Have you ever considered storing your silver and gold items in a refrigerator? Most likely this never crossed your mind – and yet the apostle Peter calls silver and gold perishables. As is always the case when it comes to reading any passage of scripture, there is more to it than meets the eye at first glance.

Peter calls things perishable that leave us empty. He is talking about “the empty way of life” which has been handed down to us generation after generation and goes back to Adam and Eve. Jesus broke with this family tradition. He paid with His life blood to redeem us from the empty way of life.

King Solomon was a wealthy man and he experienced firsthand how perishable silver and gold can be; here is his take on life (Ecclesiastes 1:1-2):

“The words of the Teacher, son of David, king in Jerusalem:

‘Meaningless! Meaningless!’
    says the Teacher.
‘Utterly meaningless!
   Everything is meaningless.’”

In his book “Ecclesiastes”, King Solomon describes life without a purpose, and he goes into much detail about it. Reading between the lines, his resulting depression is apparent. King Solomon experienced the empty way of life.

Thankfully, we were not created to live a futile life. We were created to live eternal life, and Jesus makes all the difference. We won’t find fulfillment outside His realm. Through Him, we have everything.

Meaningful, meaningful – utterly meaningful is everything when God is with us – on this side of heaven and beyond.