The meaning of life

Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man. For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil. – Ecclesiastes 12v13-14

Solomon finally comes to the end to his great quest to find the meaning of life. He has tried it all. He has found no meaning in what we today would call ‘sex, drugs, and rock and roll.’ He has found possessions meaningless. He had found popularity worthless. He has found religion meaningless. The world turns and turns and turns, everything has its season, and yet life is still grasping at the wind.

But he does find meaning at the end. ‘Let us hear the conclusion of this whole matter,’ Solomon writes. What does it all mean? How does Solomon summarise all that he has learned.

‘Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.’

That’s a pretty simply conclusion to such a deep and sometimes confusing search for the meaning of life.

But this is it. Fear God and do what He says. That is the whole duty of man and the only thing that will really matter when everything is done.

This is the whole duty on man. Will we do our duty?