Finishing is better than starting.
Finishing is better than starting. Patience is better than pride. -Ecclesiastes 7:8 NLT
Life is full of unfinished tasks. Often we start things that we never finish. Many times life's chores are so much harder than we imagined when we started them. It is so easy to start things but not so easy to finish. It is hard to hear words of needing patience at the beginning of a task but it is not long before we understand how impatient we can be when difficulties come and the end seems so far away. Patience often tests our pride. Humility is needed to finish.
The prophet Micah tells us what is required to finish life well. He says that a good life is all about doing the right things, being compassionate and walking humbly with God. I think that each of these embody, in a sense, what it means to be patient. Being patient means that we see past the present day's difficulties and, with hope, humbly do the things today that help us to finish well. Sometimes, if we are patient, we will experience the satisfaction of finishing what we started.
Help us Lord to confront the pride that keeps us from finishing. Teach us to walk humbly.
A good reputation ...
A good reputation is more valuable than costly perfume. And the day you die is better than the day you are born. Better to spend your time at funerals than at parties. After all, everyone dies — so the living should take this to heart.
[Ecclesiastes 7:1 NLT]
Interesting how Solomon connects our reputation to our death. Perhaps it is only in death that our reputation is fully known? Maybe the eulogies spoken at our funerals say more about us than the way that we perceive our own lives?
I am reminded of the images painted of Ebeneezer Scrooge in A Christmas Carol and how he was given the opportunity to reflect on the reputation that he had earned in his life. Would that all of us had the ability to see ourselves that way.
What do you think you would see if you were, like Scrooge, taken on a trip down memory lane? Do you think that it would, like Scrooge, affect your present day behaviors? Or what if you were shown the day of your death - would it affect you at all? I have given several eulogies - contemplating the life of one who has died gives one occasion to think about their own life and how they would like to be remembered ... and the legacy they will leave.
Help us today dear Lord to build a reputation that honors you. Cause it to be a legacy of love.
Like working for the wind ...
People leave this world no better off than when they came. All their hard work is for nothing—like working for the wind. Throughout their lives, they live under a cloud—frustrated, discouraged, and angry. Even so, I have noticed one thing, at least, that is good. It is good for people to eat, drink, and enjoy their work under the sun during the short life God has given them, and to accept their lot in life. And it is a good thing to receive wealth from God and the good health to enjoy it. To enjoy your work and accept your lot in life—this is indeed a gift from God. God keeps such people so busy enjoying life that they take no time to brood over the past. -Ecclesiastes 5:16-20 NLT
Confucius, another wise man, once said: "Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life". So often we see our work as a means to an end and we end up choosing a job for all the wrong reasons. When I look back on my life I can see that the jobs I took for financial reasons were the ones I loved the least. Sometimes we acquire and stay in jobs because of the salary - paying the mortgage on that big home can keep us trapped in jobs we hate.
What do you think Solomon means when he instructs us to accept our lot in life? I do not think that he is telling us to give in to some sort of fatalistic thinking. Neither do I think that he is saying that we should not have professional goals that we pursue in life. It seems that he is saying that we can only be happy today. Yet sadly we often spend so much time pursuing the happiness of tomorrow that we live lives that are anything but happy - in that we chase the wind.
Help us Lord to enjoy life right where we are and to be thankful for our blessings.
We can’t take our riches with us.
Those who love money will never have enough. How meaningless to think that wealth brings true happiness! The more you have, the more people come to help you spend it. So what good is wealth—except perhaps to watch it slip through your fingers! ... There is another serious problem I have seen under the sun. Hoarding riches harms the saver. Money is put into risky investments that turn sour, and everything is lost. In the end, there is nothing left to pass on to one’s children. We all come to the end of our lives as naked and empty-handed as on the day we were born. We can’t take our riches with us. -Ecclesiastes 5:10-11,13-15 NLT
I once heard that the bible speaks more about money that it does anything else. Not sure that it is true but it does seem that Solomon speaks about it quite a bit. Here he speaks as one who was probably one the richest men of all time. This king, who had wealth beyond measure, writes about money not being enough, hoarding riches, risky investments and how we are all the same in the end. I think that he had a perspective that few of us will ever have.
