Recently, I watched a Ted Talk that discussed societies script. The script is societies’ prescription for a happy life. Our current script is to make good grades in school so you can get into a good college. Graduate from a good college so you can get a good job. Get a good job so you can make good money. Then you fall in love, get married, buy a house, and have a family. All the while, you try to save money so you can have a good retirement. All of these things are supposed to lead to happiness. However, the script does not work. People who follow the script get to the end and find it was just an empty promise. As a result, studies show that people are falling into higher rates of depression.
Nothing New
Although we are becoming more aware of this problem, it is not a new problem. Society has always had a script that people follow. If you ask people who followed the script down to a tee, many of them will tell you it was just an empty promise.
Societies’ Script in Bible Times
Solomon, the wisest man in the Bible, followed societies’ script to the letter. He was so distraught over the lack of happiness it brought that he wrote a whole book about it. In Ecclesiastes, Solomon talks about using and gaining everything society told him would bring happiness – he gained wisdom, he used pleasures, he accumulated wealth, he acquired fame, and he accomplished many things. If anyone could be happy through following societies script, it should be Solomon.
Not a Fan
However, Solomon had this to say about societies script:
“I have seen everything that is done under the sun, and behold, all is vanity and a striving after the wind…..What has a man from all the toil and striving of heart with which he toils beneath the sun? For all his days are full of sorrow, and his work is a vexation. Even in the night his heart does not rest. This also is vanity.” (Ecclesiastes 1:14; 2:22-23 ESV).
Solomon confirms that societies’ script comes with an empty promise. Following the script is just grasping at wind – aka grasping at nothing. Solomon definitely does not seem to be a fan of societies’ script.
Shifting the Script
Chasing things like happiness, pleasure, is like chasing the wind. You find yourself continually chasing and always coming up empty. Solomon laments several times that we all face the same end – death. This is why societies script does not work. It causes us to chase after and place our hope in things of this world. We cannot take these things with us, so in the end, we find that we worked for nothing. So, what can we learn from all of this? How can we shift the script?
Follow God’s script
Solomon discovers that God has a script apart from society. Solomon states,
“I know whatever God does, it shall be forever. Nothing can be added to it, and nothing taken away from it.” (Ecclesiastes 3:14 NKJV).
“When we do God’s work, we do work that is eternal.” (click to tweet)
Do works that have eternal weight
Christ gave us the ultimate example of someone who followed God’s script. Christ taught us how to shift our script. In Ephesians 2, Paul reminds Christians they were once caught up in chasing pleasure and doing fruitless works through societies’ script. He further reminds them that Christ called us out of this script. Paul states,
“For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.” (Ephesians 2:10 NKJV).
God gives us a script full of promise. If we choose to walk in his script, we are promised eternal life.
Don’t miss your life.
If we spend our time always pursuing the next best thing, we will come to the end of our lives and find that we missed life. After realizing this, Solomon concluded:
“I perceived that there is nothing better for them (people) than to be joyful and do good as long as they live” (Ecclesiastes 3:12 ESV).
As long as we live, let us resolve to be joyful in every situation. Our time is short. We do not need to waste it being unhappy and discontented.
Make your life a blessing
Let us also not miss the opportunities we have to bless others. As already discussed, we need to do work that has eternal value. In the Bible, the gospel writers record the story of a woman who anointed Jesus head and feet then wiped his feet with her hair. Jesus states that for her act of kindness her story would be told wherever the gospel was preached. Still today, this woman’s story is being told. Because of her kindness, Christ gave her a legacy larger than life. We should also strive to make our legacy one of blessing others.
The conclusion of the whole matter
Solomon ends his book and I will end my blog post with this statement.
“Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God and keep His commandments For this is man’s all” (Ecclesiastes 12:13 NKJV).
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