The main thrust of his message in Ecclesiastes was that everything regarding man's endeavors towards earthly things were nothing but "vanity." As a matter of fact, for the sake of one more bit of Bible trivia, he used the phrase "all is vanity" 6 times in that book and pretty much wrapped up his inspired thoughts with that phrase.
At this point I should probably explain why I chose this topic to opine about today and it's because of a little story I heard the other day that involved a "vain" person and another well-known, historical individual of the industrial/business world - Henry Ford. In a moment I'll relate this story to you in sort of a condensed version and then try and tie it in to a spiritual lesson for us.
Besides making me think of Solomon, the story also reminded me of a parable of our Lord, told in Luke the 12th chapter. To me, that parable is a classic picture of a person consumed in "vanity." Let me relate the story first and then we'll look at the parable referred to as the "rich fool."
The story involves an auto race that took place way back in October of 1901. Hard to believe that there were enough cars to race back then, isn't it? Auto racing was in it's infancy, as the industry itself was pretty much in the same boat. This race was to take place in Detroit, Michigan with the grand prize being $1,000. Not much today, but a great deal back then.
Now in January of 1901, before this race was scheduled, Henry Ford's "Detroit Automobile Co." had gone bankrupt. He was a failure in the auto business and had to move his family back in with his parents. He needed money, capital, in order to restart the business.
The race could provide him with investors if he could enter a car and make a good showing. He got a small team together and built his race car. For you car enthusiasts, it had a 2 cylinder engine that displaced 538 cubic inches and developed 26 horsepower. Wow! He couldn't afford to hire a driver so he decided to drive it himself.
The country's leading and best race driver was a man named Alexander Winton who also was a successful car company owner (Winton Motor Carriages). He was so good that he was automatically considered to be the winner of any race he entered. The purse of $1,000 was not enough to get him interested in this race, but the race promoter wanted him in it so as to draw fans.
Now here's where Alexander Winton ties into our parable, thus into our lesson today. He agreed to enter the race on the condition that he got to choose the trophy that accompanied the $1,000 winner's purse. He wanted the trophy to be a beautiful, cut-glass punch bowl and cups because he had a special place in his house for it. In his mind, it was as good as already there.
The end of the story: the race, originally set for 25 laps around the horse racing track, ended up being shortened to 10 laps due to most of the cars breaking down during preliminary races. When the main race started only Winton, Ford and one other racer started. Ford caught and passed Winton on the 8th lap and won the race. He got the money and the trophy plus investors and, as we often say, "the rest is history."
Today, everyone knows of Henry Ford, but how many have ever heard of Alexander Winton? Or, for that matter, ever seen or heard of a Winton car? Perhaps, in his "vanity," Alexander might have been counting his "punch bowls" and building a place for them before he should have, don'tcha think?
In Luke 12:15, in response to a request from a person "in the crowd," Jesus answered with these words: "Take care and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one's life does not consist of the abundance of his possessions." He then went on to tell the crowd the parable about the "rich man" who had so much already that he didn't have room for anymore.
So, in his vanity (my words), he just assumed that he'd get even more possessions so he'd tear down his old barns and build bigger ones to house all the "stuff" that he knew that he'd be gaining. But, he never thought about losing anything, especially his life. You'll notice that God referred to him as a "fool" for this way of thinking. He was making all kinds of plans for his "worldly" gain, but made no plans for a "spiritual" gain. (Is it just me, or does anyone else see a picture of "covetousness" and "vanity" holding hands?)
We sometimes sing an old hymn entitled "At Calvary" and the first few words of this song are, "Years I spent in vanity and pride, caring not my Lord was crucified." There again we have another word association: "vanity" and "pride." When we use the word "vanity" today, it's mostly seen in the context of pride, or of boasting. Sometimes we see it as being conceited.
"Vanity" as used in the Bible doesn't mean "pride," it's a word that means things like: worthless, empty or unsatisfactory. The Hebrew definition that I particularly like for "vanity" is "transitory." As I mentioned earlier regarding Solomon's message in Ecclesiastes of all of man's worldly endeavors being "vanity," doesn't the definition "transitory" fit like a hand in a glove?
Well then, what's the main gist of this lesson? My intention is, and I hope that it can be understood, that by looking at our two examples of "vanity," the famous race driver and the rich man in the parable, any effort towards worldly accomplishments is "worthless" if we neglect efforts towards "spiritual" gain.
I fear that there will be far too many people who do exactly that during their lifetime on earth. And when the "race" ends or the "barns" collapse (parabolically speaking) they will hear the same charge laid on them by God - "Fools."
They will be like the folks spoken of by the prophet Hosea (8:7) when he said "For they sow the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind." I see "vanity" as being as worthless an endeavor as "sowing the wind." After all is said and done, it's an effort in futility. We should direct our efforts towards "sowing the good seed" (Mt. 13:37). I started this with good old Solomon and I'll end it with his words:
"The wicked worketh a deceitful work; but to him that soweth
righteousness shall be a sure reward." Proverbs 11:18
Ron Covey
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