In the daily devotional my wife and I are going through, the lesson this morning included an admonition (among a long string of them) to go to worship each week. Originally, this lesson series was to be built upon the four sermons I heard each month. However long later it has been, I find that I am often not getting to worship to be out of town, to accommodate busyness, or any other thing that seems to happen. I want to be better, but for this month, I am limiting myself to the one sermon that hopefully will have sufficient impact.
We are studying Solomon and the book of Ecclesiastes. The topic was the speed of life. The blessing was that our pastor took the effort to break down the cultural meaning behind the scripture. Interestingly enough, I had thought through these same verses as I prepare for a class I am to lead starting next month, and I am seeking how to be an investor and a good steward with some funds God has blessed us to hold right now.
The first phrase was to work (and invest) wisely. Solomon tells us in the first verses of Chapter 11 to put forth effort, to put forth effort in multiple opportunities, to put forth “hard” effort, and to let God worry about the results of each individual opportunity. God does not want us using the weather as an excuse to not work hard or the uncertainty of success as an excuse not to work hard, but he tells us to push forward despite circumstances. God does not want us to rely on one thing (no matter how good we are at it) to be the source of our efforts. A physical laborer gets injured, a office worker becomes redundant, a technician becomes obsolete. These are facts of life, and God knows them, and want us to know them, and wants us to prepare for when they happen. We do this by diversifying. The example hidden in the verses is a farmer who sends his grains in seven or eight ships across the seas to different ports to sell them. One ship sinks, and you get nothing. One ship gets hit by pirates, and you get nothing. Seven or eight ships sail away and enough will get there that rewards come back. The key is that you do not know what will succeed and you have to follow the command of God. The summary was something like give consistent, diligent effort with prudent diversification, of everything.
The second phrase was rejoice in the present. Solomon tells us to not get bogged down in the past, do not get stuck on the perfect, and do not focus on the future. Be grateful for the blessing that is today and live it. Make today the day you dreamed of and prayed for yesterday. Your glorious future is today.
The third phrase was remember what is coming in the future: Judgement. God is going to look at our lives and look at how good a job we did of enjoying His blessings, of living for Him daily. We will not get points for watching how other people lived their lives via our phones on social media. Live that life that others want to see on their own timelines (and do not limit ourselves to sharing it on social media with our friends, but share those moments with our friends in real life.). Some funny study he referenced gave the average age of “old” as 6 years after the average age of death, so live before you get old, and even more so when you do.
The fourth phrase was Allow Jesus to remove pains of the past. I hinted at this earlier and it is important, but however great is the need, this topic discussion will have to remain short.
I’m throwing in all the pastor’s great phrases, but any glory needs to go to God, not me or the pastor. This last one was from one of his relatives and was “Life goes faster at the end, just like a roll of toilet paper.” Life is fast. But it is all based on perception. If we seek to enjoy today, to be in tune with God today, to work for him, to work hard, and to spread the effort, we will find success and rewards for ourselves, but also for our family, our friends, our neighbors. Our neighbor trapped a racoon in the neighborhood to protect his house, but the rest of us were helped as well, some from more damage and others from any damage. I hope that raccoon likes his new home out by the river, but I know I will like my new home in heaven when the time comes. Having faith in the outcome helps me savor the day as life speeds on.
P.S. Speaking of speed, I got to drive the sports car on our date Friday and realized I could not hit a magic number even in sixth gear while staying below the cold rpm limit. From it I gathered that if we want to enjoy the blessing of a future, we have to put in the effort today.