the fool, it will also befall me. Why then have I been extremely wise?” So I said to myself, “This too is vanity.” 16 For there is no lasting remembrance of the wise man as with the fool, inasmuch as in the coming days all will be forgotten. And how the wise man and the fool alike die! 17 So I hated life, for the work which had been done under the sun was grievous to me; because everything is futility and striving after wind.
Solomon feels like there is nothing he can add to this world, that everything has already been done. He knows that wisdom is better than foolishness yet he is distressed because both lives end in death. Even further, after death he will be forgotten, just like the man who lived foolish.
Where is Solomon off here?
- Does God have a specific work He wants to do through you?
- Yes. Eph. 2:10 states, “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.” God has a unique purpose He desires to accomplish through you. (cf. John 17:4; 1 Co. 12:7-11)
- Do the believer and the unbeliever experience the same death?
- No. Believers live and die credited with righteousness and are promised to be raised unto eternal life. Our lives do not end in death and death actually gives meaning to our lives. As General Maximus from the movie Braveheart proclaimed, “What we do in life, echoes in eternity.” (cf. Gen. 15:6; 1 Thess. 4:13-18; 1 Co. 15:12-19)
- Should we hate life because we might be forgotten?
- No. Our lives are not about our fame but about God, His story, and His fame. Our purpose is to make Him more famous (Acts 1:8).
- Our lives have meaning as they build the kingdom and impact others to do the same. This is our legacy, not for us to be famous and remembered but for God to be famous and remembered by our lives.
Living for personal fame is vanity. Living for the glory of God is LIFE.
