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Ecclesiastes 11:9-12:1 - Rejoice, young man, during your childhood, and let your heart be pleasant during the days of your young manhood. And follow the impulses of your heart and the desires of your eyes. Yet know that God will bring you to judgment for all these things. 10So remove vexation from your heart and put away pain from your body, because childhood and the prime of life are fleeting. 1Remember also your Creator in the days of your youth . . .
Read all of Ecclesiastes!
Balance in the Christian life is not always easy and it is certainly not automatic for
the growing Christian. There are always the temptations to go off on certain "do your
own thing" tangents. And there are always the extreme positions that tend to draw you
to one side or the other. Then, of course, there are those "helpful" Christians
that keep telling you what they think you ought to be doing or not doing. Maintaining a
proper balance is tough in the middle of all these tensions and conflicting options.
Having fun and enjoying life is one of the most difficult areas in which to achieve
balance as a Christian. If we're having too much fun and feeling too happy
all the time, other Christians may accuse us of not taking life seriously. We may even put
ourselves on a guilt trip because of this supposed over-indulgence in fun and happiness!
But then if we're too sober and too serious all the time, our Christian
friends begin preaching smiley-face messages at us. And in all seriousness, life may
indeed begin to drag for us with no excitement and nothing to look forward to. You just
can't seem to win! Achieving a proper balance in this area of living is hard. And the
problem is not just in the mind. There are the very real dangers of self-indulgence on the
one hand and discouragement or depression on the other if the right attitude toward having
fun and enjoying life is not held and practiced.
The Book of Ecclesiastes may seem like an unlikely place to find
guidelines for the proper attitude towards fun and happiness in life. Many Christians who
read this book of Scripture for the very first time come away with somewhat of a depressed
feeling because of the recurring "all is vanity" theme. However, Ecclesiastes
has more to share than just the idea that everything is vanity or meaningless. In fact,
this book has so much to say about happiness and delight in life that the theme of
Ecclesiastes could be considered "The Joy of Living". Now it is certainly true
that Ecclesiastes is not the most simple and straight-forward portion of Scripture to
understand. For this reason there have been various approaches to the interpretation to
this part of God's Word throughout the history of the Church. However, after the book has
been read through several times, the overall message of Ecclesiastes seems to come through
loud and clear. It is as follows: Without God in the picture, life is meaningless; with
God in the picture, there can be joy in living. If God is not acknowledged and taken into
account, then life "under the sun" is just one big zero. It doesn't matter what
you are into--studies, styles, sex or stocks (1:12-2:11). Ultimately, without God, all
life is vanity--empty, futile and meaningless. One has to be blind to miss this aspect of
the message from Ecclesiastes. But surely the corollary is also found in this book of the
Scripture. When God is acknowledged and reverenced and obeyed, life becomes
meaningful; the believer can actually find happiness and enjoyment in living. In fact,
Ecclesiastes tells us that this is one of God's gifts to man from his own hand--a reward
to those who fear the Lord. (See 2:24-26, 3:12-13, 5:18-20 and 9:7-9.)
Although God allows His children to find happiness and joy in living, it
does not always follow that we will therefore understand life completely or fathom all of
God's ways. The Holy Spirit is careful to stress this point several times throughout the
book of Ecclesiastes. For instance, in chapter 3:10-11 note that God has purposely made
man finite in reference to comprehending eternal matters. But even though man is limited
in his grasp of this universe and cannot figure out all of life's questions, the believer
can rest in the knowledge that the Lord is in control of His creation and has an appointed
and appropriate time for everything (3:1-11). Furthermore (3:12-13), we can enjoy the
short life that God has given us on earth--in spite of life's enigmas and apparent
contradictions and seeming meaninglessness. It is not wrong to laugh and have fun, to
enjoy life and seek pleasure, as long as God and His guidelines for happiness are brought
into the picture.
This, then, is the overall message of Ecclesiastes. All texts within the
book should be read and understood in the context of this overall scheme. Before we
mention some of the guidelines for happiness that God has given us, one other point about
the interpretation of this book of Scripture should be stressed. Sometimes Solomon, the
inspired author of this book, writes from the perspective of the first part of the book's
thesis, namely that without God in the picture, all is meaningless. When these verses are
taken out of the surrounding context and isolated from the overall message of the book, it
can sound like the Preacher (1:1) is teaching untruth. For example, in chapter 3:19 we
read that the fate of man and animals is the same, and that man has no advantage over the
animal. Now we know from the rest of Scripture that the Bible does not teach this idea.
