Everything Is Never Enough
Ecclesiastes' Surprising Path to Resilient Happiness
Bobby Jamieson
(Author)
21,000+ Reviews
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Description
How can you be happy? Who can show you the path to happiness? Pastor Bobby Jamieson shatters our illusions of what will make us happy and blazes a surprisingly simple trail to resilient joy.
“Bobby Jamieson brings an ancient text to bear on the challenge of living fully. The result is fresh, direct, and enlivening.”—Matthew B. Crawford, New York Times bestselling author of Shop Class as Soul Craft
Does it feel like you should be happy, and want to be happy, and try to be happy, but somehow you just can’t be happy? One way to be unhappy is not getting what you most want. Another way is to get all you could possibly want…only to discover that everything is not enough.
The writer of Ecclesiastes did it all. He had money, education, possessions, sex, and power—everything the modern world promises will bring joy—and yet he was never satisfied. And from his discontent, we benefit and find a surprisingly simple trail to lasting joy.
In this thoughtful exploration of Ecclesiastes, which speaks to all of us who feel restless and unfulfilled, Pastor Bobby Jamieson:
• teaches us how placing life on an eternal horizon empowers us to experience joy no matter our circumstances
• puts Ecclesiastes into dialogue with profoundly insightful critics of modernity to show that life in the modern West is a conveyor belt toward burnout
• helps us dismantle our false hopes one by one, clearing ground for true satisfaction
Poetic yet straightforward, philosophical yet accessible, Everything Is Never Enough frees us to stop grasping at broken promises and start receiving life as a gift of God’s grace.
“Bobby Jamieson brings an ancient text to bear on the challenge of living fully. The result is fresh, direct, and enlivening.”—Matthew B. Crawford, New York Times bestselling author of Shop Class as Soul Craft
Does it feel like you should be happy, and want to be happy, and try to be happy, but somehow you just can’t be happy? One way to be unhappy is not getting what you most want. Another way is to get all you could possibly want…only to discover that everything is not enough.
The writer of Ecclesiastes did it all. He had money, education, possessions, sex, and power—everything the modern world promises will bring joy—and yet he was never satisfied. And from his discontent, we benefit and find a surprisingly simple trail to lasting joy.
In this thoughtful exploration of Ecclesiastes, which speaks to all of us who feel restless and unfulfilled, Pastor Bobby Jamieson:
• teaches us how placing life on an eternal horizon empowers us to experience joy no matter our circumstances
• puts Ecclesiastes into dialogue with profoundly insightful critics of modernity to show that life in the modern West is a conveyor belt toward burnout
• helps us dismantle our false hopes one by one, clearing ground for true satisfaction
Poetic yet straightforward, philosophical yet accessible, Everything Is Never Enough frees us to stop grasping at broken promises and start receiving life as a gift of God’s grace.
Product Details
| Publisher | WaterBrook |
| Publish Date | April 22, 2025 |
| Pages | 288 |
| Language | English |
| Type |  Paperback / softback |
| EAN/UPC | 9780593601310 |
| Dimensions | 8.0 X 5.2 X 0.7 inches | 0.6 pounds |
About the Author
Bobby Jamieson is a widely respected pastor, scholar, and award-winning author. Originally from San Francisco, Bobby began a career as a jazz saxophonist before redirecting into pastoral ministry. He has degrees from the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and a PhD from the University of Cambridge, where he taught Greek and New Testament. Bobby served as an associate pastor of Capitol Hill Baptist Church in Washington, D.C., before moving with his wife and their four kids to plant a church in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.
