A Happy Recommendation

So I commend the enjoyment of life, because nothing is better for a man under the sun than to eat and drink and be glad.  Then joy will accompany him in his work all the days of the life God has given him under the sun.  Ecclesiastes 8:15.

Reading this for the first time my reaction was different than it is today.  In the beginning, when I was a young man and fledgling Christian, my take on everything filtered through the heroic stories of martyrs, missionaries and sacrifice for God.  I wanted to be one of those heroes, ignoring whatever didn’t seem to support “self-denial”.

Time passes and either we become more entrenched in our beliefs or we adjust to the reality around us.  I’m attempting to do the latter while holding onto certain ideals of the former from Scripture which I believe are true, albeit holding them lightly since I know my interpretation of the facts could be skewed by bias undetected.  I’ve come to understand self-denial differently for one thing.  The underlying teaching we are to be unhappy here so that we can experience the joy of eternity has lost its grip on me because I see God differently now.  Where before I interpreted Solomon’s words as earthly (Christian catch-word meaning sin-infected or base) and lacking the message of Jesus, I now understand Scripture through the eyes of my Master a little better, which is to say He taught this happiness stuff too in a clarifying way.

The idea that suffering for Christ is somehow more worthy than being happy in Him has been steadily growing silly to me.  I know, I know, the preachers of all stripes teach us there’s a difference between joy and happiness…but there really isn’t.  Where the problem lies with us is our sinful nature not the mores of God.  In the beginning He created us to be happy, productive and to live a long time, we are the ones who messed this up and lost track of His intentions.  Where we go wrong is narcissism, selfish ambition and a host of other things we would rather do than conform to the Author and Finisher of our faith.  Now this is not to say we hate God, rather our self-absorption gets in the way of being our true selves.

For instance there is absolutely nothing wrong with being good in business, making lots of money, living a comfortable life, and being happy.  Where this style of living becomes harmful is when we come to the belief we are somehow the author of all of it rather than the recipient of God’s bounty.  Then there’s the problem of attitude, where we come to the belief we are somehow deserving of all the bounty.  And, when we take into account Solomon’s pretty sobering pronouncement that the race is not to the swift, the battle to the strong, nor does wealth come to the brilliant or favor to the learned or food to the wise but time and chance happen to them all, the reality of our place takes the edge off any form of conceit.  It’s the luck of the draw or, rather, life hasn’t accosted some folks same way because they were—by chance of circumstance or choice—out of the way when the wind of change came around.

Solomon is an example of what wealth, power, and wisdom gone awry does to us.  He wasn’t necessarily more evil than other people or weaker in certain areas than everybody else.  No, what happened is he gave into evil by degrees until his wisdom did him no good.  I believe Ecclesiastes is his attempt to shed light on hard lessons learned.  The book becomes a confession of what lead to his own downfall, though not one of self-revelation, his rhetoric here reveals what wisdom can and cannot do for a person submitted to it.

This is the most compelling point he makes to me, because, let’s be honest, it appeals to my missionary/martyrdom conditioning:  Even if we are poor and have barely anything to speak of, happiness can be an option if we keep it simple and decide to be satisfied with the essentials.  The recognition that wealth and power are fleeting or tenuously held at best, can comfort those blessed with one or both by helping them live in contentment.

The recommendation in our text above declares happiness to be a state of being rather than the cause or effect of circumstances; a choice.  I don’t believe Solomon is talking about all circumstances or every situation because he does say just a few verses prior that oppression can weigh heavily on people.  I do accept, however, a person can live in such an attitude of happy contentedness with what he or she has instead of being discontented with what isn’t.  I might be wrong but I believe the message of Matthew 6:25-34 or Luke 12:22-34 at their essence speaks to this principle Solomon espouses.

In my short life I’ve met people representing all spectrums of human strata.  I’ve met wealthy people who are happy or unhappy as well as the poverty stricken dominated by either state of mind.  Some people are happy in nature because that’s how they are wired, I get that, but some choose to find satisfaction in with what is in front of them.  Others of us struggle because of our “wish list” of things we think will fulfill us.

Let me speak to a couple of mine.

I am a romantic soul.

When you read the word “romance” what’s the first thing that comes to mind?  Love, marriage, hearts, flowers, kisses, etc?  Hmmm…then you don’t grasp the real concept of romanticism.  For instance, I read Huckleberry Finn nearly 10 times by the age of 12 or so.  Forget the lack of food, income or anything else, I wanted to float down the Mississippi River on a raft lost in the idyllic life of adventure.  So, when I say “romantic soul” understand it encompasses more than just love feelings for a woman.

How this works out is my perception of a music career.  I romanticized the rock n roll lifestyle to the point of putting it up on a pedestal with the belief that the only place I would ever be satisfied would be there.  I was wrong of course, in the process of growing up I found satisfaction in other places as well.  Yet (and this is a big addendum) I’ve experienced the musical stage and know it is about the only place I’ve ever felt at home.  Some of you might look at artists as odd and strange, which many of us are; but what you find uncomfortable is my comfort zone.  I have never felt as at home in the company of people until I began to hang out with other people who were creative in the arts.  For me it represents that life of floating down the river with Huck and Jim, free of the worries of politics, slavery, oppression and judgmental attitudes.

