The Vanity of Created Things

[Wayne Smith]

Whatever is created has an emptiness to it. "Vanity of vanities! All is vanity" (Ecclesiastes 1:2) is what Solomon learned: creation of itself does us neither good nor harm; it is all like a wind. Nothing in creation is suitable for a godly person to feed on for good and happiness. The reason you are disappointed by the things of the world is not because you have nor accumulated enough of them. Rather it is because they are not in proportion to that immortal soul of yours that is capable of appreciating God himself. Many think they are unhappy because they do not have enough of the things of this world, but having more would not satisfy them. They are like a hungry man who tries to swallow the wind and who then thinks he is not satisfied because has not gotten enough of it! "Why do you spend money for what is not bread, and your wages for what does not satisfy?" (Isaiah 55:2). Are you crazy? Riches say "Contentment is not in me"; pleasure says "Contentment is not in me"; all created things say the same. Contentment is higher than that.


An excerpt from: The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment edited and republished by Rob Summers, written by Jeremiah Burroughs, a British divine who wrote in the 17th Century during the British Civil War. Downloaded on my Kindle.

[Thundarstick]

Yep, for every season had its place.

[Boaz]

Thank you Wayne , good and true lesson or advice either one .

[Wayne Smith]

I've always heard this statement from the opposite position - "Every man has a hole that only God can fill" is something I've know since I was a teenager. That anything that is created is equally inadequate is not something I've been taught.

[USMC87]

Amen!

[Blackwater]

Great post, Wayne. I was think about vanity and pride, really two related forms of the same thing, recently. It occurred to me that qhwn man first began to try to worship the God they knew intuitively laid "out there" in the great beyond that we tend to think of the night sky as being, and he constructed idols to focus on, as they represented their conception of God, that the "representation" part somehow got lost in the subsequent processes, and they began to worship the idols themselves. This was a horrible mistake on the part of those who took this route. And it's still a mistake for any of us to "worship" things like money, sex, power, etc. But many who aren't very attentive to all that surrounds them can make this unholy mistake. All the world, and all the cosmos, gives witness to the fact that God is God, and Jesus is His Son. I suspect many just don't want to follow His rules and advice, and rather, seek to achieve their own desires and appetites. Christianity, in the end, is really simple. All we really need to do is examine ALL the evidence, accept Christ, and then trust and obey the rules and advice He has left us. And that's really just about it! All there really is to it. Yes, we need to study His words, and some interpretation is necessery therein. But I really don't think He requires us to be right or "correct" in our every interpretation. With so many people and so many interpretations, which I guess was inevitable given our rather helter skelter nature, I believe that all who sincerely believe in Christ, and trust and try their best to obey Him and his words, will reach Heaven when Christ judges them at the final judgment. Christ seems to have a wonderful (for us) flexibility in accepting all who'll simply come to Him. And I for one am very glad for this, too! It has taken me a very long time, most of my now pretty long life, to understand that the most important things after we accept Christ is that we do our dead level best to trust and obey Him and His words. He seems to not even require that we get it right all the time! What a wonderful Savior we have! How immaculate is His love for us, and how forgiving He is with us. "God is love," the scriptures say, and I believe it. Some think when they're going through hard times and trials, that they're being punished. But I've come to believe that it's not God doing the punishing. It's just the simple and inevitable result of our sins finding us, and doing what sin always does - making us unhappy, unhealthy, and what not. God's love is so great, I sincerely doubt that any of us, with our terrestrial brains and the limits of our brains, CAN really conceive of just how immaculate and complete God's love really is for us. "Greater love hath no man than that he lay down his live for another." And look what Christ, the son of the living God, did for each one of us! It's really beyond my complete understanding, how perfect His love really is for us. I am humbled by it, though, and rightfully so. All praise be to our God and His Son! We wouldn't even have ever existed if it weren't for them and their eternal Love! Who would not be humbled by all this????

[GhostHawk]

Material goods will never create true happiness or even satisfaction long term.

Only love can do that and Gods love is so much greater. It will fill you to overflowing.
And doing good works in his name will give you a glow that can not be found anywhere else.

[Blackwater]

Ghost, your response brought to mind a wonderful lady who came to my church when another broke up. I told her once that I knew she was a Christian the first time I laid eyes on her. Her eyebrows hit her hairline, and she asked me rather pointedly how I could know something like that. I just smiled and said that it was the way she carried herself - obviously without concern for anything that might come to her, and the only thing that can do that is faith in the Lord; and by the expression on her face, that reflected no expectations, and tended strongly to indicate she was just looking for another way to be of service to someone and the Lord; and by the pace and nature of her walk - unhurried, lacking totally in anxiety like we so often see today, and measured in each step; and obviously she was deep in thought and meditation, even just walking along in the hospital. She is 80 now, and recently went through chemo for cancer. But she is and I think likely will always be, a picture of stregth, of faith, and commitment. She was born with a heart valve problem, and her parents were told she wouldn't likely live to finish high school. Her mom prayed nightly and earnestly for her, and she could hear her mom as she beseeched the Lord on her behalf. So .... now she's 80, and is yet another example of why docs may know a lot now, they can never override what our Lord decrees. She's lived more than 60 years now, almost purely on Grace alone. She is the finest role model I have ever known, and that's important, especially to our young members and those she meets outside the church. She's as fine an example to follow as any adult could find. I know she's inspired me. God bless this wonderful and Godly woman! When her time is up, she will be missed, and she will leave a big hole in a lot of lives that I can't imagine anyone else filling. You will never find a more humble nor a more self-assured person anywhere. She knows Christ walks right beside her, and that she is mortal, and one day will get to go home. Until then, she is determined to serve the Lord in any way she can. What could be more inspiring than that? I know we've collectively become pretty callous, but even most callous folks are touched by a woman like this. God bless her, and keep her. Amen.

[Wayne Smith]

I was informed of the true author of the piece and added it to my original post.