Both of these biblical texts, so different at first glance, reflect a single understanding of life. The foundation of the understanding of life in Ecclesiastes is, perhaps, that within the framework of earthly life everything that seems valuable and significant to man is, in fact, vanity and a chasing after the wind...
Both of these biblical texts, so different at first glance, reflect a single understanding of life.
The foundation of the understanding of life in Ecclesiastes is, perhaps, that within the framework of earthly life everything that seems valuable and significant to man is, in fact, vanity and a chasing after the wind. Ecclesiastes seeks and finds nothing on earth to which the heart should be attached, which could become a source of happiness, a source of life for man. Even wisdom and moderation, so valued by the ancients, give us nothing but privation, even voluntary privation. Only in God does Ecclesiastes hope to find meaning; but God remains incomprehensible and distant to him. To draw near to Him is hardly possible for man.
The understanding of life in Ecclesiastes is colored by inescapable sorrow, because in this life he sees suffering and emptiness behind everything. The book ends with an unspoken hope for "that day" when the sun and stars will grow dim, and this earthly world will come to its end. The "Day of the Lord," the "Day of Judgment," as the great prophets of the Old Testament called it, may perhaps give man some understanding of the meaning of existence. But the light of this hope is hidden from Ecclesiastes; written in the period between the return from the Babylonian captivity and the coming of Christ, this book sums up the hopeless, joyless, and meaningless existence of man before Christ. The sorrow of Ecclesiastes is such that nothing earthly can quench it, and in this lies the greatest realism of this book.
The fundamental meaning of the understanding of life behind the words of the Lord Jesus Christ in the Sermon on the Mount is that only God Himself can be the answer to all our questions. The only thing that can be the purpose and meaning of human life is God Himself. Not something proceeding from Him, not earthly life in itself, nor even eternity can quench the thirst resounding in the words of Ecclesiastes. Only God… And the most important thing that the Lord Jesus proclaimed to people is that God has come to us to give us meaning, joy, and life. Even suffering becomes for us not just a symptom of mortality, but a meeting place with the Incomprehensible. Deeds of mercy and the fulfillment of the law, meekness and the rejection of violence, love for people itself — everything gains meaning only because here we find God. "The kingdom of heaven is at hand," the Lord repeats more than once in the Gospel. That Kingdom where life finds meaning, that for which it would be worth living, is inaccessible to us — but this Kingdom itself has drawn near to us out of God's great love.
In Christ, man finds what Ecclesiastes sought and did not find. But nowhere else but in Him can this be found — in this both the book of Ecclesiastes and the Sermon on the Mount converge. Of course, this answer is necessarily brief and most likely incomplete. If we briefly answer your second question in the same way, it will be something like this: The purpose of our life is God Himself, a Person whom one can love, seek, comprehend, and trust. At the same time, the purpose of our life is to fulfill God's design for us: to bring His love into the created world, to serve as a creative principle in the world. This is possible for us only together with God; by ourselves we can create nothing but chaos. These two aspects of the purpose of our life unite in the possibility of being the presence of God in this world, a Temple of the Holy Spirit, as the apostle Paul expresses it.
The meaning of life is thus hidden in the Almighty Himself. As Saint Augustine, the great Christian thinker of the late 4th — early 5th centuries, said addressing God: "You have made us for Yourself, and our hearts are restless until they find their rest in You." The Lord Jesus Christ Himself expressed this mystery in the words of a prayer addressed to the Father: "That they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us." The love that unites us with God to the very depths of our and His nature — this, perhaps, is the meaning of our life. The value of human life I would measure by God's love for each of us. We are weak, empty, and barren; our life often seems worthless to us. But God loves us not because we are good, but because He is God. And we are valuable not because we are good, but because we are loved by Him.
It is unlikely that this answer can claim completeness and objectivity. But, I hope it is direct enough. Practice shows that it hides a wonderful power of life; moreover, it is important to bear in mind that when we meet God, questions disappear. Not that we receive answers, — but there comes a moment when you forget about questions and begin to live, because God Himself is the answer to everything.
6
6:7 Use not vain repetitions - To repeat any words without meaning them, is certainly a vain repetition. Therefore we should be extremely careful in all our prayers to mean what we say; and to say only what we mean from the bottom of our hearts. The vain and heathenish repetitions which we are here warned against, are most dangerous, and yet very common; which is a principal cause why so many, who still profess religion, are a disgrace to it.Indeed all the words in the world are not equivalent to one holy desire. And the very best prayers are but vain repetitions, if they are not the language of the heart.