The other area of romanticism is marriage.  While I was married, I loved being married.  Yet it was a troubled union and not very fun to be with a woman who claimed she loved and liked me but did everything to undermine the man I am.  Still, even after that disaster, I put marriage up on a pedestal in my emotions.  Intellectually and spiritually I know real life is nothing like my imagined relationship, but my emotional/passionate side still hopes.

I guess what I’m driving at here is that happiness can be a state of being rather than tied conditionally to a situation or lifestyle.  I’m happy in a general way.  I don’t like being single—and in saying that I’m not advertising—but I’m still happy.  It’s been a condition of mine for years.  I’m not always in a good mood, joyful or even satisfied with things around or inside me, but I default to happiness—by choice if necessary.

We can’t do very little about the tide of human opinion, the political leanings or even the choices our spouse, children and extended family will make. However, we can choose to be content with our internal world, and at peace with God and mankind as far as it depends on us.  In this, I believe, is the source of all happiness.

Continuing a Theme

I have seen another evil under the sun, and it weighs heavily on men:  God gives a man wealth, possessions and honor, so that he lacks nothing his heart desires, but God does not enable him to enjoy them, and a stranger enjoys them instead.  This is meaningless, a grievous evil.  Ecclesiastes 6:1, 2.

 

Do you hear Solomon refer to God as the one who doesn’t allow the man to enjoy his wealth and honor?  It sounds like God has a direct hand in this man’s misery doesn’t it.   But let’s turn the stone and look at it from another angle.

Earlier in Ecclesiastes we read the reason everything is meaningless is because after a lifetime of striving, someone else gets to spend the results of our efforts.  Why?  Think about why this is true.  What is God doing?  What is the situation in which the person striving finds futility and emptiness at the end of their life?  As far as I can tell, it isn’t God who makes us miserable it’s us.  If all anyone ever does is work without enjoying the gains they have made, they have no one but themselves to blame for the lack of joy they find at the end of the day.

It’s in the programming, in my estimation.  If we give into worry, anxiety and fretting about security and provision, we can’t feel confident our gains will last long enough for us to enjoy them.  It’s a mindset brought on either by our cultural or sub-cultural habits.  For instance a culture could be created by the king or ruler that 60% of all anyone produces goes to the government.  In this case, the seed for next year’s crop, livestock breeding pairs and whatever else we use to earn our way has to come out of the 40% left.  Out of this we also have to make a profit enough to feed, clothe and house ourselves.  Frugality becomes the name of the game and eventually all we know.

Dad was young boy in 1929, roughly 7 or 8, I believe.  The poverty of his family formed his character, pursuits and perception of what it meant to have “enough” because they ended up eating squirrels, possums and rattlesnakes sometimes, just to survive.  I asked him once how his family afforded bullets and gunpowder when they were so dirt poor.  He gave me a crooked grin and said, “I had to become a crackshot, that’s how.”  Every time he shot something he would save the bullet if he could find it as well as the shell, reform it and fill the cartridge again.  Later, my brother, Tom, and he shot a jackrabbit on the run without actually taking careful aim; they just brought the gun to their shoulders, pointed it at the rabbit and shot.  Those who were there said every time they shot, the jackrabbit jumped—meaning it was hit.  Economy developed Dad’s sense of precision and frugality.

Years later, I took him and Mom to an Italian restaurant for dinner.  Dad looked the menu over, picked something and we ordered.  Before the waitress picked up the menus, however, he glanced at the prices and went red in the face.  I guess the dish he ordered was $11 or something like that, which made him squirm and gag.  He refused to eat something that expensive because no food should cost that much.  I ate it for dinner later.

Conditioning is a powerful thing.  People grow up poor who only later in life become prosperous develop certain ticks and habits which affect the way they reason and live.  A man who is afraid of losing his prosperity will work himself into the ground to put as much cushion as possible between him and the feared eventuality.

Taking care of our wealth is scriptural.  Worry and anxiety about it isn’t.

 

Better what the eye sees than the roving of the appetite.  This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind.  Ecclesiastes 6:9.

 

I think the word described is contentment.  Satisfied would be another good one.

Yet the problem with what we call “contentment” is that some people see it as complacency.  It’s not, of course, but it’s sometimes interpreted that way.  Being satisfied with what we have—i.e. being content—doesn’t imply by default a lack of initiative or inventiveness.  Creative endeavor just for the sake of more or craving what someone else has falls under lust and covetousness not true creativity for its own sake.

On the other hand, if we don’t use our curiosity to invent, we don’t improve or change or grow.  This brings up a conundrum for me.  Where’s the middle ground on this?  I mean, if we are to be content with what we have, does that mean our lives and situations cannot be improved?  Think about it for a minute.  On the one hand we have the Bible preaching contentment, then on the other it teaches us to accomplish.  What’s the perfect balance of these two sides?

