Daily Lesson for June 5, 2018

Today’s Daily Lesson comes from Ecclesiastes chapter 2 verses 24 through 26:

24 There is nothing better for mortals than to eat and drink, and find enjoyment in their toil. This also, I saw, is from the hand of God;25for apart from him who can eat or who can have enjoyment? 26For to the one who pleases him God gives wisdom and knowledge and joy; but to the sinner he gives the work of gathering and heaping, only to give to one who pleases God. This also is vanity and a chasing after wind.

To set ourselves to work for material things is to ultimately end in frustration, vexation, and loss.  There is no amount of money or possessions or even recognitions that can in the end keep us from feeling secure or bona fide enough. In the end everything will be lost or stolen or liquidated or handed down to either the wise or the foolish. And the recognition plaques will be boxed up and left in the garage by the next generation and then thrown out by the third. I know this sounds cynical, but it’s what the writer of Ecclesiastes calls “vanity” and it’s as true as the setting sun. 

To find real joy we work not for things, but for something deeper and more life-giving.  This something is sometimes called passion, but might also be called spirituality. To find real joy we work not for material goods, but we work because it pleases us in and of itself. It to pass on knowledge as a teacher, or keep the LORD’s house as a janitor, or to solve problems as an engineer, or serve people as city employee. This is not just work; it is vocation — “calling”.

Jesus told a parable about a man who worked for possessions.  Finally, he worked and saved enough so his storehouse was full and he could “sit back, relax, and be merry.”  That very night he died in his sleep. Who knows who he left everything to — they’re probably still fighting over it today. 

It’s one thing to be merry after you retire; it’s quite another to be joyful even while still working. And something tells me it’s impossible to be the former without having first been the latter.