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For nearly as long as humans have walked the earth they have been searching for the purpose of life and striving to give their lives purpose. Almost everywhere we look we can see cities, companies, and buildings named after people who wanted some part of themselves to go on living long after they were gone. Many of mankind’s greatest achievements and vilest atrocities came about because people were seeking to make their lives mean something. Scores of religions and hundreds of philosophies have been developed to answer one question.

“Why am I here?”

King Solomon’s search for the answer to this question is quite enlightening. At the height of his reign he had everything: gold and glory, fame and fortune, wisdom, women, and wealth. Here are his own words.

“I also owned more herds and flocks than anyone in Jerusalem before me. I amassed silver and gold for myself, and the treasure of kings and provinces. I acquired male and female singers, and a harem as well—the delights of a man’s heart. I became greater by far than anyone in Jerusalem before me. In all this my wisdom stayed with me. I denied myself nothing my eyes desired; I refused my heart no pleasure. My heart took delight in all my labor, and this was the reward for all my toil” (Ecclesiastes 2:7-10).

Surely then Solomon was happy, satisfied, and fulfilled, right? Not exactly.

“Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done and what I had toiled to achieve, everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind; nothing was gained under the sun. So I hated life, because the work that is done under the sun was grievous to me. All of it is meaningless, a chasing after the wind. I hated all the things I had toiled for under the sun, because I must leave them to the one who comes after me” (Ecclesiastes 2:11,17,18).

Solomon discovered that there is a hunger in the human heart that no amount of money, fame, knowledge, or human love can ever satisfy; a hunger given to us by our Creator, a hunger to know God and be known by Him. In Solomon’s own words: “All has been heard; the end of the matter is: Fear God [revere and worship Him, knowing that He is] and keep His commandments, for this is the whole of man [the full, original purpose of his creation, the object of God’s providence, the root of character, the foundation of all happiness, the adjustment to all inharmonious circumstances and conditions under the sun] and the whole [duty] for every man” (Ecclesiastes 12:13, The Amplified Bible).

The first step toward knowing God is believing on His son Jesus Christ.

“Jesus answered, ‘I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me’” (John 14:6).

“…I [Jesus] have come that they may have life, and have it to the full” (John 10:10).

“If you declare with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved” (Romans 10:9).

Perhaps you, like Solomon, have been looking for meaning in all the wrong places and have come up empty and disappointed. Perhaps somewhere deep inside you know that there has to be something more. If you want to know more about fulfilling the purpose you were created for please contact me or get involved in a local fellowship of Christian believers.

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