To my mind it’s more about attitude than anything else.  In cold climates we need to heat our homes during the winter, wear clothing which is insulated and generally get around in slick conditions.  A person moving from a tropical climate could not survive the weather “being content” with what they wore in warmer weather.  So Paul and Jesus must be saying something else.

The attitude of lust gets misdirected to sex alone for most people.  If I mention (which I just did) the word, most people think of porn, promiscuity or extramarital affairs.  Rarely do we take into account the nature of lust is to crave what we don’t have or obsess about what we do.

Better what the eye sees than the roving of the appetite.

Wanting what we have means having what we want.  At the same time, I see no problem with wanting a flat screen TV, new car or better kitchen, if the old ones are about done—or even if they aren’t.  Lust isn’t about wanting new things but being overwhelmed with the desire for them.  In other words, it becomes all we think about.  Covetousness and greed fall under lust, in my estimation.  When we constantly want other things besides what we have, we become like children who obsess over the toy they haven’t got rather than playing with the ones they already have.

It’s one of the problems with giving children or anybody too much.  Ever seen a picture of a little girl or boy with only one toy?  Notice they value their treasure very much and protect it so they can play with it for a long time.  I don’t know that “content” necessarily describes most children in this instance but it’s something along that line of thinking.

I want to stop lusting after the grass in the next field—even if my grass isn’t as good.  Which brings up another point:  Why is my grass sparse or dying?  Almost without fail the reason most of our own “fields” are in bad repair is because we ignore them for the sake of lusting after another.  In other words, we obsess so much about what we don’t have that someone else has that we aren’t able to appreciate what we do have.

The Bible has no problem with gaining more by being profitable through industriousness; nor does there seem to be any condemnation of owning lots of stuff.  What is frowned upon is wanting more “just because” to the point of stealing, defrauding or simply lusting.  Contentment in the biblical sense, therefore, must not imply gains from one’s holdings but gains desired or made at the expense of someone else.  Last thought:  Comparison is probably the culprit in most issues of this sort.  We see what another has and ours pales by comparison.  It could be that the other person has nothing more than what we have available to us, yet because we aren’t satisfied or content with what we have we think theirs is better.

Chasing after the Joneses is like a dog chasing its tail or a person chasing the wind.

New Cow Syndrome

Better a poor but wise youth than an old but foolish king who no longer knows how to take warning.  The youth may have come from prison to the kingship, or he may have been born in poverty within his kingdom.  I saw that all who lived and walked under the sun followed the youth, the king’s successor.  There was no end to all the people who were before them.  But those who came later were not pleased with the successor.  This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind.  Ecclesiastes 4:13-16.

 

At first glance much of the subjects Solomon brings up seem to be redundant, mostly because he keeps repeating the thought:  meaningless, a chasing after the wind.  However, every time he brings up a new example of his point we see how far reaching this problem of chasing after the wind has grown.  It’s not that he’s just bitter and whining about how things are pointless, but that life really has no purpose without eternity in the mix.  A person can be the most talented being since the world began yet once he or she dies, all their work will be forgotten in a generation or two—if that long—and so come to nothing.  It almost seems like wasted effort.

Yet Solomon isn’t telling us our accomplishments are completely wasted effort merely that when we do so in order to replace someone else or make a name for ourselves we need to consider whether or not it’s worth it.

I watched a movie years ago that made a joke out of men’s inability to commit and called it the “new cow syndrome”—quoting the example of bulls preferring a new cow to mate with once they were finished with the current one.  The whole point is that the reason men get bored with their current girlfriend or wife is because they have already had them and so want something new.  Solomon uses something similar in his example of the young man becoming king.

In our political system here in America we see much the same problem.  Currently Barak Obama is president of the United States.  He was such a popular candidate because he was 1) mixed race but looked black, 2)  a democrat with socialism leanings (not communism), 3) had grown up in a single parent household 4) became wealthy through hard work and dedication.  There is much to admire about him, though I disagree with some of his politics and policies.  From what can be ascertained he seems like a pretty decent dude and cares for people genuinely.  What’s ironic is that many who supported him because he was the first black candidate with a chance to win now want someone else, proving Solomon’s point.

The human race is looking for a replacement god.  For a time it was the new king, duke or earl, mayor or local elder, now it’s celebrities and politicians.  Unfortunately, the bad taste after the initial couple of bites has begun to sour our perspective and ruin our appetite.  I don’t know what we were expecting but celebrities and politicians are merely human beings who have made it into the spotlight.  They are no more capable of handling fame and fortune than anyone else—though some might have grown up in with these things.  The human tendency to seek pleasure even when it means censure if caught remains true in this arena as much has it does in back alley.

It starts at birth pretty much.  We see it after birthdays and special holidays like Christmas where kids get a present they’re excited about for 40 seconds then a week later it’s left outside in the rain and they could care less.  When we’re older it’s getting our license or being able to drink, when that gets old it becomes whatever’s next, marriage, jobs, houses, cars, and the list could go on and on.  But we’re never happy with any of it for long.  It’s no wonder Solomon exclaimed,  All things are full of weariness…

I once read an “Archie Comics” evangelistic booklet where Archie said to Jughead,  “Money doesn’t buy happiness, Jughead!”  “No,” came the reply, “but it make misery a lot more fun!”

