So I decided there is nothing better than to enjoy food and drink and to find satisfaction in work. Then I realized that these pleasures are from the hand of God. For who can eat or enjoy anything apart from Him? Ecclesiastes 2:24-25 (NLT)
Significantly, the Teacher in the book of Ecclesiastes emphasized the importance of accepting each day as God's gift and enjoying life (see also Matthew 6:34). The conclusion of the Teacher’s many reflections is that we are responsible for enjoying life because life is God’s gift. In six different Scriptural passages, the Teacher encouraged the reader to enjoy life now, be satisfied, and be thankful for God’s gifts (see Ecclesiastes 2:24; Ecclesiastes 3:12-15, 22; Ecclesiastes 5:18-20; Ecclesiastes 8:15; Ecclesiastes 9:7-10; Ecclesiastes 11:9-10).
One tradition in Christianity states that “The chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever” (Westminster Shorter Catechism, Question 1). The New Testament similarly encourages us to be joyful in all things, including our trials and struggles (Philippians 4:4; James 1:2). “Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice!” (Philippians 4:4, NKJV). “My brothers and sisters, when you have many kinds of troubles, you should be full of joy” (James 1:2, NCV).
Life is meant to be enjoyed and satisfied with laughing, dancing, love, and peace, not complaining, grumbling, and ungratefulness. We are to enjoy our food, drink, health, proper clothes, spouses, family, work, and entertainment each day (see also Matthew 6;11). Only when we treat these things of life and their enjoyment as idols are they limits to our happiness.
Apart from God, all meaning, significance, or happiness is cursed with meaningless. Anything that serves as a substitute for God and as a source of happiness, security, or importance is an idol (see Isaiah 57:13; Jeremiah 10:3, 15, Jeremiah 51:18). God curses all idols as meaningless – empty, absurd, and frustrating. God does not want anything in this creation to satisfy a person’s thirst for eternity, or to replace Himself as its Source of lasting and eternal peace, joy, and happiness. God wants to be love, reverenced, and worshipped first and foremost in all areas of life before anything else in life can have meaning (see Deuteronomy 6:4-6; Matthew 6:33; Mark 12:29-30).
Do not love this world or the things it offers you, for when you love the world, you do not have the love of (God) the Father in you. For the world offers only a craving for physical pleasure, a craving for everything we see, and pride in our achievements and possessions. These are not from (God) the Father, but are from this world. And this world is fading away, along with everything that people crave. But anyone who does what pleases God will live forever. 1 John 2:15-17 (NLT).
Relationship, wisdom, and work should be viewed as “gifts” from God to be enjoyed, but not relied upon as the source of life’s payoff or meaning. God give us relationships, wisdom, and work as His gifts, not to be confused with God Himself (the source of life, the resting place of one’s identity). The “whole of human life” is found in our intimate relationship with God while enjoying God’s gifts each day, knowing that God will bring “every deed into judgment” (Ecclesiastes 12:14).
Those who really know how to enjoy life are the ones who take life each day as a gift from God, wholeheartedly thanking God for life, and faithfully serving God. Only in the true and living God does life have meaning and true pleasure. Without a personal relationship with God, life is sad, frustrating, and meaningless. Anything without God will have NO lasting joy from life and no divine direction to guide them through life's frustrations. The book of Ecclesiastes’ encouragement gives the reader relief from the otherwise pessimistic viewpoint of life.
God wants us to enjoy life and be satisfied (or thankful) with His blessings (Psalm 107:1-8). In Ecclesiastes, the Teacher repeatedly warns the reader to enjoy life and be satisfied with what God has assigned to us. The Teacher is not advocating "Eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die!" That is the philosophy of pessimism not faith. True enjoyment does not mean pleasure-seeking. Rather, the Teacher is saying, “Thank God for what you do have, and enjoy it to the glory of God.” The Apostle Paul gave his approval to this attitude when he also encouraged us to trust “in the living God, who gives us richly all things to enjoy” (1 Timothy 6:17, NKJV). This is a joyful outlook that accepts life as God’s gift to enjoy and to seek God’s glory.
In essence, true enjoyment comes with (1) reverently fearing God, 2) obeying His commandments (Ecclesiastes 12:13-14; see also Exodus 20:1-17; Deuteronomy 5:6-21; Matthew 22:34-40; John 13:34-35; Philippians 4:4) and (3) enjoying life with thanksgiving. This is the will of God. The Teacher made it clear that not only where the blessings from God, but even the enjoyment of the blessings was God's gift to us. The Teacher considered it "evil" if a person had all the blessings of life from God but could not enjoy them (Ecclesiastes 6:1-5). The important thing is that we seek to please God and trust Him to meet every need.
Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. James 1:17 (NIV)
Humans have little or no control over times and changes. Life and death, wisdom and wealth, are all in God’s hands. The eternal God sovereignly determines all of life’s activities (Ecclesiastes 3:1-22). In fact, life is filled with difficulties and mysterious, the book of Ecclesiastes concluded. There are many aspects of life we cannot understand, let alone control.
From the human point of view, life is meaningless, vanity, and sadness. But from God’s viewpoint, life is God’s gift to us. Again, God wants us to enjoy life and live for His glory (1 Corinthians 10:31). “So whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God” (1 Corinthians 10:31 NLT). So, instead of complaining about what we do not have, let us start giving thanks for what God has graciously given us to enjoy! Nonetheless, if we rejoice in God’s gifts, but forget the Giver, then we are ungrateful idolaters.
Our Jewish friends read the book of Ecclesiastes at the annual Feast of Tabernacles, a joyful autumn festival of harvest. "There is nothing better for a man, than that he should eat and drink, and that he should make his soul enjoy good in his labor. This also I saw, that it was from the hand of God" (Ecclesiastes 2:24).
Life without Jesus Christ (God) is indeed "meaningless” (Ecclesiastes 1:14). But when you know God personally and live for Him faithfully, you experience "fullness of joy [and] pleasures forever more" (Psalms 16:11).
So don’t be anxious about tomorrow. God will take care of your tomorrow too. Live one day at a time. Matthew 6:34 (The Living Bible)
Give your entire attention to what God is doing right now, and don't get worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow. God will help you deal with whatever hard things come up when the time comes. Matthew 6:34 (The Message)
No comments:
Post a Comment
God bless you! You are loved by God (Romans 5:5).