Don't Waste Your Life! - Ecclesiastes #24
Ecclesiastes 6:3-6
3 If a man begets a hundred children and lives many years, so that the days of his years are many, but his soul is not satisfied with goodness, or indeed he has no burial, I say that a stillborn child is better than he— 4 for it comes in vanity and departs in darkness, and its name is covered with darkness. 5 Though it has not seen the sun or known anything, this has more rest than that man, 6 even if he lives a thousand years twice—but has not seen goodness. Do not all go to one place?
In the
beginning, God created mankind in His image, urging them to have lots of babies
and be stewards of the earth He created. Ideally, man would live in perfect
harmony with God in his perfect Garden without tasting death. Sin crept into
the world, and man now faces banishment from the Garden into a difficult Earth.
Mankind also faces death. In Genesis chapter 5, we see the long lives of the
men in the generations between Adam and Noah, many of them living for nearly
1,000 years and fathering many sons and daughters. Yet they all (save for one)
died.
This passage
in Ecclesiastes was written during a time when having many children was
considered a blessing from the Lord. Psalm 127:5 declared that “Happy is the
man who has his quiver full of them.” A much different take than the typical “A
boy for me, a girl for you, then we’re through!” mentality of this day. Yet even
if you had many “blessings,” lived twice as long as Methuselah, and are as
wealthy as the man named in the previous passage (v. 2), you are not guaranteed
a life full of enjoyment or even genuine mourners at your funeral of honor.
The Preacher of this book says it’s better for a miscarried child than for such a full yet wasted life, since they both end in death. To borrow a phrase from one of John Piper’s highly-recommended books: “Don’t Waste Your Life.” Don’t come to the end of the road realizing the missed opportunities you had to glorify God, exalt Christ, love your family, and serve others. Whether you are 15 or 85, what you do in this life matters for eternity. Trust in God with everything and for everything, and go forth to serve Him!
In Christ Alone,
Dan
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