Accumulating For Whom? - Ecclesiastes #15

 


Ecclesiastes 4:7-8

7 Then I returned, and I saw vanity under the sun:

8 There is one alone, without companion:
He has neither son nor brother.
Yet there is no end to all his labors,
Nor is his eye satisfied with riches.
But he never asks,
“For whom do I toil and deprive myself of good?”
This also is vanity and a grave misfortune.

Work, work, work…get, get, get…take, take, take…spend, spend, spend…More, More, More! It’s the mantra of many who strive to be the best in their respective fields. There’s not much room in that chant for personal time either, especially bringing others into that time like family and friends. Ebenezer Scrooge is the epitome of loneliness. He had a business partner, but they seemed to be in business together and each alone in the business at the same time. Also, Dickens clearly points out a potential heir: his nephew, Fred. Ebenezer could have been investing his time and business sense into Fred, making him better professionally and personally. This loneliness is both a shame and a waste. 

This habit of loneliness, though, is one instilled in him at a young age. In stave two of A Christmas Carol, Scrooge faces the Ghost of Christmas Past, forcing him to come to grips with the memories of his younger self. He recalls the imagination of his childhood, as a method of coping with his father abandoning him. He witnesses his fiancé, Belle, breaking off their engagement because of his infatuation with accumulating wealth over relationships. He also gets to see what could have been: his former boss’s generosity and happiness; a successful man of business still able to be a supportive husband and father. Saddest of all, he gets a glimpse of Belle’s family, the children and life that may have been his to enjoy. 

It is good to work and to be successful, but at what expense? Is it worth sacrificing our relationships, leading to divorce, loss of good friendships, or neglect of children and grandchildren? Worst of all, as Matthew 16:26 shows, “For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?” Are the temporary things won in this life worth exchanging for an eternity in Heaven with Christ?

In Christ Alone,

Dan

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