The Shine of Novelty Will Fade

Is there a thing of which it is said,
“See, this is new”?
It has been already
in the ages before us.

Ecclesiastes 1:10 (ESV)

The other day I found in my garage a dinosaur of modern technology: an iPod Photo. Not only could it once play every song in my iTunes library, it could show my photos too! Why anyone would be excited about looking at their photos on a screen the size of two postage stamps, I don’t know. But at one point in my life, I was the excited one. Yet today it sits on a garage shelf so high I can’t reach it without a ladder. The happiness it brought me faded. Eventually I wanted an iPhone 4 (with a front-facing camera!), then an iPhone 6 (it was bigger!), then an iPhone 8 (it was waterproof!), and eventually an iPhone 11 (multiple cameras!).

The sage of Ecclesiastes points out the sort of folly I fell into when he says that the new thing everyone is talking about is not really new. And if it isn’t really new, then the happiness it brings us won’t last.

Ecclesiastes is a puzzling book, but it brings a message we so desperately need. Nothing in this world brings lasting happiness. Not money, not marriage, not learning, not power. Meaning and lasting happiness are only found by worshiping Jesus, who is the same today, yesterday, and forever (Heb 13:8). Most of the book is spend showing us where not to look. One of those places not to look is novelty, the shiny new thing.

So why do we keep reaching for the new thing when we know it’s happiness will fade? Because we long for things we had long ago. Everything we do on our phones (look at images, communicate, marvel at stories, exchange money) our ancestors did around a campfire and at the city gates. And every deep desire that keeps driving us back to our phones, Adam had as he walked with God in Eden. Do you keep picking yours up because you want to see something worth marveling at? Adam got to marvel at the very face of God in the cool of the day. Did you pick it up because you wanted food brought to your door? Adam reached out his hand to eat better fruit as often as he wanted. Do you want the affirmation of hearts and likes? Adam heard the voice of God call him, “my son.” Every good and deep thing your heart longs for, humanity once had in God himself.

That doesn’t mean you have to put your phone down. But it does mean that if you want lasting and deeper happiness, you must come to Jesus Christ to worship him. Only he can satisfy, and only he never fades.

Editor’s Note: This article first appeared in a Saturday edition of the Daily Journal.