Dilution

“Everything is meaningless,” says the Teacher, “completely meaningless!” [Ecclesiastes 1.2]

Now this is something one doesn't want to start every day off reading!

But, you know what? This is exactly what many people feel. This is exactly what people feel who have no purpose in life. This is exactly what a deceived person makes of life.

Solomon went on to describe the cyclic nature of life and the wearisomeness of it all. He had lost touch with the reality of heaven even though he was the wisest man to ever live. He did so by dilution.

Before the reading from Ecclesiastes today, the OYCB presented passages from 1 Kings and 2 Chronicles. 1 Kings describes how Solomon's 700 wives and 300 concubines "diluted" his faithfulness to God by the infusion of other gods into his life.

Now King Solomon loved many foreign women. Besides Pharaoh’s daughter, he married women from Moab, Ammon, Edom, Sidon, and from among the Hittites. The LORD had clearly instructed the people of Israel, “You must not marry them, because they will turn your hearts to their gods.” Yet Solomon insisted on loving them anyway. He had 700 wives of royal birth and 300 concubines. And in fact, they did turn his heart away from the LORD. [1 Kings 11.1-3]

In this case, one might see that "more is less." This is the work of dilution.

Hmm...

Solomon had "all" the wisdom and "all" the women... And, what did it do? Make him better? No, in fact, it was his downfall.

Interestingly enough, it was Solomon who wrote:

Everything is wearisome beyond description. No matter how much we see, we are never satisfied. No matter how much we hear, we are not content. [Ecclesiastes 1.8]

Just as Death and Destruction are never satisfied, so human desire is never satisfied. [Proverbs 27.20]

Solomon helplessly recognized his own condition, "Everything is meaningless..."

How does this apply to us? First, we should understand that everything is not meaningless. Everything has a reason. Everything happens for a reason. Blessings are the reward for obedience and curses are the reward for disobedience. The Bible is quite exhaustive on the subject of obedience and needs no further explanation.

However, man has amassed "knowledge" beyond imagination. We today live in a time of unprecedented knowledge. And yet, we live in a time of unprecedented evil. And yes, there is a correlation. It's called dilution.

Faithfulness to God is like gold. The more impurities in the gold, the less the value (due to dilution).

The solution is simple. And, by nature of the simplicity of the solution, its practice is logically dismissed as invalid by "knowledge" (including technology, science, medicine). When we idolize knowledge, it becomes an insatiable tyrant of "more" all the while diluting pure faith in God.

It should come as no surprise then that our faith is so powerless today.

But I will take this a step further...

There exists today a contingency among "Christian" people that has made "knowledge" just as important in "a life of devotion" as the world does in a godless life. In fact, there are untold volumes of extrabiblical writings by various authors, teachers, preachers, and philosophers that have inadvertently diluted the simple message of the Bible. I am constantly confronted with people talking about who's books they are reading, asking me if I have read any of that author's stuff, and I just want to say, "No, I will stick with the Bible, thank you," (but pride lurks at the door in so saying). I must then furthermore restrain myself from asking that person, "How does your actual reading of and meditating on the Bible compare to your reading of and consideration of other materials?" You see, people usurp the power of the Holy Spirit when they first seek the outside input of others. And worse, the Word of God is diluted in their lives.

I have found that preserving the purity of God's Word by avoiding dilution (even dilution by "Christian" opinions, extrabiblical research, and certainly, science), has forced me to rely on the Holy Spirit and yielded, what I believe, is genuine Christian growth. I cannot, and will not, allow the risk of dilution.

If the Bible is not good enough as a stand-alone resource for the works of salvation and sanctification in our lives, then we are as hopeless as Solomon: "Everything is meaningless."

Jesus did not fight His adversaries with the words or opinions of Plato or Socrates. Jesus fought His battles with the pure unadulterated Word of God.

Father, more than ever, I see the need to stay true to Your Word and encourage others to do the same. Help me to see that when I feel meaningless in life, it is a sure sign that I have diluted Your Word!