It’s true as far as it goes.  We might not be happy, but at least we’re having fun, and for most of us that’s as close as it gets.  I think Paul said it best, Godliness with contentment is great gain.  The strangest thing imaginable to me is the fact that we get toys we’re not content to own—and I’m talking about adults here as well.  A guy gets a fishing boat but sees a “better” one than he has and just has to work, save or go in debt to get it.  All the while the boat he has is quite sufficient for his needs.

At the same time it’s not a sin or even faithless to want certain things.  Some people need a new car cuz the one they have is causing them no end of trouble.  Others, like me, want a few things that would add to the mix of their goals but are not necessarily vital.  For instance, I’d love to own or rent a Marshall JCM 800 50/100 watt amp with a 4 x 12 cab to record some of my guitar parts.  I can’t afford it and don’t plan on going into debt to get it, so I’ll be content with the Fender Hot Rod DeVille 4 x 10 I have that’s fully paid for and works fine.  Sure it doesn’t get the crunch I want for certain songs, but I can work with its sound to make it happen.  And if you’re honest, there are things you want but don’t necessarily need to make your hobbies or jobs work.

All this to say:  the best we can do is to learn the principle of content and teach our children to practice it as well.  The local politician, celebrity, social group, spouse, children or whatever can wear us down, so take a break and enjoy them for a time instead of working at them.  I don’t believe we need to be satisfied with everything, unless it meets our goals.  But I do believe that in Christ we must learn to be content with what is “out loud” so that our children as well as those who watch our lives see a testimony of what the presence of Christ does for those who believe.  Without this contentment our witness is spitting into the wind and chasing rainbows for gold instead of life.

Successful Envy

And I saw that all labor and all achievement spring from man’s envy of his neighbor.  This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind.

The fool folds his hands and ruins himself.  Better one handful with tranquility than two handfuls with toil and chasing after the wind.  Ecclesiastes 4:4-6.

 

Often times we read these types of statements without connecting them, as if they were unrelated truths or proverbs just haphazardly thrown into the paragraph.  Yet if we look closely, we can see the relationship between the two ideas.

I looked up the word used for “fool” in our text just for fun and got an education on its various meanings.  The word used here means “self-confident” or someone who is informed on what is right per his/her religious instructions but ignores the wisdom.  In the context above it would take on significance by being stated, “The overly self-confident person folds his hands and ruins himself.”  People like this chase after wealth with the air of someone who feels they know better.  A similar word was used to name David’s nemesis in 1 Samuel 25.

It would be sorta’ like a runner who knew he or she was fast but coasted the last leg of the race because of their over confidence.  They would come in second or third, not because they couldn’t do better with more effort but from pride in their own prowess.

I’m gonna’ take this one step further though.

Both those who fold their hands or who chase after the Joneses are fools for they ignore wisdom.  Solomon concludes that having one handful with tranquility is by far better than two handfuls with toil and chasing after the wind, not because achievement or toil are bad but due to the motivation inspiring them.  If our goal is to own what others gained, then we will work ourselves into the ground or figure out a way to take it—legally (through loopholes in the law) or illegally.  Envy produces covetousness, which if left to fester, will produce something even worse.

There’s also another spin for this part of the passage which strikes me as lethal.  Some will give up because two handfuls take far too much anxiety, instead they approach their idea of “tranquility” through the lens of one who is afraid to deal with the added stress of striving.  While this is truth even in this context, I don’t think Solomon was making this point, however, since his illustration after this goes the other direction—striving after two handfuls is futility when one will do.

What would it be like if we all forgot about competing to get the best of one another and decided to accomplish great things for the joy of doing them?  What would the world be like if our greatest successes were celebrated with parties instead of jealousy or critique?  What would our own lives be like if we set out to build, create or be something just because our Creator made it possible for us to do so?  What kind of world would we live in if everyone shared the resources and made sure we all had enough—and when someone didn’t have enough, we took from our abundance to make sure they did?  What if the leaders of nations or that local book club (or whatever) were excited when someone in their group succeeded beyond their expectations?  What would our relationships be like if we decided being top dog meant another way to serve?  What if competition really was fun and for the joy of doing it rather than being better than or one-upping (is that even a word?) someone else.

Paul said, Godliness with contentment is great gain.  If we struggle to be content, it has to do with our attitude about life rather than what we do or don’t have.  I’d love to own a flat screen TV, but I can’t afford one, so I’m content with the one I have.  It’s odd that things become more important than our relationships all too often.  For years now I worked to have the attitude to be at peace than striving to get somewhere just like or better than someone else.  This passage is one of my earliest memories, for Ecclesiastes was probably the fourth or fifth book I read after I gave my life to Jesus and this truth stood out for me.  I haven’t always been content or happy with my life, but I gotta’ tell ya, the only time I’ve ever been peaceful has been in this mindset.

