Under the Sun

Like many of you, I am weary of what the world has to offer.

Like many of you I have spent the week listening to outrage about a basketball owner who made racist comments to his black/hispanic mistress (oh, the irony).

Like many of you, I’ve spent the week listening to debate over Secretary Kerry calling Israel an “apartheid” state.

Like many of you, I’ve listened to debate over the reach of government, taxation and health care.

Like many of you, I have almost become accustomed to it.

I find myself uncomfortable filling out a form that labels me as a married white male between the age of 35-50, because by default that somehow makes me a racist bigot.

What has become of the world these days? It hasn’t always been this way!

Or has it?

The truth is that when Jesus walked the earth, people were complaining about oppressive government ("Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not? Should we pay them, or should we not?” – Mark 12:14), racial issues (“And who is my neighbor?” – Luke 10:29), and basically everything else we still debate about. Immorality, parenting, education, you name it-it is nothing new.

The game is the same, just with new players.

The truth of the matter is laid out for us in the first chapter of Ecclesiastes:

2 Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher, vanity of vanities! All is vanity….

8 All things are full of weariness; a man cannot utter it;
the eye is not satisfied with seeing,
nor the ear filled with hearing.
 9 What has been is what will be,
and what has been done is what will be done,
and there is nothing new under the sun.
 10 Is there a thing of which it is said, “See, this is new”? 
It has been already 
in the ages before us.


There is truly nothing new under the sun. Everything that seems so important in today’s headlines will be forgotten a generation from now. We will continue to struggle with the same issues as our parents, grandparents and every generation back to Adam, and our children will struggle with them as well.

Far from being an antiquated and irrelevant collection of old religious jargon, the Bible gives very real solutions for very real issues that we will face today and tomorrow. It gives us perspective to step away from the canvas and see the larger picture. It allows us freedom and relief from the rampant myopia that plagues our society.

We will still have to listen to the same debates, and struggle with the same problems that human beings have always struggled with. Each generation will decry the rebellion of the next, tabloid headlines will dominate our news feed, and we will argue over politics. These vain things can cause our blood to boil, and our lives to be filled with angst and anguish. But the rest, the assurance, the joy, and the ability to rise above comes in knowing that there is more to life than this, and that this life is not what we are all about.

There truly is nothing new under the sun.