Chasing After God
I recently read that someone said, If we chased after Jesus as hard as we chase after the things we think we need, we would end up with more than we need.
This bit of wisdom resounded in my heart as I read it.
It is so easy to get caught up in the things of this world — the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life — but what does it get us? As we obtain the things we seek after so diligently, the things we thought we needed so badly, we find over and over that those things do not satisfy.
As I contemplated this truth, I was reminded of Solomon, son of David. King Solomon had it all, and he had it in abundance — riches, servants, sumptuous foods, wine, women. Anything and everything his heart desired could be acquired with ease, for he was the richest man in the world. There was nothing beyond his reach. Yet it did not make him happy.
With all his wealth and power, Solomon turned away from God, and did not love or serve God like his father David did. He began to indulge in the things of this world, and in so doing, he lost his joy. He says repeatedly throughout the Book of Ecclesiastes that his life was empty and meaningless. “And whatsoever mine eyes desired I kept not from them, I withheld not my heart from any joy; for my heart rejoiced in all my labour: and this was my portion of all my labour. Then I looked on all the works that my hands had wrought, and on the labour that I had laboured to do: and behold, all was vanity and vexation of spirit, and there was no profit under the sun.” Ecclesiastes 2:10-11
“Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities; all is vanity.” Ecclesiastes 1:2.
Why is it the things we think we need so badly never satisfy us once we have them? We have read
of other people in modern times who reached zenith heights and yet were not truly satisfied.
Dear reader, are you one of those people? Are you chasing after the things you think you need, or are you chasing after Jesus?
The saying is true — if we chase after Jesus as hard as we chase after the things we think we need, we will indeed end up with more than we need.
At the end of Ecclesiastes, after twelve chapters of lamenting the fact that nothing in this world can ever really satisfy the soul, Solomon comes to a profound conclusion . . . “Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man. For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.” Ecclesiastes 12:13-14
So . . . let’s chase after Jesus, and leave everything to Him. In the end we will have more than
enough. For Jesus came that we might have life, and that we might have it more abundantly.
