Once Lived a Man Who Had It All

At the dawn of 2026, is there a better book to read and reflect on than the Book of Ecclesiastes? It is the life story of a man who had it all. King Solomon, the son of King David, was likely between fifteen and twenty years old when he became king. He began with a humble heart; he loved the Lord and followed in his father David’s footsteps.

God appeared to Solomon in a dream and said, “What do you want? Ask, and I will give it to you.” Solomon responded, “I am but a child and do not know my way around to rule Your people. Give me wisdom and understanding so I can govern Your people well.” God was so

pleased with Solomon’s humble request and told him, “No other king in all the world will be compared to you for the rest of your life.”

The accomplishments of Solomon are too great to list them all. The First Temple was his crowning achievement. The Temple in Jerusalem became the spiritual heart of the Israelite nation for centuries. He was world-renowned for great wisdom and is credited as the biblical writer of Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and the Song of Solomon.

As is common for many great men and women, when accomplishments come effortlessly, most of us have a tendency to become “god” in life. Solomon was no different. It is very easy to forget our Maker when life is easy, troubles are few, and money is plentiful. The Book of

Ecclesiastes is a book of self-examination, reflection, repentance, and renewal. At the dawn of a new year, one thing we are absolutely certain of is this: not one of us knows what awaits us in this new year, and whether or not we will be here to see the dawning of 2027!

Solomon wrote: “a time to be born and a time to die”:

Everything is meaningless—completely meaningless!”

“Generations come and generations go, but the earth never changes.”

“What do people get for all their hard work under the sun?

It is all vanity and vanity. (meaningless, meaningless)

“History merely repeats itself. It has all been done before. Nothing under the sun is truly new.”

For many years I played golf with a friend. We were both about the same age and early morning risers. Most of the time, he, I, and two other friends were the first foursome on the golf course. With the sun just rising in the east—a glorious early morning sunrise—squirrels chirping, birds singing, and nature’s delightful noises at that time of day, a game of golf was most delightful. There was no greater experience for us than an early morning golf game. Cold winters or Texas heat meant nothing to us; we played this delightful game regardless. Life could not have been any better. We had plenty of time to talk about what we believed and why we believed it.

One Tuesday morning we had our regular tee time. My friend didn’t show up. It was too cold to play, and the rest of us canceled our game and went home. Over the next couple of days, we all canceled our reservations due to severe cold weather. Then I heard from my friend’s son: his father had passed away in his sleep that night—when we were supposed to be playing golf the next morning.

David wrote: “We are all here for only a moment, visitors and strangers in the land as our ancestors were before us. Our days on earth are like a passing shadow, gone so soon without a trace.” 1 Chronicles 29:15

Is there anything in this life more glorious than realizing my sins—wretchedness, greed, jealousy, pride, selfishness, lawlessness, all of it—past, present, and future—have been nailed to the cross by the hands of Jesus Christ? The power of sin in me is broken; I am no longer a slave to sin but a slave to righteousness. For everyone who is truly born again, God fills us with the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit strengthens, guides, comforts, and—most of all—makes sense of God’s Word: the truth that becomes authority in our lives and helps us live for the glory of God. However, the sin nature we all inherited from our first father Adam still runs through our veins until we take our last breath. There is an internal battle within each one of us, fighting for righteousness as we live with a sinful nature.

Once we come face to face with who we are—how deceitful we can be, how desperately wicked our hearts are—then we know it is my sins that nailed Jesus Christ to a cross! However, growing in grace and growing in the knowledge of God is still hard. It requires saying “NO” to many things in this world. Returning what we have stolen from others—things, names, or reputations—is hard! Looking at their face and asking for forgiveness is hard! Chasing more money, more fame, bigger mansions, more toys in the driveway, and greater portfolios is crazy when we realize that you and I will be lowered to a grave one day—a passing shadow, gone so soon without a trace! A person who is utterly unable to see the sins in his or her life and lives with no remorse or repentance will bring the deepest pain and

sorrow to others. God knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.

Jeremiah wrote this about the true character of humanity:

“The human heart is the most deceitful of all things, and desperately wicked. Who really knows how bad it is? The LORD searches the heart and tests the mind, to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds.” Jeremiah 17:9

One thief on the cross knew for certain there was nothing in his life worth redeeming. Someone—maybe his mother or father—may have taught him early the words Jeremiah wrote. Now he is crucified next to Jesus Christ and hears that prayer, Forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” That prayer must have awakened something in that criminal, so he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” And Jesus

said to him, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.”

Luke 23:42–43

Jesus tells this story: “The land of a rich man produced plentifully, and he thought to himself, what shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?’ And he said, ‘I will do this: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be

merry.”’ But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared—whose will they be?’ So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.” Luke 12:16–21

As each of us is created in the image of God, in the depth of our heart every one of us—from a criminal to the wisest man who ever lived—has this knowledge, even though we may suppress it: first death, then judgment. When we are bent on being famous, affluent, and well-known, death and judgment happen to other people! We just can’t make ourselves think

that our own bodies will be lowered to the ground one day.

