For of the wise as of the fool there is no enduring remembrance, seeing that in the days to come all will have been long forgotten.
– Ecclesiastes 2:16
Oh, this is one of those verses in Ecclesiastes that at first can sound totally depressing. But then, when you think about it, well, one, it’s true, and two, it’s actually encouraging.
Ecclesiastes 2:16 pictures the humbling end we all face.
So one, it’s true. Ecclesiastes 2:16 is saying, “Wise people die and foolish people die”. And “wise people are forgotten and foolish people are forgotten”. I mean, think about it. Regardless of who you are, the chances are that a hundred years after your death, nobody’s going to know much about you anymore. What do you know about your great-grandparents? Many people don’t even know their names.
We might think, yeah, but I did this or that. And I’ve walked through an exercise like this with professional athletes before. Just saying, okay, who can name this Super Bowl champion or this World Series champion 40 years ago? And many people have no idea who it is. And all the more so when you go back another 40 years. So in the end, it’s just true. We’re going to be forgotten. And that’s actually encouraging. Say in what way? Well, it’s encouraging because it gives you and me a proper perspective on life, on the world, on God, on Jesus. First and foremost, yes, he is the center of it all. Jesus is. He will never be forgotten.
Ecclesiastes 2:16 shows why only eternal things truly matter.
And so now let’s go deeper as his followers. As his family, we will be with him forever. He’s never going to forget us. This world and its ways long gone. Jesus and his Word, and being in his family, that’s going to last forever. Which means, okay, be encouraged today, then to live for what’s going to last forever.
Be encouraged to speak words that are going to last forever. In other words, God’s Word. Fill your conversations, your mind, your thoughts with God’s Word. Knowing the grasp of those, the flower fades, it’s all going to be gone, everything in this world, but the Word of God will stand forever, Isaiah 40:8.
And so fill your mind with what’s going to last forever. Speak what’s going to last forever. Love people enough to lead them to Jesus and life in him forever. Build other people up in Jesus in ways that will benefit them forever. There are ways you and I can live today that will last for the next 10 trillion years and beyond. Knowing all this world and everything in it is going to eventually fade. There’s going to be a New Heaven and a New Earth. So live for what’s going to matter on that day today.
This verse urges us to invest in what will truly last.
Oh God, we pray that you would help us to live today for what will matter forever. Help us to live for your name’s sake. Knowing your name is the name above all names, Jesus. Help us to point people to you. Help us not to build up our names today. Lord, help us to build up your name, to glorify your name, knowing it’s going to last forever. And to find life and joy, and strength, and peace in living for the glory of your name.
God, help us to live today, to speak today, to serve today, to love today with our eyes fixed on 10 trillion years from now. And how, when we get there, we will wish we lived today. God, help us to love people, to serve people, to fill our minds with your Word that lasts forever today, to speak your Word into others’ lives in ways that will build them up and ways that could last forever.
Lord, we pray you would help us to lead people to Jesus around us today. God, we pray you would help us to lead people to Jesus around the world.
Prayer for the Garre Oromo People
Lord, we pray for the Garre Oromo people of Kenya, this Somali tribe that is mostly in Kenya right now, almost a million of them, hardly any known followers of Jesus. God, we pray for the Garre Oromo people to be reached with the good news of your love, that they might enjoy you forever. Lord, help us to live today for the spread of your love to all the peoples of the world in a way that will last forever. God, we pray all this according to your Word in Ecclesiastes 2:16. Help us to have a proper perspective on our day-to-day, on ourselves today, in a way that leads us to live for what will last forever. In Jesus’ name, amen.
David Platt serves as a Lead Pastor for McLean Bible Church. He is also the Founder of Radical, an organization that makes Jesus known among the nations.
David received his B.A. from the University of Georgia and M.Div., Th.M., and Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. Some of his published works include Radical, Radical Together, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Don’t Hold Back, and How to Read the Bible.
He lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area with his wife and children.
