All of us live for purpose, which according to some writers is a struggle when people retire, because what they had for a purpose, a vocation or a career has now stopped and they struggle with how to live. This was pointed out in the movie, “The Intern”, where Robert De Niro’s character struggled with purpose after retiring and led him back to work as an intern in a start up company. King Solomon the wealthy, wise and illustrious king of ancient Israel struggled with the same issue of purpose in life. He sought it in many forms: the acquisition of wisdom, plunging into self-indulgence, the pursuit of knowledge, the vanity of vocation and the accumulation of wealth and honor all left him with emptiness. All Solomon could offer to mankind was to fear and remember God, while rejoicing in the work God gave to do.
As wise as Solomon was, even his solution to the purpose of life, seems rather hollow. Modern man also struggles with the same issues. Many seek the same things Solomon found lacking, others turn to ideologies religious and otherwise. In the last several centuries, some dedicated themselves to ideologies and social issues seeking to make the world a better place, but often those pursuits led to conflicts as one ideology fought with another. The pursuit of “making the world a better place” often leads to fatigue and disillusionment, because the goal never seems to be attained. There is always more that could be done while society’s problems remain, even with technological advances that make life more comfortable.
So what is the answer? One man took a very different approach, while everyone else in modern society teaches to do more, to work more efficiently, to be more productive in order to accomplish more, Jesus offers a different way. After Jesus made a startling claim, one that no other man has made; he alone truly knows God the Father. Then Jesus declared to his followers to come to him all who labor and are heavy-laden and he will give them rest. Coming to Jesus, they are to take up his yoke and learn from him, because he is gentle and humble. In this way, they will find what nothing else, not even Solomon or the pursuit of ideologies can offer, rest for their souls (See Matthew 11:25-30). Through Jesus we learn that the purpose in life is not necessarily to make the world a better place, but to learn to know God, who is the only one who truly knows how to make the world a better place. Through Jesus, not only does the world become a better place, but those coming to know God through him also find true and complete rest.
David Freitag 