The word most misused in the English language has to be “deserve” because people will tell you they deserve things you know they haven’t worked for ever.  It’s pretty sad when we put a price tag on our actions above what they warrant.  To be blunt, we don’t really know what the rewards of any action should be for the simple reason our standard of sin is that murderer, child-molester, career thief or whoever we hold up as worse than ourselves to feel better about the sin we not only tolerate in our own lives but cherish.  The reference of truth for the godly must center on Jesus, the author and completer of our faith.  Our wealth, ideals and whatever else we value grows out of what He considers to be worthy pursuits.  Envy, jealousy, covetousness and the like step outside of His character and thus outside of our scope, if our spiritual eyes are fixed on Him.

Full Circle

I also thought, “As for men, God tests them so that they may see that they are like the animals.  Man’s fate is like that of the animals; the same fate awaits them both:  As one dies, so dies the other.  All have the same breath; man has no advantage over the animal.  Everything is meaningless.  All go to the same place; all come from dust, and to dust all return.  Who knows if the spirit of man goes upward and if the spirit of the animal goes down into the earth?

So I saw that there is nothing better for a man than to enjoy his work, because that is his lot.  For who can bring him to see what will happen after him?  Ecclesiastes 3:18-22.

 

What comes next is a bit of a ride for some people, so I need those who read to think outside their own box and accept what I’m saying as speculation rather than conclusion.

Now, with the disclaimer out of the way, here goes.

I can hear some people objecting to Solomon’s conclusion of comparing humans with animals, but to my way of thinking they are ignoring the pure physicality of his argument.  In almost every physical way we are like animals for we breathe oxygen, absorb water, eat food and have organs such as the skin, heart, lungs, etc.  Our DNA might be slightly different but through scientific research we’re discovering it’s not by much.  So, he’s completely accurate about certain aspects of human biology.

Where we probably differ is in the spiritual realm.  This can’t be proven since no one can definitively deny any animal’s cognition beyond a shadow of doubt.  We don’t know if the spirit of an animal is the same type of spirit as that of a human, though some have concluded they don’t have souls.  I don’t know one way or another, and I think those who argue for either/or/and don’t know either.  We can’t conclude anything until we enter the mind of an animal and see, hear, touch and experience what they do.  In other words, if the animals have emotions, then how cognizant or self-aware they are will dictate how we view them.

But Solomon’s argument isn’t about self-awareness for it focuses on the mortality of all over the science of cognition.  His premise is that both have the same breath, which is quite true, if we agree that most animals need oxygen to live.  Both turn to dust when they have died after a time in the soil.  The only thing left of anyone is the bones, amazingly enough, but eventually even these petrify and become something other.  When we die the same thing happens to each species; no one has any advantage in death.

Where Solomon does differentiate a bit is in the spirit.  His question Who knows if the spirit of man goes upward and if the spirit of the animal goes down into the earth? takes on an issue of the day, argued into the ground because a conclusion could not be reached by facts alone.  Man’s cutoff state from the spiritual dimension leaves us blind to its realities and therefore left to our own devices rejection/denial or speculation/assumption are all that’s left to us.  We don’t have the facts to support any conclusion about death.

Like most Christians I’ve heard the stories of those who die on the operating table then come back to life.  The tales of meeting Jesus, angels or loved ones in the afterlife abound but cannot be proven.  I’m not objecting to these stories being true, but I’m saying who knows whether at death we hallucinate or see true?  I’m willing to buy that our spiritual eyes are opened just before we die but the human psyche is so complicated and obscured to most of us (if not all) that any conclusion or acceptance on face value is dangerous if not outright foolish.

Progressive revelation would probably conclude that Solomon’s pre-messianic viewpoint was accurate to the level of revelation of his era.  Post-messianic understanding places the children of God smack-dab in the bosom of Abraham or, if you’re catholic, in Purgatory awaiting the resurrection or someone to buy us out.  The Scripture doesn’t support either view with any clear statements.  I grew up Seventh-day Adventist so was brought up believing in soul sleep, for which there are allusions but no concrete evidence.  At this point in my walk I am an afterlife agnostic—meaning, of course, I just don’t know, and frankly, don’t care.  What happens to the dead is God’s responsibility not mine; hellfire, rewards, punishments, purgatory, heaven, turning into angels, and whatever other Christian myths or conclusions there are out there all leave me baffled because I don’t see these firmly supported by Scripture.  I continue to study and open my mind up to what God does reveal clearly in His word.

And what does God reveal as important for us to believe and follow?

The clearest thing is to revel in His presence within our hearts, let Him change us, live for today without worry about tomorrow or regret for yesterday and generally let our light so shine that men may see our good works and give Him glory.  What happens when we die only matters if we aren’t with God through Christ Jesus.  The arguments for hellfire or soul sleep make little difference to the reality of God.  He is just, merciful, gracious, long-suffering (patient), kind, loving, angry at sin, yet not willing that any should perish but that all come to repentance.  What He does with the wicked is His business.  How He chooses to reward the righteous is His business and none of mine.  My business is to remain faithful to Him not solve all His mysteries.

