I may have enjoyed Ecclesiastes too much and finished the rest of the book today. A lot of the themes from yesterday's reading carried over into today, but there were some other points I wanted to look at too.
In several places it talks about wanting more than you have, and tell us that it's better to be content with just enough than to have more than you need and always seeking more. The key is to be honest with ourselves about what is a want, and what is a need. Sufficient food, clothing and shelter to survive are needs. The new iPhone, video game, or even worship CD are not. It doesn't mean those things are bad, but without them you will survive, and when a newer one comes out you don't want your heart to be caught up in that. 2 Peter 2:19 says that you're a slave to whatever has mastered you. I would rather be a slave to God than to commercialism, pride, anything that becomes a habit that I can't break. I guess that means I have to look at my life to see what might be in that place, and give it over to God.
Another thing I noticed is that God is concerned with justice, but man doesn't always share that same concern. We don't always see justice served on earth, but we ought to be concerned with opposing injustice, while being grateful to God for His mercy. Not all tolerance is loving. When one person is walking roughshod over another, the loving thing is to do what you can to stop them. It's obviously loving to the one being hurt, and you may encourage the one doing the hurting to seek God's mercy before they fall into His hands... if it works, you're saving both parties from suffering.
Also, God created life to be enjoyed. He created food and drink to be enjoyed. He created work to be enjoyed. He created marriage to be enjoyed. The thing to remember is that without Him, you will never enjoy any of these as fully as you can.
I was having a conversation yesterday, and one of the things I remembered was that her grandfather had written something profound, and said something about the 'golden bowl' being close to breaking. I understood it as a euphemism for death, but it wasn't until I read Ecclesiastes 12:6 today that I got the bigger picture. In the moment when we die, all our wealth, all our prestige, everything we've worked so hard to achieve and become, all of it is lost. All of it is meaningless, a chasing after the wind. Even what we grabbed onto has melted away to nothing. Nothing in this life that seems so important now will endure past that day, the only things of real importance are the ones that are eternal - things like the spiritual well-being of those around us, caring for people and showing God's love reflected to them, and taking care of our own relationship with God. Why chase after the wind when I have the Spirit of God within me to give me life? When I think of Him, the wind seems a very hollow replacement.
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