“Whatsoever thy hand finds to do, do it with your might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom in the grave whither thou goest.”
My fascination with Solomon’s book of Ecclesiastes continues. At first a lot of what Solomon wrote in Ecclesiastes seems to be pessimistic or downright agnostic. But if one gives some thought to what he has written, he can see the common sense in it. Ecclesiastes 9:10 is a case in point. When I read it for the “humpteenth” time the truth of it came to me, and that truth is in our title: “Live While You Are Alive.” The first thing that I note here is that Solomon was advising us not to waste this life that God has given us. Many people spend their time here worrying and fretting about things, while time passes by and they get nothing done. I think that this verse tells us not to waste the time that we have been given here. This reminds me of an adage that I have heard many times, i.e., “make hay while the sun shines.” Solomon is reminding us here that time is valuable and should not be wasted. This does not mean that we should never take time off from our daily work, but it means that we need to use our time wisely. Paul reminded us of basically the same thing in Ephesians 5:15-16: “See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, 16. “Redeeming the time, for the days are evil.” A more modern translation of “redeeming the time” is “making the best use of your time." Sometimes making the best use of our time, means to take some time off and rest. The second thing that I note here is that Solomon believed that when we do a job, we should “do it with all of (our) might.” I interpret this to mean that if we are going to do something we need to do the best that we can. I read on my Email this morning about a sermon that Dr. Martin Luther King preached called “The Street Sweeper.” His idea was that if you are going to be a street sweeper, be the best street sweeper that you can be. He wrote something like: “Be the Shakespeare of street sweeping.” This is not verbatim, but it is in agreement with the statement that he made. If you are going to be a Sunday School teacher, be the best Sunday School teacher that you can be. If you are going to sing in the choir, be the very best singer that you can be. (That’s why some people do not sing in the choir. Lol) If you are going to be an usher in your church, be the very best usher that you can be and really make people feel welcome at your church. I have known men who were called into the ministry who had no noticeable speaking ability, but with hard work and deep study they have become effective preachers of the gospel. Of course this hard work included a lot of prayer and Bible study, which should apply to any Christian endeavor. The final thing that I note here is that we need to be aware that we are going to die and after we are dead our work is done. This does not mean that everything that we did in life was in vain. When we do the best we can with what God has given us to do, we leave a legacy that other people can build on. When we die we will have no personal influence on anything that happens on earth, but if we have lived life to the fullest, and have done what we have done “with all of (our) might,” we will leave an influence that will live on. For example, Hebrews 11:4 tells us about Abel: “By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts: and by it he being dead yet speaketh.” (I think of this every time I hear the late Adrian Rogers preach on the radio.) Live life to the fullest while you are alive, and place in faith in Christ in order to live eternally. Bro. Joe
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AuthorDr. Joe Beauchamp is the author of this blog and website. Categories
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