That said, I don’t see anything wrong with people believing or teaching a theory based on prophetic books or one of the more obscure statements in Scripture.  Just as long as we hold these opinions loosely, it’s all the same to me.  I recognize my ignorance about spiritual matters so I don’t mind not knowing…although my curiosity is definitely aroused.

All this to say, I take Solomon’s question to heart and have concluded we’re given one major mandate by Christ:  Love each other as He loved us.  Everything else is good for learning but this one thing demands something of an attitude change in us.  Our exclusivity, club-orientation and sense of superiority get dashed upon the Rock Christ Jesus through the need to love one another more than we love ourselves or our own opinions. In this way we fulfill Solomon’s conclusion that there’s nothing better for a man than to enjoy his work while he lives.

It might sound simplistic, but it’s a lot harder in practice than theory.  The test, I believe, is whether we’ll be sidetracked by the foolish arguments and subjects that we lack enough concrete Scripture to put down or if we will choose to follow after love and the rewards the life through Jesus and Him crucified provides.  The former are led by human tendencies without God; the latter demand God be at the helm.

The Truth About Anxiety

What does a man get for all the toil and anxious striving with which he labors under the sun?  All his days his work is pain and grief; even at night his mind does not rest.  This too is meaningless.

A man can do nothing better than to eat and drink and find satisfaction in his work.  This too, I see, is from the hand of God, for without Him, who can eat or find enjoyment.  Ecclesiastes 2:22-24.

 

Jesus said,  “Don’t worry…” for a reason—it’s chasing the wind.  When we worry about what hasn’t happened or what might happen, our perspective becomes constricted and obsessed with the problem, which makes seeing the solution a lot harder.  Jesus’ teaching on worry might not have been taken directly out of this text but the relationship between the two cannot be ignored.

Oddly enough Solomon spells out the problem with way humans think by asking the question, What does a man get for all the toil and anxious striving with which he labors under the sun?  All his days his work is pain and grief; even at night his mind does not rest.  Thus he defines Jesus’ point for Him by expounding on the nature of those who worry about useless stuff.

It’s a poignant question:  What does a man gain from all the toil and anxious striving?

My first answer is heart disease and mental breakdown.

The second answer is much more complicated because this lifestyle demands certain things of us which have nothing to do with happiness or finding enjoyment.  I’ve known plenty of people who work like there’s no tomorrow yet find no sense of fun in their efforts.  The intensity with which they push for their goals is almost admirable except that they hate their lives pretty much.  I’ve known so many workaholics who condemn anyone who isn’t as miserable and driven as they are.  At the end of the day, there has to be some sense of satisfaction with our work or what’s the point?

Now while I agree with a good work ethic and healthy pursuit of our dreams or goals, those who worry about things that can’t be controlled by anybody are simply chasing the wind.  It says something about a society when the prevalent social norm is telling people you can accomplish anything you set out to do no matter what, when the reality is no where near that simple.  We all know this conundrum to be true but most people rarely think it through.

For instance, say a woman builds her business up to where it’s successful by anyone’s standard.  One day her warehouse is robbed and the next her store is burned to the ground.  The cost of rebuilding is prohibitive even with insurance, so she’s ruined and now not able to rebuild her business back to where it was because it will take nearly two years to get the financing and inventory up enough just to open the doors, not to mention to the place she was before the disaster struck.  All of her work and striving came to nothing due to situations completely outside her control.  Yet who thinks about this type of stuff?  Worriers, that’s who!  On the same note, however, if the woman had inventory she hadn’t paid for because she was waiting for sales to take care of the credit card, she’s not only lost her means to pay but become a liability to the credit company through no fault of her own.  The vicious cycle of losing is as unpredictable as the winner’s circle.

I believe both Solomon and Jesus argued for the purpose of mankind in a subtle way.  The fact that the basics of our existence seems to be a theme both emphasized should give us a clue about our own purpose.  If we are to find enjoyment in our work, then working at anything but that which fulfills us must also be outside God’s plan for us.  In other words, those who go into a career just for the money do so outside of God’s design for their lives because a life is more than our possessions or means.  On the other hand, if our career path leads us into greater and greater income, I don’t think that’s outside of God’s “plan” necessarily, it’s just a perk of the path we’re on.

I’m a musician, so my bent is artistic and rather impractical by most people’s standards since there’s no guaranteed income.  Yet, if people like me didn’t exist, the music we all listen to on our iPods and whatnot wouldn’t exist either.  It takes these “impractical” boneheaded people who don’t adhere to the business minded world to create that which entertains us.  The fact that some end up being mega hits and others don’t is simply the luck of the draw, or from specific interference from on high (or below depending on the influence).  I don’t believe every success story out there was directly promoted or influenced by God.  He set in motion certain rules of conduct and nature which, if adhered to loosely or even strictly, usually equal some form of return.  This doesn’t mean we will see a guaranteed return on all our investments, but we will see something.

