You Can't Take It With You.

Ecclesiastes 1:3; 2:18-26; 4:4-8; 5:18

"What does man gain from all his labor at which he toils under the sun?" The teacher is disappointed to not find purpose in any of the work that he completes. In chapter 2, he laments that he has to leave everything to his descendants, but he doesn't know whether they will be wise or foolish. Toiling days, restless nights, but you still can't take it with you.

In chapter 4, the Teacher suggests that work and achievements come from our envying of others. He describes the woe of one who works, who sacrifices tranquility and contentment, but cannot find satisfaction.

He sums up this idea of the meaning of work in chapter 5: "Then I realized that it is good and proper for a man to eat and drink, and to find satisfaction in his toilsome labor under the sun during the few days of life God has given him—for this is his lot." I have to admit that these are not the most hopeful passages in the Bible nor are they the easiest to make sense of. Part of the issue is why are you working. Are you working because you enjoy what you do? Are you working to provide for your family? Or are you working to accumulate? In the first two instances, I think the Bible is clear that this is a good think. "It is good and proper for a man to ...find satisfaction in his toilsome labor." As a professor, I tell people that I get paid to do what I enjoy doing. That's a good thing, according to Ecclesiastes. Are you working to provide for family? That's a good thing, too, according to other places in the Bible as well as this passage. The teacher's condemnation of the man working in chapter 4 was that he had no family--he was alone and working to accumulate. That's the danger, working to accumulate stuff that you cannot enjoy. It's not that the stuff accumulated is bad (5:19-20). It's the attitude and endless hours spent doing something other than honoring God.

Think about why you are working. Is it to provide food and shelter/clothing for your family? Or is it to pay off the house or car that you couldn't really afford but had to have? Think about your priorities and then consider what you really gain from your "toil under the sun."