Still Just Me

10 All that my eyes desired, I did not deny them. I did not refuse myself any pleasure, for I took pleasure in all my struggles. This was my reward for all my struggles. 11 When I considered all that I had accomplished and what I had labored to achieve, I found everything to be futile and a pursuit of the wind. There was nothing to be gained under the sun. Ecclesiastes 2:10-11

I know what it feels like for something I worked hard on to go really well. For a few hours, I can ride that feeling and almost believe something in me has changed.

Then I wake up the next morning, and I'm still just me.

I check my phone to see if anyone else noticed. I replay the moment in my head, looking for something to make the feeling last a little longer. It never does.

The Teacher in Ecclesiastes knew that specific quiet. His disappointment didn't come from failure. By any standard, he had succeeded completely. But when he stepped back and looked at everything he had accomplished, it still couldn't give him what he was looking for.

That’s the trap: asking a good outcome to tell me who I am. It was never built to carry that weight, so when tomorrow comes, the letdown is built right in.

Jesus does not meet you only when you cross a finish line. He is already there before you even start working. Work hard at what is in front of you today, but remember that when tomorrow comes, no amount of success will have changed your deep need for Him.

Father, thank You for the work You give me to do. Keep me from looking to my accomplishments for the identity and security I can only find in Christ. When I reach for my phone tomorrow morning to see how this post is doing, or when I look at the metrics from Sunday's sermon, interrupt that reflex and remind me who I belong to.