[This is one in a series of devotional reflections prepared for Horley Baptist Church during October 2023]
How was your week? Did you achieve what you wanted to or was it as futile and meaningless as the writer of Ecclesiastes anticipated? That repetitive cycle of doing today pretty-much what you did yesterday and will probably do again tomorrow resembles a hamster expending a lot of effort yet making very little progress or, as Noel Harrison sang in 1968, “like a circle in a spiral, or a wheel within a wheel, ever spinning, never ending, on an ever-spinning reel”.
Solomon, the presumed author of the book of of Ecclesiastes[1], wrote something similar:
Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done and what I had toiled to achieve, everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind; nothing was gained under the sun.
Ecclesiastes 2 v11 [NIVUK]
Is there a way to make sense of it all?
Charles Studd was a well-known English cricketer in the 1880s. He played for England in the test match against Australia when the title of ‘The Ashes’ was first used. Despite the success of his career he said “I know that cricket would not last, and honour would not last, and nothing in this world would last, but it was worthwhile living for the world to come”.
He subsequently decided to spend the rest of his life in the service of God. He became a missionary in China, then later in India and areas of eastern Africa. Amongst his writings was a poem with the title and refrain:
Only one life ’twill soon be past.
Only what’s done for Christ will last.
What does this mean in practice? We are not all called to move to foreign parts or compose writings that will influence future generations but there is a work for Jesus ready at your hand[2]. Maybe our work for Jesus is more local and more immediate. Maybe a cup of water given in the Lord’s name is all that is needed at a particular moment, maybe a donation to the Food Bank and other charitable organisation is appropriate.
But are not these simply good works that anyone can do? Did not Solomon assert that even good works are, essentially, short-term and meaningless? A later writer argued differently:
How can you show me your faith if you don’t have good deeds? I will show you my faith by my good deeds. James 2 v18 [NLT]
Working for Jesus provides the motivation and meaning that eluded Solomon. A simple prayer can bring purpose to our lives:
Give me a faithful heart, like unto Thee,
That each departing day henceforth may see
Some work of love begun, some deed of kindness done,
Some wand’rer sought and won, something for Thee.
– Sylvanus Dryden Phelps (1862)
Resources:
[1] See last week’s discussion about the authorship of Ecclesiastes, link below.
[2] Elsie Duncan Yale (1912)
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Last week’s reflection: Who’s the Wise Guy?
Contributed by Steve Humphreys; © Steve Humphreys
An interesting, thought provoking reflection.