“Meaningless! Meaningless! - Everything is meaningless” (Ecclesiastes 1:2)*. And this is a good thing.
What are the chances that everything we believe is correct? They're probably very low. Most of us are not impressive scholars, experts in various cultures, or peer-reviewed researchers. Chances are, most of our opinions are incorrect, or at least, incomplete. So why do we care so much about our own opinions? Why does it make us so angry when someone disagrees with our stance on a particular issue? We place too much value on fruitless thoughts.
Honestly, what does holding an opinion on every aspect of life and pop culture add to the world? It seems that everyone has a strong opinion on nearly everything. Of course, throughout history there are plenty of people that fought for justice, and they were obviously very opinionated. But, chances are you and I are not the next Martin Luther King, Gandhi, or George Newman attempting to save Channel 62. It should be a massive relief that none of our opinions really matter; the world’s morality and politics is not dependent on us.
A while back, I spent a few months working as a chaplain in a nursing home. Many of the residents I met had dementia, and they would often tell me the same stories again, and again. For the most part, they were very beautiful and sentimental stories. Usually revolving around their spouse and those most dear to them. I believe the stories they repeated were simply the things they thought about most; what they devoted the most “brain power” to.
I try to imagine what I will be like if I were to have dementia and tell the same 2 or 3 stories on repeat. I desperately hope they will be stories about how I met my wife, how I loved my children, and how God has blessed me. Let's be mindful about how much brain space we are devoting to thoughts, arguments, and ideas that may be meaningless.
Of course there must be something in this world that is worth having an opinion about. If the issue is important enough to hold a strong opinion about, it should be necessary to also take real action on the issue. This is where we realize that even if we were right about everything, we cannot actually take meaningful action on every position we hold. Therefore it is not helpful to dedicate thought toward something we cannot change.
For most of us, we are called to a pretty normal life. A life that will probably be forgotten within a few generations, and that’s a good thing. Our beliefs, thoughts, and even this blog will be forgotten *gasp*. So we need not worry about these things. This doesn’t mean our choices are futile, rather it makes our lives and choices that much more important, because we have very little time. Being a good friend, spouse, parent, student of prayer, etc. will have infinitely more impact in the world than any amount of “hard hitting truth” we share online.
Perhaps we should live in fear of accidentally soaking our minds in too many meaningless debates, ideologies, and politics. In fear that this will lead to us spending our final years on earth miserable and lonely because no one wants to listen to us yammer on about some ancient social issues and politics that have ceased to matter.
Everything is meaningless
*Meaningless is more accurately translated as vanity, implying that all things apart from God are done in vain, or meaningless. It’s the same message but meaningless just sounds better.
Check out the Clearance Rack and see the ideas that didn't make the cut:
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