An old rock song revived in the popular CSI television series asks the question, "Who Are You?" Whether it is stated in exactly these words or not, people crave an answer to this question. Not only do we desperately need some basis for self-identity and worth, but we find we also want some way to understand who others are as well.
Most people are content to find answers to "who am I" and "who are you" through job titles, various achievements, personal relationships, ethnic designations, "what I have," or some other means of acquired status or security. But what happens when someone discovers that these foundations he or she has been depending upon to "be somebody" are actually bankrupt and ultimately meaningless? Simply put, that person's world collapses in crisis.
Commentary From the Book of Ecclesiastes
To those who have wrapped up their identity in the temporal garb and rat race of this world, the razor of Ecclesiastes is, from their viewpoint, at best a disturbing message which needs to be quickly ignored and forgotten so that "what it means for my life" can never be allowed to be fully understood. But given the opportunity, the message of Ecclesiastes comes roaring like a locomotive impacting one's life broadside stripping away all of our futile attempts to "be somebody."
After all, if nothing is really new under the sun, if future generations will forget that you have ever lived (and worse yet not even care), if regardless of your abilities and wisdom you end up just as dead as a thief or a bum, then truly everything would appear to be a meaningless illusion and a striving to catch the wind. Ecclesiastes 1:2-11; 14-16; 9:2-6.
For those who are willing to listen, the scriptures repeatedly warn against the danger of believing that by pursuing created things we can acquire meaning and value. Such a belief causes a person to place one's ultimate trust and dependence upon created things, thus giving them undue love and devotion.
The writer of Ecclesiastes understood this point very well. Every effort of humanity to find meaning in this world, or as he puts it "under the sun," is found to be as empty as trying to catch the wind. Furthermore, if someone limits his or her knowledge to the arena of what human wisdom can discover (Ecclesiastes 1:13), the result can be despair (Ecclesiastes 1:17-20), ignorance (Ecclesiastes 3:21) and purposelessness (Ecclesiastes 1:22-23).
The Pursuit of Temporal Things and the Created Order as a Basis of Security and Identity = The Emptiness and Futility of Idolatry
Although Jeremiah was writing against Israel's devotion to specific idols when he wrote, "they followed after worthlessness and became worthless themselves" (Jeremiah 2:5), he was repeating a basic biblical principle regarding idolatry. 2 Kings 17:15; Psalms 135:18; Hosea 9:10 All human efforts to achieve fundamental value and security from within the created world ultimately lead to the empty idolatry of self-centered greed. Colossians 3:5; Ephesians 5:5
Someone might ask, "why is greed idolatry? I thought that idolatry involved bowing down to an idol in some pagan temple." That is one expression of idolatry, but that is not a comprehensive description of it. Whenever a person's devotion and love for God who is to be our Rock, Shield, Fortress and Sustainer is supplanted by the belief that acquiring created things can provide for and sustain us, the natural result is for our actions to become devoted to serving and living for created things rather than for the Creator. But the truth is that humanity can not live by bread alone (created things), rather we are dependent upon God, that is, every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. Matthew 4:4; Deut. 8:3
The Basis for True and Lasting Identity
Do you really want to be somebody? Then base your identity, not upon your job, what you have achieved, etc., but upon our Eternal and Creator God (Ecclesiastes. 12:1, 6, 13-14) as you devote your life to loving Him, not the things of this world. James 4:4; Romans 12:1 After all, since both the invisible things as well as what God does are eternal, your treasure becomes safely tucked away beyond the transitory limitations of this world. Ecclesiastes 3:14; 2 Corinthians 4:18 With death, your identity remains secure instead of drying up and being nothing more than dust blowing in the wind.
The apostle Paul discovered what it meant to love and serve the Lord. He abandoned all of his other sources of confidence and trophy collecting counting them as rubbish, in order that he might gain Christ and attain to the resurrection of the dead. Philippians 3:7-11 This always involves dying to Self and beginning to live for Him who died for us. Luke 9:23-25; Galatians 2:20; 2 Corinthians 5:15
If you were to ask Paul, "who are you?" How would he have responded? Is there any question? His response was "Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ." Romans 1:1; Titus 1:1; Galatians 1:10; Ephesians 3:7; Colossians 1:23,25
So, what about you? Who are you?
Barry Newton, Copyright © 1999 Revised 2006
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