MAKING THE MOST OF THE TIME GOD HAS GIVEN US TO ENJOY THE GOOD LIFE ON EARTH
One of my embarrassing moments while doing Church work occurred in the “setting” room of a farm house not far from the church. Our annual revival was in progress; we had been asked to visit an old guy who seldom darkened the door of the church, although his wife was right regular.
So, one evening, the visiting evangelist went with me to make a house call; we arrived right after the ole farmer finished his daily routine in the field of hard work. After greeting one another and taking our seats in the family room, my spiel began as usual by telling the guy in coveralls why we were there, then introducing our guest preacher to him.
When our evangelist asked the ole guy if he had any questions, the farmer said he had just one: “What do you do for a living?”
This farmer worked from sunup to sundown by the sweat of his brow, and simply could not fathom earning wages by any method other than tilling the soil - which is as biblical as it can be!
Hard work! Yet, so is housekeeping … bookkeeping … teaching … nursing … trucking … carpentry … preaching . . . any other job or profession “under the sun”. As you review your life, what comes to mind when someone asks you, “What did you do for a living?”
As he continued his search for meaning in life, Solomon thought about all the work he had done. He wondered if, for example, workaholics could gain more satisfaction from doing more work than necessary.
The Bible is clear that work is a good thing. God actually gave to the first of our kind on this earth tasks to be done - and it’s worth noting that these assignments were handed out before the first of our kind sinned. So, no one can honestly claim that work is a curse. Solomon wanted to know if the work we do is the real reason why we are here --- Ecclesiastes 2:18—23 . . .
The thought occurs to me that, from Solomon’s perspective, work today is similar to work in his day in that there was (is) an obsession with work as a means to the worry-free life of being “at ease in Zion”. Rather than enjoy life as they go about daily routines, some folks do more and more that takes them away from family and church life – in an all-out effort to lay up treasures on earth for living the good life in the future. Thus . . .
Workaholics always strive for something greater! And, wouldn’t you know it, about the time we reach that “golden strand” - get up and go gets up and goes . . . we get our exercise going to and from doctors’ offices . . . reality sets in: we can’t take it with us . . . about all we have left to feel good about (materially) is what we possess to pass on to our survivors - some of whom, like Solomon, we may not trust to take good care of, let alone use wisely, that which they will inherit.
Solomon had a good reason to feel the despair of distrusting his own son Rehoboam inasmuch as Solomon’s bent toward frivolity - and disloyalty to God - had rubbed off on his Rehoboam, whereas Jeroboam probably had his mother’s genes.
Sure enough, following Solomon’s death, his son Rehoboam disowned his father’s legacy, disavowed his wishes, disobeyed God’s command, - thus, causing disruption and disunity which led to division of the kingdom into factions.
Solomon’s sins haunted him as he neared the end of his life - to the extent that he was on the verge of an emotional collapse – his days were spent grieving and his nights were spent with his mind ruminating like a cow chewing its cud – which prompted him to protest: “I hate this” . . . “I do not want to deal with this” . . . “I am miserable (and want everyone else to feel my pain . . . misery)! Well . . .
Deal with his miserable feelings he must, and he did - Ecclesiastes 3:9-13 . . .
Talk about turning a negative into a positive! Despite his feelings of futility, Solomon’s head got in touch with his heart so that, as a man of wisdom from God, he came full circle to acknowledge:
“There is a time for everything under heaven” (3:1) . . . Our time on this earth is limited, so we must make the most of the time God has given us.
Constrained by time, it is imperative that we remember who we really are – eternal beings created in the image, the likeness of God, to enjoy fellowship with God and one another. “He put eternity into their hearts”!
As pilgrims passing through, no matter what we do, there is deep down in our hearts an innate yearning, a longing for something better!
Yet, there are benefits to be had from work – whether our work is laboring with hands, applying minds or serving others. As a general rule, hard work is a must.
Sometimes work becomes a struggle. Once we find our niche and begin to do our work “for the Lord”, what a difference it makes in attitude and in practice!
“Hear ye the Master’s call, ‘Give me thy best’, for, be it great or small, that is the test. Do then the best you can, not for reward, not for the praise of man, but for the Lord.”
Folks: Please refrain from downplaying simple tasks we are called on to do. Any work, no matter how mundane, if it’s done for the glory of God, is good - and spiritual. “So,” advised the great apostle, “whether you eat or drink, or work, do all to the glory of God.” (I Corinthians 10:31)
In a well-known story about an incident that occurred in the Middle Ages, a traveler passes a building project and asks one of the laborers what he is doing. Says the laborer: “I’m busting rocks.” Another worker is asked the same question, and answers, “I’m earning wages for my family.” The question is posed to a third worker who, with a glint in his eye, responds, “I’m building a cathedral to the glory of God.”
Folks: Apart from God in our lives, we gained (gain) little or nothing from all that hard work. But, knowing that God has a purpose for us, we find meaning in our tasks of the past - indeed, in every area of our lives in the present.
But that’s not all, folks! God is not through with us yet!
With God in our lives, the longer we stay here the greater our chance for advancement toward a higher level of maturity that will empower us, when we arrive at our heavenly home, to appreciate and enjoy the wonders of heaven all the more! God, who brought us into this world for a purpose, has placed eternity in our hearts! In doing so, the concept of “forever” comes from Him.
The Lord our God causes us to know that there is more to life on this earth than “making a living”; we are “making a life” in the here and now in preparation for the “more” that God has in store for us in the hereafter!
One of the greatest theologians of our lifetime, C. S. Lewis, in his practical book, “Mere Christianity”, makes an astute observation about the frustration we often feel due to our dissatisfaction with so much of what we have and do:
“If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, most probably the explanation is that I was made for another world. If none of my earthly pleasures (treasures) satisfy that deep longing in my heart, this does not prove that the universe is a fraud. Most likely it means that earthly pleasures (and treasures) were never meant to satisfy that deep desire – only to arouse it, to suggest that the real thing is yet to be.”
Because of our relationship with Jesus Christ, whose saving work redeemed us from meaninglessness to meaningfulness, our work has purpose, and life is meant to be enjoyed while we are here even though we look forward to the hereafter - in anticipation of the joy that awaits us when we shall forever be with, and serve, God our Father and Jesus our Savior, in whose name we “carry on” until then!
“Until then my heart will go on singing,
Until then with joy I’ll carry on,
Until the day my eyes behold my Savior,
Until the day God calls me Home”. Amen.
