"'Meaningless! Meaningless'" says the Teacher. 'Everything is meaningless!'"--Ecclesiastes 12:8

What do you care about? What are your favorite toys? Your computer? Your car? Your clothes? Do you care about these more than your relationship with God?

The person who wrote this is Solomon, the king of all Israel and Judah. Wisest and richest man to live on the earth. Man with the most wives and concubines ever says these words. He knew about everything, experienced everything. He had anything his heart desired. Not only was he rich in wealth, he was rich in wisdom.

He started out great. God asked Him what he wanted and Solomon said wisdom. That's great, I wish God would ask me what I wanted, I would say wisdom too. That would make my profession easier. Solomon asks for wisdom and He gets not only wisdom, but wealth. He started out great.

But something happened along the way. He changed. He started to take many wives, and worshiping their gods. He started to build altars to other gods. He started to care more about his wealth than anything else. In his time as king the rich got richer and poor got poorer.

We're not concerned about what happened at this time, what we are concerned about is what he said near the end of his life. Traditionally Solomon is the author of Ecclesiastes. If you ever have a chance to read it through, do so. It talks about everything that he did, that he accomplished. After he records all of his thoughts and actions he comes to this conclusion. All is meaningless!

What? Everything is meaningless? What does he mean by that? Well we can look at a couple places. Before he says this he is talking about remembering God, the creator in your youth. If he had just remembered God while he was young, when the time for him to choose came he would have chosen God.

We can also look at verse 13, "Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man." Fear God and keep his commandments. Solomon realized while he was old that obeying God was better than any riches, women, or altars that he could gain. God was highest.

It's a good lesson for each of us to think about. What do we hold higher than God? Is there anything that we would rather have than God? If so, we should heed Solomon's words, and take them to heart. God should be first. With Him, everything falls into place.