6:8 Your Father knoweth what things ye have need of - We do not pray to inform God of our wants. Omniscient as he is, he cannot be informed of any thing which he knew not before: and he is always willing to relieve them. The chief thing wanting is, a fit disposition on our part to receive his grace and blessing.Consequently, one great office of prayer is, to produce such a disposition in us: to exercise our dependence on God; to increase our desire of the things we ask for; to us so sensible of our wants, that we may never cease wrestling till we have prevailed for the blessing.
6:9 Thus therefore pray ye - He who best knew what we ought to pray for, and how we ought to pray, what matter of desire, what manner of address would most please himself, would best become us, has here dictated to us a most perfect and universal form of prayer, comprehending all our real wants, expressing all our lawful desires; a complete directory and full exercise of all our devotions. Thus - For these things; sometimes in these words, at least inthis manner, short, close, full. This prayer consists of three parts, the preface, the petitions,and the conclusion. The preface, Our Father, who art in heaven, lays a general foundation for prayer, comprising what we must first know of God, before we can pray in confidence of being heard. It likewise points out to us our that faith, humility, love, of God and man, with which we are to approach God in prayer.Our Father - Who art good and gracious to all, our Creator, our Preserver; the Father of our Lord, and of us in him, thy children by adoption and grace: not my Father only, who now cry unto thee, but the Father of the universe, of angels and men: who art in heaven - Beholding all things, both in heaven and earth; knowing every creature, and all the works of every creature, and every possible event from everlasting to everlasting: the almighty Lord and Ruler of all, superintending and disposing all things; in heaven - Eminently there, but not there alone, seeing thou fillest heaven and earth.Hallowed be thy name - Mayest thou, O Father, he truly known by all intelligent beings, and with affections suitable to that knowledge: mayest thou be duly honoured, loved, feared, by all in heaven and in earth, by all angels and all men.
6:10 Thy kingdom come - May thy kingdom of grace come quickly, and swallow up all the kingdoms of the earth: may all mankind, receiving thee, O Christ, for their king, truly believing in thy name, be filled with righteousness, and peace, and joy; with holiness and happiness, till they are removed hence into thy kingdom of glory, to reign with thee for ever and ever.Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven - May all the inhabitants of the earth do thy will as willingly as the holy angels: may these do it continually even as they, without any interruption of their willing service; yea, and perfectly as they: mayest thou, O Spirit of grace, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make them perfect in every good work to do thy will, and work in them all that is well pleasing in thy sight.
6:11 Give us - O Father (for we claim nothing of right, but only of thy free mercy) this day - (for we take no thought for the morrow) our daily bread - All things needful for our souls and bodies: not only the meat that perisheth, but the sacramental bread, and thy grace, the food which endureth to everlasting life.
6:12 And forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors - Give us, O Lord, redemption in thy blood, even the forgiveness of sins: as thou enablest us freely and fully to forgive every man, so do thou forgive all our trespasses.
6:13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil - Whenever we are tempted, O thou that helpest our infirmities,suffer us not to enter into temptation; to be overcome or suffer loss thereby; but make a way for us to escape, so that we may be more than conquerors, through thy love, over sin and all the consequences of it. Now the principal desire of a Christian's heart being the glory of God, Mat 6:9-10 and all he wants for himself or his brethren being the daily bread of soul and body, (or the support of life, animal and spiritual,) pardon of sin, and deliverance from the power of it and of the devil, Mat 6:11-13 there is nothing beside that a Christian can wish for; therefore this prayer comprehends all his desires. Eternal life is the certain consequence, or rather completion of holiness.For thine is the kingdom - The sovereign right of all things that are or ever were created: The power - the executive power, whereby thou governest all things in thy everlasting kingdom: And the glory - The praise due from every creature, for thy power, and all thy wondrous works, and the mightiness of thy kingdom, which endureth through all ages, even for ever and ever. It is observable, that though the doxology, as well as the petitions of this prayer, is threefold, and is directed to the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost distinctly, yet is the whole fully applicable both to every person, and to the ever - blessed and undivided trinity. Luk 11:2.
6:14 Mar 11:25.