WHAT ARE YOU WORKING SO HARD FOR?

Ecclesiastes 1:16-18

¹⁶ I said in my heart, “I have become great, increasing my wisdom, surpassing all who were over Jerusalem before me, and my heart has experienced tremendous wisdom and knowledge.” ¹⁷ And I applied my heart to understand wisdom and to understand madness and folly. I discovered that this effort is also only a striving after wind. ¹⁸ Because with lots of wisdom comes lots of aggravation, and someone who increases his knowledge increases his suffering.

lots of aggravation

Young person, do you want to be successful? Don’t think that learning a lot or accomplishing a lot is going to make you happy. The collector has been there, and he can tell you that it will not happen. He learned all there was to learn. He accomplished more than anyone before him. All it got him was aggravation and suffering.

It was only later in life that this old man discovered that he had been doing many right things for wrong motives. All of his pursuits were for self, not God. His expectations destroyed his accomplishments. If he had sought the kingdom of God first, then he could have had both success and satisfaction.

LORD, we pray for all those young people who are just getting started with their life’s pursuits. Give them the wisdom to put your kingdom first, and the ability to have success and enjoy it.