Futility

“For the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will, but because of Him who subjected it,”  Romans 8:20

Futility – It’s all about purpose.  Purpose is a big word in Christian circles these days.  The popularity of programs focused on purpose clearly shows God’s fingerprints.  It also shows something else.  It shows the depth of humanity’s need.  We are a people who need meaning in life.  Without a sense of purpose, life is the endurance of endless gray days.

Paul knew that purpose had a much bigger scope than human meaning.  The word he uses here is mataiotes.  This is a rare word in the New Testament but it is found 37 times in just one book in the Greek translation of the Old Testament.  Can you guess which book it is?  Ecclesiastes!  The book about life’s emptiness.  This Greek word is used for a Hebrew idea of worthless vapor. What Paul says is that all of natural creation is subjected to meaningless, worthless futility.  It isn’t just human beings that feel this aimless existence.   It’s everything.  The wheels just go round and round, getting nowhere.

This verse tells us something we may not have realized.  Who caused this to happen?  Do you see that God Himself brought about this futility?  Why would God do that? 

Reflect on the times in your life when you felt the futility of living.  Those times drove you to face yourself.  You probably took a good look in the mirror and said, “Is this all that there is?”  Why do you think God brought you to that place?  Because God knows that until we face our own meaninglessness without Him, we will never be ready to hear His message of hope.  As long as we carried on living the life of ignorant bliss, we thought we did not need God.  Futility breaks us down.  Meaninglessness forces our hand.  Emptiness exposes our true center.  So God brings all nature under the curse of futility in order to show us that there is no real meaning in anything created.

Jack Nicholson is not right.  This is not “as good as it gets”.  God offers the only solution to life’s futility – and it is not more of the same but just bigger and better.  The opposite of this word is teleois, the word for completion.  Your life is either mataiotes or teleois.  Both belong to God but only one will give you hope.

Today:  So which is it?  Look deeply in the mirror.  Which one of God’s words belongs to you?