In contrast to the opulence of wealth is the contentment that we hear that people have in foreign lands. Many who come back from third world countries often regale us with stories of happy people who have no wealth. As Solomon puts it: "How meaningless to think that wealth brings true happiness!" Yet how many of us know this but refuse to be content with what we have? Perhaps the secret to this sort of contentment is simply acknowledging our blessedness?
Forgive us Lord for all of the ways that we love money and the things that money buys. Help us to be content.
Mindless offerings to God ...
As you enter the house of God, keep your ears open and your mouth shut. It is evil to make mindless offerings to God. Don’t make rash promises, and don’t be hasty in bringing matters before God. After all, God is in heaven, and you are here on earth. So let your words be few. -Ecclesiastes 5:1-2 NLT
As I read these verses I am reminded of the first time that I tried to make a deal with God. On that day I began to pray by saying “God if you will heal my wife I will stop drinking” ... as I spoke a presence came over me ... I became aware that I was a sinner ... I felt dirty on the inside ... I quickly changed my prayer and surrendered my life to Christ. Sometimes God goes beyond the words of our mouth and presses into the depths of our heart.
In contrast to these mindless offerings to God, the Apostle Paul speaks to the Romans of a different kind of offering - a living sacrifice that he says is holy and acceptable to God. This kind of sacrifice involves neither mindless promises or commitments to do something if God acts in a certain way. This sacrificial offering says not my will but Thine and fervently asks for Thy kingdom to come on earth as it is in heaven. Such an offering is holy and acceptable to God.
We offer ourselves to you today Lord with absolutely no strings attached. Lead us as you will. We are yours.
They envy their neighbors ...
I observed that most people are motivated to success because they envy their neighbors. But this, too, is meaningless—like chasing the wind. -Ecclesiastes 4:4 NLT
I think that this verse could be something written on the editorial page of our local newspaper. And with respect to envying our neighbors Christians do not seem to fall behind others one bit. When I consider the edifices that we worship in on Sundays I generally see ornately decorated buildings with spaces that are used just one day, and maybe one night, out of the week. But it seems to have always been that way since Solomon built the first temple in Jerusalem.
I wonder what it is that causes us to be motivated by envy? I remember reading that Paul wrote, in the thirteenth chapter of first Corinthians, that love does not envy and feeling convicted about the way that I envied people my age that had good health. Maybe that is the point that Solomon makes here - envy is the polar opposite of love. We cannot be motivated by both. When our banner is love, and not envy, we will cheer on others and work to help them succeed.
Open our eyes to the envy that is leading us astray Lord. Help us to fully embrace love.
With no one to comfort them ...
I saw the tears of the oppressed, with no one to comfort them. -Ecclesiastes 4:1 NLT
I sometimes wonder how the gospel writers knew that Jesus was being moved by compassion to heal the sick. I think that they saw tears in the eyes of God when he saw the pain that people were in. How do the tears of people in pain affect you? I must admit that tears brings tears to my eyes. I have broke down and cried as I prayed for sick and hurting people. How can our response be less than tears when we see reports of people being oppressed around the world?
The phrase "with no one to comfort them" is such a troubling one. Sometimes life can be so hard - especially for children. Again I am drawn back to the example of Jesus Christ in the gospel stories. Time after time he seemed to seek out the folks who were hurting the most. It reminds me of that story he told of how we would be judged based on how we treated the poor, the hungry, the thirsty, the sick and the imprisoned. He has called us to comfort those who cry.
Open our eyes Father to your children who cry and have no one to comfort them. Help us be your loving arms for them.
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