If I were to say to you that I hate life, you would probably not want to spend a great deal of time with me. You might find my comment a great reason to finally pick up Joel Osteen’s book in an attempt to avoid such a pessimistic view of the world. As opposed to the depressing rhetoric of hating life, the therapeutic tones of positive thinking sound very attractive. The problem is, the motivational theism of some modern preachers is not eliminating your reason to hate life, but only delaying it. They may, however, be eliminating your ability to obtain true and lasting contentment and peace by sheltering you from the way reality directs us to what is truly the best life.

While Joel Osteen has been greatly criticized by many evangelicals for his explicit book titles like “Your Best Life Now,” I wonder how surprised we might be to find out the number of pastors who are unwilling to stand in front of their congregation and echo the words of King Solomon. Ecclesiastes 2:17 So I hated life, because what is done under the sun was grievous to me, for all is vanity and a striving after wind.

The main point we need to understand from King Solomon is that this statement is made after being very successful at living his best life, in this life. By the time you read this statement in Ecclesiastes 2:17, you have already read that Solomon had lived a life making the most of every resource available to him as a powerful and rich leader who was the envy of the world (see 1 Kings 10). It is after living his best life now that King Solomon said he hated life under the sun. For some people, it is not until our death beds that we realize the futility of this world and all that it has to offer. Even when some preacher has given us great motivation to clean up our life and grab on to some type of great living and success, what have we but the fading words on a tombstone?

Here is the reality. We live in a world under judgment and there is no amount of riches and wisdom and pleasure or pursuit that can undo it. There is no satisfaction to be found in this world and Solomon even says that what we leave is given to someone who didn't earn it (2:21)…and they too will die. Even our legacy is pointless. Where do we look for lasting satisfaction when this reality sets in and we ask, “What’s the point?” If you do achieve your best life now, you will not even have to wait for eternity to realize your mistake. You will hate your best life on your last day “under the sun.”

Preaching the gospel is a solemn task and I feel the weight of this responsibility more every day. The gospel is not the good news of saving you from your drug habit. It does not allow you to simply overcome some tragedy in your life. It’s not the promise of gaining wisdom and it’s not the gateway to power, prominence or property. It is not the avenue of social equity in this world and it has no promise of preserving rights (except for the right to become children of God in Christ). It is the news that Jesus Christ is God’s only Son, second in the Trinity, who came into this world to appease the eternal wrath of God that is rightly rested on every human rebel. We live in a world that is corrupted by our sin and we live as enemies of our Creator in our rebellion to him. That means we are living in a judged world and face judgment later. If we don’t hate that life, even in the very best of it, we will never know the everlasting love that is only found in the grace of the cross.