Reviews
“In this brilliantly crafted book, Bobby Jamieson brings this ancient wisdom to the deepest questions of life. Everything Is Never Enough . . . [is] a tremendous accomplishment as a pastoral application to modern life and culture, engaging with modern sociology and speaking directly to the questions we all ask.”—Gavin Ortlund, pastor, speaker, and author of Why God Makes Sense in a World That Doesn’t
“Do you feel thwarted and cramped by the ambient lameness of the modern world and suspect the problem goes deep? In Everything Is Never Enough, Bobby Jamieson brings an ancient text to bear on the challenge of living fully. The result is fresh, direct, and enlivening. With the ancient author, Jamieson helps us see the gifts that God is ‘constantly flinging’ at us.”—Matthew B. Crawford, writer and fellow at the Institute for Advanced Studies in Culture at the University of Virginia
“Everything Is Never Enough is many things at once, but above all, it is a marvel. It is a searching commentary on the most challenging book of the Bible. It is an invitation to anyone curious enough about life to be dissatisfied with it to press on that bruise, to learn from the pain, to see beyond it to its sources—both without and within. I am overwhelmed and impressed, not to mention jealous, that Bobby Jamieson is this learned, this wise, this incisive.”—Brad East, associate professor of theology at Abilene Christian University and author of Letters to a Future Saint
“Few books in history have examined the subject of happiness more insightfully and honestly than Ecclesiastes. In this thoughtful and often sparkling introduction, Bobby Jamieson shows us why its ancient wisdom is exactly what we need today and how we might live in ways that benefit from it.”—Andrew Wilson, teaching pastor at King’s Church London
“Relish this book with an open Bible that you might see the world more clearly, enjoy God’s gifts more fully, and fear God more completely.”—James M. Hamilton Jr., professor of biblical theology at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and senior pastor at Kenwood Baptist Church
“Along with a wildly heterogeneous body of biblical criticism and commentary over the centuries, Ecclesiastes has occasioned an equally varied tradition of engagement directed not at scholars and students but at ‘ordinary readers,’ however defined. Bobby Jamieson’s Everything Is Never Enough is the best book in this vein I’ve seen since Jacques Ellul’s Reason for Being.”—John Wilson, contributing editor at Englewood Review of Books and senior editor at Marginalia Review of Books
“As a pastor, I’m excited to get this book into the hands of my congregants. As a father of young adults and teenagers, I’m excited for my children to read and grow in how to live faithfully in this world.”—John Starke, lead pastor of Apostles Uptown in New York City
“Do you feel thwarted and cramped by the ambient lameness of the modern world and suspect the problem goes deep? In Everything Is Never Enough, Bobby Jamieson brings an ancient text to bear on the challenge of living fully. The result is fresh, direct, and enlivening. With the ancient author, Jamieson helps us see the gifts that God is ‘constantly flinging’ at us.”—Matthew B. Crawford, writer and fellow at the Institute for Advanced Studies in Culture at the University of Virginia
“Everything Is Never Enough is many things at once, but above all, it is a marvel. It is a searching commentary on the most challenging book of the Bible. It is an invitation to anyone curious enough about life to be dissatisfied with it to press on that bruise, to learn from the pain, to see beyond it to its sources—both without and within. I am overwhelmed and impressed, not to mention jealous, that Bobby Jamieson is this learned, this wise, this incisive.”—Brad East, associate professor of theology at Abilene Christian University and author of Letters to a Future Saint
“Few books in history have examined the subject of happiness more insightfully and honestly than Ecclesiastes. In this thoughtful and often sparkling introduction, Bobby Jamieson shows us why its ancient wisdom is exactly what we need today and how we might live in ways that benefit from it.”—Andrew Wilson, teaching pastor at King’s Church London
“Relish this book with an open Bible that you might see the world more clearly, enjoy God’s gifts more fully, and fear God more completely.”—James M. Hamilton Jr., professor of biblical theology at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and senior pastor at Kenwood Baptist Church
“Along with a wildly heterogeneous body of biblical criticism and commentary over the centuries, Ecclesiastes has occasioned an equally varied tradition of engagement directed not at scholars and students but at ‘ordinary readers,’ however defined. Bobby Jamieson’s Everything Is Never Enough is the best book in this vein I’ve seen since Jacques Ellul’s Reason for Being.”—John Wilson, contributing editor at Englewood Review of Books and senior editor at Marginalia Review of Books
“As a pastor, I’m excited to get this book into the hands of my congregants. As a father of young adults and teenagers, I’m excited for my children to read and grow in how to live faithfully in this world.”—John Starke, lead pastor of Apostles Uptown in New York City
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