Note: New podcast episode link in the footnotes below – “Habits are Coordinates.”
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In Ecclesiastes 1:8, the teacher says: “All things are full of weariness; a man cannot utter it; the eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing.”
In other words, nothing makes him content. Nothing he sees, and nothing he hears. Clearly, he’s not having a good day! He feels as if the things he experiences with his senses can’t satisfy his deepest needs.
Some of you might remember a song called, “She ain’t pretty, she just looks that way.”* Basically, a guy likes a girl. She’s pretty. But as he finds out, she only looks that way! The eyes can be deceiving.
I recently saw a T.V. commercial. In short, everyone thinks everyone else is having a better time than they are. The guy on the street thinks the person in the restaurant has a better life than he does. In turn, the person in the restaurant thinks the person in a helicopter above has a better life than he does. That person envies someone in a jet plane higher in the sky. And then that person looks down and envies the person with a simpler life below on the street.
Things aren’t always as they seem. They just look that way.
In today’s world, we need this reminder. Not everyone is having a better time than you. Not everyone has a better life than you. Further, their lives are not always as they seem. People tend to show and share the good news, not the things they don’t want others to see!
But—and this is key—our trajectory in life shouldn’t be determined by other people. It should be determined by Christ. Other people will come and go. Some will seem amazing. Some will seem like a disaster. Sometimes you’ll be doing great. Other times, you’ll be the one trudging through a valley.
This is why we need to focus on Christ.
Our identity is in him.
Our worth is in him.
Our purpose is in him.
Our salvation is in him.
Things in our world aren’t always as they seem. They just look that way. Only Christ fully satisfies.
Notes:
–New Podcast episode (audio and video options): “Habits are Coordinates.” Click here, or find it on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or YouTube.
-*This is by a band called The Northern Pikes. It was written by Bryan Potvin.
-The Up Devotional is published 5 days a week (Monday-Friday) and returns on September 21, 2026.
-Bible quotes, ESV.
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