So worry, anxiety and toil without finding enjoyment or satisfaction are not God’s plan for us.  Telling, isn’t it, that some of the most driven dissatisfied people I know are followers of the Way.  For some reason we’ve come to believe that our happiness doesn’t matter to God at all just because it’s not His number one priority.  This book of wisdom debunks that notion by telling us that a man can do no more than fall in line with how God created the world to operate.  Anyone who gives in to the anxiety of toil has set themselves up as a little god on earth, for only a belief that I control my destiny by my own power over all circumstances and people keeps me on such a path.  The lie of this belief is so obvious none of us admit to believing it in a discussion of the facts.  Our daily routine and attitude tell a different tale altogether, however.

To find peace, harmony and a sense of satisfaction and happiness we must let go of trying to be gods and let God be in charge.  Our attitudes and routine must align with the reality He made or we can kiss contentment goodbye.

The Blessing

“Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.”  John 13:17.

The Greek word used here for “blessed” is makarios which is translated several times as “happy”.  The NIV uses “blessed” instead of “happy” because either usage is true of the word.  In other words, Jesus tells us we will find happiness and blessedness in serving others.  This isn’t a blessing like having a windfall on our taxes or manna from heaven, rather it is a blessing of happiness which finds us as we practice it.

In the kingdom of God, there are some things that result in blessing and we cannot actually know the blessing until we obey the instructions.  I’ve heard many Christians say,  “God is not concerned with our happiness but gives us joy” and while this may be true to a certain extent, I don’t believe He’s just concerned about joy.  I believe Jesus gives us the keys to happiness right here.

Look, if our happiness is based on our circumstances, then it is tenuous at best and completely unstable at worst as our circumstances bounce around between good and bad.  But if we find peace in Christ, is this not a form of happiness?  A joy that cannot be touched because it is founded on the Rock Christ Jesus and surrounded by His Name (the name of the Lord is a strong tower…) so it cannot be removed or hurt by the situations we face.  The differentiation between joy and happiness makes it sound like joy is deeper and more necessary, while happiness is more fleeting.

Being joyful in a bad situation makes us happy, does it not?  Being happy about God’s love makes the rejection of the world around us more bearable.  Yet we will not find this unless we take the first steps into obedience.

What is Jesus asking us to do here, then?

Serve each other without worrying about social strata, the worthiness of others or the humility (by human standards) it takes to step into a given role.  Jesus’ example shows us He’s not concerned with human perceptions about certain tasks, so we shouldn’t be.  The value of person grows out of Christ’s willingness to pay for them to be reconciled to God.  That makes them worth the life of God Himself, and priceless in any book.

God’s Will for Us

However, there should be no poor among you, for in the land the LORD your God is giving you to possess as your inheritance, He will richly bless you, if only you fully obey the LORD your God and are careful to follow all these commands I am giving you today.  For the LORD your God will bless you as He has promised, and you will lend to many nations but will borrow from none.  You will rule over many nations but none will rule over you.

If there is a poor man among your brothers in any of the towns of the land that the LORD your God is giving you, do not be hardhearted or tightfisted toward your poor brother.  Rather be open handed and freely lend to him whatever he needs.  Deuteronomy 15:4-8.

I’ve noticed a tendency in the New Testament church to lose sight of the OT because they fear legalism.  Yet Paul spoke of all Scripture being God-breathed (2 Timothy 3:16), so what gives?

Well, context would tell us that Paul wasn’t speaking of the NT because he and the others were in the process of writing it at the time.  If this is so, then Paul was speaking of the OT from Genesis to Malachi.  Jesus claimed that the message of the gospel had been preached by Moses and prophets, which says a lot to us who would ignore the OT.  Most look at the law as immaterial and without any application to our day to day walk with Jesus, but nothing could be further from the truth.  Though we are  not under the letter of the law, we are still under the Spirit, who guides us into all truth.  The letter kills, the Spirit gives life.  So what we will do over a few entries is explore the nature of these laws and look for the grace implied in them.

The reason most don’t find grace in the OT is because they get hung up on the threats of destruction and warnings.  Look at our text above ask yourself:  What kind of God promises long life, good family, happiness, success, wealth, comfort and a host other good things just for obeying Him?

The short answer is:  most of them.  On the other hand, we find that our God set up a series of unique boundaries for social and spiritual behavior, identity clauses for Israel as a nation and a few laws that governed day to day health without modern medicine.

Granted, the law bound people to performance based salvation ideas, though that was not its purpose, for the law is based on faith as much as our salvation is.  In order for someone to follow God’s law, they would have to trust Him; to trust Him, they would have to have faith that what He says is true.  The Hebrews were told to look different, worship different and live different from the rest of their neighbors.  Yet look at the things that were required of them:  they were to respect each other’s property, forgive debt, have no cast system of any kind and be kind to not only a stranger of their own nation but treat other nationalities with kindness and respect as well.  