But Ecclesiastes is not teaching such falsehood either. We don't have to look far
in the surrounding context to see what is being taught here. Verse 17 clearly shows that
the inspired teacher knows that man and animals are different and that man is going
to be morally judged. But God has purposely tested man (3:18) by letting it appear that
the destiny of men and beasts is the same. Only by revelation can we know the truth that
the spirit of man does indeed ascend upward in contrast to that of the beast (3:21). This
truth is also taught explicitly in chapter 12:7. So be especially careful in Ecclesiastes
and make sure that the so-called difficult passages are not pulled out of context and
interpreted apart from the perspective of the inspired writer. See Psalm 49:12 and 20 for
a similar example from another inspired author.
Now what about those guidelines for enjoying life that God has included
in Ecclesiastes? There are basically three, and they are listed together in the conclusion
of the book (12:13-14): Fear God, keep His commandments and remember the coming judgment!
These controls on our fun and pleasure do not just appear in the last two verses of the
book, but pop up a number of times throughout Ecclesiastes. Besides the passages already
listed, see chapter 5:1-7, 8:12-13, 11:9-10 and 12:1-7. In other words, you can
"follow the impulses of your hearts and the desires of your eyes" (11:9a), but
you must also remember the guideline of "know that God will bring you to judgment for
all these things" (11:9b). You can live it up a little while you are young and
have the chance (11:9-10) but you must "remember also your Creator"
(12:1a). This will guard you from living it up too much! Remembering our Creator is
especially important while we're young and in good health and have energies to dedicate,
not just when we're old and falling apart (12:1b-7). So it's O.K. to have fun time on a
weekend away from studies. It's O.K. to be happy and lighthearted while we barbecue a
steak dinner with friends. And it's O.K. to take off the so-serious mask and laugh and
crack up over some good jokes. It's O.K. to get into a line of work that you like.
And it's O.K. to enjoy the pleasures of sex in marriage. All of these O.K.'s are gifts of
God to man. But--fear God, keep His commandments and remember that our lives will
be judged or reviewed (2 Corinthians 5:10) for all our attitudes and actions. The Lord
knows our weaknesses and how easily we're tempted to abuse His wonderful gifts. Let us
follow the guidelines so that the good "fun and games" of life are properly
controlled. Remember also that God may purposely bring times of sorrow, times of testing
and other less delightful times into our lives. Here the general attitude of being
outwardly happy and enjoying life is certainly modified. Ecclesiastes takes these times
into account, too. (See chapters 3:4 and 7:2-4, for example.)
Every book of Scripture must be understood in the light of the teaching
of the whole Bible and Ecclesiastes is no exception, of course. For the growing Christian,
the application of the guidelines of Ecclesiastes concerning the enjoyment of life must
further take into account New Testament revelation. The overall message of Ecclesiastes is
not changed in the New Testament. See 1 Timothy 6:17, for instance, and note how life is
to be enjoyed as long as God and His guidelines stay in the picture. However, we also know
from New Testament teaching that a Christian now has the privilege of giving up, for the
sake of Christ, certain of God's gifts to mankind. A Christian student, for example, may
give up a good, fun-filled weekend away from school to help organize the Christian
outreach program on campus. A Christian athlete may give up the benefits of a professional
career in sports to serve the Lord more effectively as a leader of a struggling ministry
or the elder of a small church. A Christian young person may give up the joys of married
life in order to give a life of undivided attention to the foreign mission field. Every
growing Christian has the freedom to enjoy the rich supply of God's good gifts, but we
also have the privilege of denying ourselves certain joys of life as the Lord calls us to
particular areas of service for Him.
God is not a killjoy. The normal pattern of living which He desires for
us includes happiness and enjoyment of the life He has given us. But there must be balance
in this area of Christian life. Ecclesiastes, properly understood in the context of the
whole Bible, gives us God's guidelines for living joyously.
David R. Reid
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