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- Apr 25, 2006
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25 April 2007
Ecclesiastes 2:17-23
So I hated life. It made me sad to think that everything here on earth is useless, like chasing the wind. I hated all the things I had worked for here on earth, because I must leave them to someone who will live after me. Someone else will control everything for which I worked so hard here on earth, and I don't know if he will be wise or foolish. This is also useless. So I became sad about all the hard work I had done here on earth.
People can work hard using all their wisdom, knowledge, and skill, but they will die, and other people will get the things for which they worked. They did not do the work, but they will get everything. This is also unfair and useless. What do people get for all their work and struggling here on earth? All of their lives their work is full of pain and sorrow, and even at night their minds don't rest. This is also useless.
A couple of years after I left university, I had a chat with a friend who was working for one of the big financial institutions in London. He told me that he was regularly in the office at 6am, and often wouldn't leave until 11pm. He also worked most weekends.
None of this was compulsory. He chose to do this because, he said, if he kept this up for the next 15 years, he'd earn enough money to be able to retire at 40.
Maybe you know somebody like that. Someone who works solely to earn money, who 'lives to work', rather than 'works to live'. Anyone with that mindset may find Solomon's words thought-provoking - all the things they have worked for will eventually end up in the hands of someone else; someone who has not worked for them and who may waste, spoil or lose them.
So does this mean that work itself is useless, and we should all sit around doing nothing? Of course not! Work (paid or unpaid) is important - and necessary - and the meaning of work comes when we examine our motives for working. Why do we work? To gain things for ourselves? Or for other motives, such as to care for our family, or to serve God? Working for ourselves has all sorts of dangers, such as selfishness and greed. But working for others, especially God, brings inner joy.
Who are you working for today?
Think about what you have to do today. Then offer it all to God and pray that you may do it for his glory, not your own.
Written by Capt. Chris Routledge CA.
Ecclesiastes 2:17-23
So I hated life. It made me sad to think that everything here on earth is useless, like chasing the wind. I hated all the things I had worked for here on earth, because I must leave them to someone who will live after me. Someone else will control everything for which I worked so hard here on earth, and I don't know if he will be wise or foolish. This is also useless. So I became sad about all the hard work I had done here on earth.
People can work hard using all their wisdom, knowledge, and skill, but they will die, and other people will get the things for which they worked. They did not do the work, but they will get everything. This is also unfair and useless. What do people get for all their work and struggling here on earth? All of their lives their work is full of pain and sorrow, and even at night their minds don't rest. This is also useless.
A couple of years after I left university, I had a chat with a friend who was working for one of the big financial institutions in London. He told me that he was regularly in the office at 6am, and often wouldn't leave until 11pm. He also worked most weekends.
None of this was compulsory. He chose to do this because, he said, if he kept this up for the next 15 years, he'd earn enough money to be able to retire at 40.
Maybe you know somebody like that. Someone who works solely to earn money, who 'lives to work', rather than 'works to live'. Anyone with that mindset may find Solomon's words thought-provoking - all the things they have worked for will eventually end up in the hands of someone else; someone who has not worked for them and who may waste, spoil or lose them.
So does this mean that work itself is useless, and we should all sit around doing nothing? Of course not! Work (paid or unpaid) is important - and necessary - and the meaning of work comes when we examine our motives for working. Why do we work? To gain things for ourselves? Or for other motives, such as to care for our family, or to serve God? Working for ourselves has all sorts of dangers, such as selfishness and greed. But working for others, especially God, brings inner joy.
Who are you working for today?
Think about what you have to do today. Then offer it all to God and pray that you may do it for his glory, not your own.
Written by Capt. Chris Routledge CA.
