“What’s new?” Sometimes it’s another way to say, “Hello.” At other times it’s a real question – it’s away of asking for a life update; “I’d like to know what’s been going on recently in your life.”

At times that simple question can be hard to answer. “There’s nothing new under the sun;” that’s what Solomon writes in Ecclesiastes 1:9. He says that life is meaningless, a wearisome repetition of patterns and actions that have little deep meaning – “under the sun.”

We all feel this way from time-to-time. We use expressions like, “life on the treadmill,” or “the daily (or weekly) grind.” We may find ourselves in the “same old rut,” and everything seems like “the same old, same old.” When we find ourselves in these seasons, our lives seem to lack luster, purpose and inspiration. We are left going through the motions of life, but experiencing very little taste, reward or hope. At times like this it can be very easy to start believing that there really is “nothing new under the sun.”

The expression “under the sun” is used 28 times in the book of Ecclesiastes, and it is possibly the most important phrase to understanding the point of the book. It refers to natural living apart from God. It is living without hope of God’s revelation and intervention. Life apart from God and His Kingdom is hopeless; life is meaningless under the sun.

God does not intend for you to live a meaningless and hopeless life, however, where there is nothing valuable and new ahead. Amidst terrible destruction and difficulty Jeremiah declared that the compassions and mercies of the Lord are new every morning. (Lamentations 3:23) And in Christ, “the new has come.” (2 Corinthians 5:21) In Him, in relationship with the triune God, all things become as new because everything is infused with the meanings and purposes of God. In Him life is no longer under the sun (bound in an unspiritual, closed universe); life “in the Son” is open to all the resources and interventions of heaven.

Today, don’t allow your life to be trapped under the sun. Consider your life in light of God’s powerfully present Kingdom. Pray into the pressures you are facing, seek God’s counsel and power to persevere with meaning. Live your life in faith, believing that He who sees what is done in the secret place of your heart will reward you. (Matthew 6) Allow God to infuse your life with a sense of value and newness – even in the apparently small and mundane tasks. Let His creativity emerge in fresh ways and new perspectives within you.

With you in everything new,

Pastor Tom
tgriffith@rolcboston.org