In our text above, God outlined the means by which people could stay out of debt.  He gave a seven year window for the debt to be paid back, then it was cancelled.  Does that sound familiar?  Of course it does, because our bankruptcy laws are based on the Jewish system spoken of in Deuteronomy 15.  A man could not be compelled to pay past the seventh year for any debt.  This guaranteed that a person could recover from a disaster, illness, drought, or other losses incurred during a period of life.  It also meant that God was in the business of creating a point of grace for those under heavy burdens so that they would not be suffocated by them.  It also ensured a sabbath rest for those with heavy debt.  The seven years was not figured from the time of the loan but an established timeframe already known, which meant if I borrowed from you six months before the seven year deadline, you would have to forgive the debt once it was up.  Moses even warned them not to be reluctant to lend when the seven years were about to expire, for that would have been evil in God’s eyes (see Deuteronomy 15:9) .

The plan God devised for Israel set up the right mixture of Spiritual weight to everyday life, social concern and capitalism.  From our text I glean that Israel would have been one of the wealthiest nations on earth if they had remembered who was blessing them and why.  In a previous chapter God spells out why He takes care of them so well.  Deuteronomy 9:5,  It is not because of your righteousness or your integrity that you are going in to take possession of their land; but on account of the wickedness of these nations, the LORD your God will drive them out before you, to accomplish what He swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

Sobering thoughts, huh.

God keeps His promises to those who serve Him even though the conditions change and the world stands against Him.  Nothing will stop Him from being keeping His word.  This should tell us something vitally important about God’s character, one we would do well to emulate:  honesty and dependability.  Samuel told Saul,  “He who is the Glory of Israel does not lie or change His mind; for He is not a man, that He should change His mind.  God desires unity among His people, not simply uniformity. 

Look at nature itself with me for a minute.

Snowflakes vary to a point that it has been said no two are alike, yet they all look like snowflakes somehow.  Identical twins might look exactly alike but there are always subtle differences if one is looking for them.  Children born in the same home don’t relate to life the exact same way–even with similar opinions.

My point is:  uniformity is not God’s goal, unity, safety and love are.  Israel took the legal aspects of the law too far by adding additions and loopholes in Jesus’ era, even after both Moses and Proverbs warned not to add to God’s word–or take anything away.  Mankind has always swung to extremes in their thinking and performance.  For some reason we either become super liberal or super conservative, but rarely balanced.  I guess it’s understandable that after Israel’s exile to Babylon they would get more careful about the law, but their desire to not offend God became focused on minutiae instead of the purpose.

God’s will for us to remain out of debt, be carefree and well provided for, while being industrious and happy.  The Jewish calendar should dispel any notions that God desires workaholics on His team.  These people had more vacations and celebrations than most people do today.  God even instituted a weekly break where intense labor could be suspended and everyone get some down time.  To me this doesn’t sound arbitrary but wonderful.  No matter what day we take off, God wants us to relax from our work.

He also intends for us to be generous, helpful, kind to everyone–especially the unfortunate–and to become people of character, in order to lift everyone up not just a few.

Not a bad system if you ask me.

The Eternal Program

I have seen the burden God has laid on men.  He has made everything beautiful in its time.  He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end.  I know that there is nothing better for men than to be happy and do good while they live.  Ecclesiastes 3: 10-12.

Ever wondered why people fight death so much?  The above passage holds the key, God set eternity in the hearts of men  not as a curse or a way to rub their noses in their mortality but for the purpose of living forever.  Mankind wasn’t meant to die in the original design.

I heard a science professor say that he didn’t want to live forever because he was already tired of himself at 50+.  While I understand his sentiments, I also know he is reacting to the fact that death will find him and frustrated with the futility that brings.  We don’t grasp what God has done with creation though we can definitely understand it’s function in many areas.  But getting a handle on the whole of it puts us out of our depth.

The godly wisdom which Solomon harps about so much is the key to understanding what God has done from beginning to end.  To believe in a Creator is actually the most commonsense POV one could hold, which also gives us a reason for our existence, which god might be debatable may be but not the verdict of the evidence around us.  The Biblical paradigm especially makes it clear that we are created specifically as little gods (John 10: 34), in our God’s image, for the purpose of creating life and design around us.  This is where we went wrong, however, because we wanted to be the God, not just His creatures.

To grasp the big picture is within our design parameters, to know it all isn’t.  Yet we weren’t programmed to die, we can see it in every person on their deathbed fighting for life even when the prognosis is completely hopeless.  If the program isn’t there, why do we fight so hard to stay alive even in the most miserable situations imaginable?

Hope.  The old saying “where there’s life, there’s hope” rings true.  Suicide is an abheration of the human existence and usually signifies a loss of hope; give a suicidal person hope and they change, unless they have medical or psychological reasons that prevent them from seeing it.

So my conclusion points to the fact that we were designed for eternity and our choice (through Adam & Eve our orginal parents) to be our own gods brought us death.  We disconnected ourselves from the power source and began to die, retaining the original program but fading into non-existence none the less.  The serpent’s lie “you shall not die but your eyes will be opened”  contained one element of truth:  our eyes were opened to what it meant to be separated from God.

Coming back to Christ brings the hope of eternity back to us as a fact not just a program.  It completes the purpose for which we were made and solves the problem of futility.  For some this might be too simple an answer, but my answer to them is:  Even in the most complex ecosystems or science the simplist answer is many times the right one.