Several years ago, I heard the story of Larry Walters, a 33-year-old man who decided he wanted to see his neighborhood from a new perspective. So, he went down to the local army surplus store one morning and bought forty-five used weather balloons. That afternoon he strapped himself into a lawn chair, to which several of his friends tied the now helium-filled balloons. He took along a six-pack of beer, a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, and a BB gun, figuring he could shoot the balloons one at a time when he was ready to land.
Larry, who assumed the balloons would lift him about 100 feet in the air, was caught off guard when the chair soared more than 11,000 feet into the sky — smack into the middle of the air traffic pattern at Los Angeles International Airport. His lawn chair had shot up so quickly on take-off that Larry dropped his BB gun—leaving him to the mercy of helium and wind currents. He stayed airborne for several hours, forcing the airport to shut down its runways for much of the afternoon, causing long delays in flights from across the country. Soon after he was safely grounded and cited by the police, reporters asked him: “Larry why did you do it?” To which Larry replied simply, “Because sometimes you gotta do something—you can’t just sit there.”
Larry Walters was tired of looking at life from the same old vantage point—he wanted to see things from a new perspective. I think a lot of people would like to rise above their empty, unsatisfying lives and gain a new perspective on life—maybe not like Larry, but you get the idea.
Perspective is more important than we often think—a proper perspective of life is vital to living a fruitful life for God as well as a satisfying and meaningful life for ourselves. This is something that King Solomon discovered and wrote about in the Book of Ecclesiastes.
In this Book, King Solomon talks about his perspective of life at different times during his life and how it affected the way he lived his life. One of Solomon’s favorite words in the book is the word, “vanity.” He uses it 38 times—the Hebrew word is “hevel” which means, “emptiness, futility, vapor.” In other words, whatever disappears quickly, leaves nothing behind, and does not satisfy is considered hevel—vanity!
Now you’re not going to properly interpret this book nor understand what God is trying to communicate to you through it if you don’t understand the key phrase that really sheds light on where Solomon is coming from in the book of Ecclesiastes.
And that key phrase is “under the sun.” It occurs 29 times in the book, along with a parallel phrase, “under heaven.” Both of these give us the perspective from which Solomon is writing about life— He is looking at life from a human, earthly perspective, not a heavenly or an eternal perspective.
As you read the book and you listen to Solomon’s pessimistic view of life, keep in mind his perspective—he is examining and evaluating life “under the sun,” “under heaven.” In other words, life lived from an entirely earthly, materialistic perspective—Life without God!
And his conclusion is—“Everything under the sun is meaningless (vanity), like chasing the wind.” (Eccl.1:14)
Any life that is lived for this life only, any philosophy of life which says, “Let’s eat drink and be merry for tomorrow we die,” will lead to a meaningless, empty life.
Solomon finally figured that out after many years of looking for meaning to life in all the wrong places → pleasure → learning → building, etc. (you can read the book for yourself).
Listen to the conclusion he comes to after all of his frantic chasing after happiness and the meaning of life:
Ecclesiastes 2:17, 22-23 (NLT)
So I came to hate life because everything done here under the sun is so troubling. Everything is meaningless—like chasing the wind. So what do people get in this life for all their hard work and anxiety? Their days of labor are filled with pain and grief; even at night their minds cannot rest. It is all meaningless.
So many people are making the same mistake that Solomon made—thinking that more money and material things are going to bring them happiness. Or if their career or business takes off or if they buy a new house or get a new spouse or if they go back to school and earn their B.A. or Masters or PH.D.—that somehow these things will satisfy them and bring meaning to their lives.
Most people aren’t really satisfied or happy in life but they still believe that—with a little more of this or that, they will find true happiness. This is where Solomon had an advantage over them—he had a lot more of everything! But it led him to a point of crisis that few people ever come to—he had it all, he had done it all, he had nothing left to experience, nothing left to look forward to.
He had maxed out life and still he was empty and miserable—and the conclusion he comes to is, “Everything in life is empty and meaningless and vain.”
Everything in life where? →“UNDER THE SUN”→ Life apart from God.
Now at the end of the book, Solomon does explain that when he started to look for the meaning of life “above the sun” he found the answer he was looking for. He sums up the chief goal of life this way—to love God and obey His commandments. Or in other words we will only find meaning to life—when we live for God and not for self.
How important it is for Christians that we look at life from God’s perspective (heavenly, eternal) and not our own earthly perspective.
Colossians 3:1-2 (NKJV)
If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth.
Luke 12:15 (NKJV)
And He said to them, “Take heed and beware of covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses.”
Ephesians 2:4-6 (NKJV)
But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.
As important as the proper perspective is in life—perspective is the result of position. A person positioned and living in the Penthouse of a skyscraper has a whole different perspective of things than does the person who is positioned in and living on the ground floor. The same is true of life in the spiritual realm.
My perspective of life will be determined by where I am living—close to earth or seated with Christ in heavenly places. An earthly perspective of life will lead to a life of materialism, emptiness and vanity because God made us with eternity in our hearts—and living for this life only will only lead to frustration and futility.
But if we will accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior, God will seat us with Jesus in the heavenlies and we will have an eternal perspective of life and therefore we will live for God and not for self. If you keep your eyes on the Lord and see every situation from a heavenly perspective you will have peace and victory in any situation.
Romans 8:28 (NKJV)
And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.
Jeremiah 29:11
For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.
Isaiah 26:3 (NKJV)
You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You.
