Life Pursuits

"I said to myself, "I know more and I'm wiser than anyone before me in Jerusalem. I've stockpiled wisdom and knowledge." What I've finally concluded is that so-called wisdom and knowledge are mindless and witless—nothing but spitting into the wind. Much learning earns you much trouble. The more you know, the more you hurt." Ecclesiastes 1:16-18 (The Message)

I began to understand a flaw in the reasoning of people who are scholars and learned individuals in this life. I would say that about 70% of people who have a mantle of advanced degrees, don't believe in anything. Why? Because their pursuit of knowledge births a cause to every effect. Faith plays a trivial role in life for them because it doesn't explain anything with logic.

Solomon's wisdom drove him to the pursuit of unprecedented knowledge. Part of this knowledge led him astray as he satiated himself with every pleasure life could offer. He'd later write, "I looked most carefully into everything, searched out all that is done on this earth. And let me tell you, there's not much to write home about. God hasn't made it easy for us. I've seen it all and it's nothing but smoke—smoke, and spitting into the wind." (Ecclesiastes 1:13-14)

How is it possible that a life of constant pleasure could turn out as a meaningless pursuit? Easy. God was not there. The world tries to tell us that the more we satisfy our selfish desires the better we'll feel but that's not at all true. The most contented people are the people who have adopted the unselfish lifestyle that is saturated with faith in what cannot be explained (what I call the anti-Solomon approach). It totally runs counter to human logic and knowledge, but that's what Jesus came into this world to do. Jesus said, "In them indeed is the process of fulfillment of the prophecy of Isaiah, which says: You shall indeed hear and hear but never grasp and understand; and you shall indeed look and look but never see and perceive." Matthew 13:14 (Amplified) Don't let the pursuit of pleasure and knowledge get in the way of finding Jesus.