“Until we learn the truth in God’s Word and live in obedience to God’s Word, we will never know true peace, never know the true joy of God, and never know what it is to have true Christian life—until we believe the Christian doctrine explained in God’s living Word, the Bible.” Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones

When you read Paul’s writings, it seems he never gets tired of telling us to put to death our old life: “If you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of

adoption as sons, by whom we cry, ‘Abba! Father!’”Romans 8:13–15

“How do you know what your life will be tomorrow? Your life is like the morning fog—it’s here a little while, then it’s gone.” James 4:14

That cold Tuesday morning my friend and I planned to play our regular golf game, but God called him home that night. However, he and I had plenty of time to talk about our Maker and why we are here on this earth. If tonight is your appointed time, what would you hear from your Maker—‘Welcome home and well done, my child,’ or ‘I never knew you’? Are you here to

please your Maker and obey God’s living Word, the Bible—being a God-pleaser and never, never a man-pleaser? There are only two kinds of people in this world: God-pleasers or men-pleasers. Both live drastically different lives.

It is never too late to sit down and do some real self-examination. As John Calvin wrote, “The human heart is a perpetual idol factory”—idols perpetuated under the guise of “Christianity.” The christianized idols have made us blind to what it means to be a true disciple of Jesus Christ. The politicization of Christianity and prosperity-gospel hucksters have shipwrecked many lives. Idols of fame, beauty, brains, bank accounts, self-importance, and accomplishments—none will help us at our appointed time. “All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.” Psalm 139:16

Heaven is real. Hell is real. Once death, then judgment is real. Jesus Christ hung on a cross and died a shameful death to save us from hell. However, it does require that each of us take a good look at our heart and see what Jeremiah saw: a deceitful and wicked heart with no shame, no remorse, and no repentance. Every sin we commit is first and foremost is against our

Maker. Psalm 51 is real repentance from David, and a good place to learn real repentance. Those mountains of sin—lies, gossip, lust, greed, pride, lawlessness—are all abominable in the sight of our Maker. We can fool others with our self-importance, but we can never fool our Maker. The prodigal boy needed to leave his pigpen life and walk toward home. Almighty God is waiting on the porch for every sinner to come home to a new life in Christ.

We will never know whether Adam and Eve wept as they looked at their old home in Paradise, when they were in fellowship with their God. Their disobedience brought sin and death into the world. God the Father sent Jesus Christ, who knew no sin, as propitiation for all who believe in the finished work of Jesus Christ on a cross. One thief on the cross repented of his sins and asked, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your paradise.” Jesus told him, “Today you will be in paradise with Me.” The same Jesus who promised paradise to this unremarkable man—a criminal—is saying to us: “Come to me all who are weary and burdened; I will give you rest.” Rest for this life and eternity in heaven with Jesus. This new life

is the true light that shines so brightly wherever we are—home, workplaces, recreation, and in every relationship.

The biggest takeaway from the Book of Ecclesiastes is that self-examination can reveal our blind spots. About 360–400 times the Bible uses words like “fool,” “foolish,” and “folly.” Solomon used those words more than any other biblical writers. As Solomon reflected on “a time to be born and a time to die,” he saw his earthly foolishness and was awakened to write this book. His life of brilliance, women, wealth, wine, fame, and great accomplishment were all vanity—vanity and vanity (meaningless, meaningless, and meaningless). He understood that elusive word for most of humanity: repentance. A life without repentance is Pharisee religion. As Jesus said, “These people honor me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.”Matthew 15:8

A person who will not look back and see all wretchedness—life lived to get praise from others; lies; gossip; greed; jealousy; pride; selfishness; idols of fame and self-importance— but will never say to God or to those they offended, “I am sorry, I was wrong, can you forgive me, can we start a new life together?” Those simple, life-giving words—healing words—can be the

greatest thing that can happen to every one of us as we journey to: a time to be born and a time to die!

First death, then judgment: “It is appointed unto men to die once; but after this judgment.” We have all been bombarded by many great Christian orators and excellent writers; later we see them in handcuffs headed to the nearest jail. Their names are familiar to all of us. Double life—using Christian vocabulary to put on a show—apparently takes very little skill, not to

mention fame, money, private jets, and being king-makers in every election cycle.

William Booth (1829–1912) predicted a time is coming: “Religion without the Holy Spirit, Christianity without Christ, forgiveness without repentance, salvation without regeneration, politics without God, heaven without hell.” Mr. Booth was talking about our time. Everything is show business; we have social media to boast our self-importance. Who needs self-examination when we can broadcast to the world our fame and marvelous life?

Solomon repented and wrote the Book of Ecclesiastes about his foolishness. Do we continue in our foolishness and remain reluctant to follow Jesus Christ as our only hope? If the people we live with, or those who know us best, see no change in us—who are we fooling? If and

when Jesus Christ is truly our Master and Lord, a newness of life will begin. Then “I am sorry, could you forgive me?”—to God and to those we offended—will become as easy as breathing. When we see our heart as God sees our heart: unrepentant, deceitful, and wretched! True remorse,

true repentance, and the cross of Jesus Christ are the beginning of Christian life that grows in grace and grows in the knowledge of God.

Apostle John wrote this: “If we say we have fellowship with God while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, God is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

1 John 1:6, 8–9

Nehemiah wrote: “The joy of the Lord is my strength” and Paul, “Do not grieve the Holy Spirit”. Once Adam and Eve had paradise and fellowship with God Almighty; they also had freedom to obey God or disobey Him. The decision they made in the garden eventually caused the Almighty shameful death on a cross. The decisions to chose God and bring joy to the Lord or grieve the Holy Spirit is the choice each of us makes in our own lives.

What choice will you make in this new year? A people pleaser or God pleaser? You can’t do both; you must choose! One who is faithful in very little is also faithful in much, and one who is dishonest in very little is also dishonest in much. Luke 16:10

Don’t put your trust in mere humans. They are as frail as breath.

What good are they? Isaiah 2:25