Are the Trade-offs Worth It?

A box in the ground. This is what we’re all aiming for, if we’re honest. That’s all life assures us of. Everything we do is to stave off that day, or make us comfortable (enough) until we get there. I don’t know about you, but, to me, that seems pretty worthless. If the point of life is merely to be as comfortable as possible (and some people have it really bad) before I end up in a box underground, then what’s the point? The author of Ecclesiastes makes this same stamen throughout the book, but there is a final conclusion that gives meaning to the suffering, the toil and the struggle that is life:

The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. For God will bring every deed into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or evil. (Ecclesiastes 12:13-14).

We work all our lives for things that leave us: popularity, job security, relationships, children, houses, possessions, wealth; all of these things will leave us some day. Life is short, and time is fleeting. We are not promised a single minute beyond this one. What is our hope? Is it to hope that there’s something better beyond this when my life has expired? What is our purpose? Is it to feed a bank account that is never satisfied, pay bills to a company that calls us a valued customer, but shuts the utility off when a payment is late? Am I looking forward to a box underground?

I understand something, having pursued all the pleasures of life: there has never been true satisfaction outside of Jesus Christ. Relationships were about my satisfaction, I sought pleasures that didn’t last, I had money that ran through my fingers like a sieve. Now, my wife and children are gifts from God; blessings that I know I must return to Him. I serve the Lord full time; all of my wealth, my home, everything is tied up in Him. And when I leave this life, I go to Him, who is my immeasurable wealth and treasure. He is what I seek, and He is what I will have for all eternity. And He is the meaning I have in my life. The trade-off, giving up my life for Him, is worth it.

Ecclesiastes 12

Remember also your Creator in the days of your youth, before the evil days come and the years draw near of which you will say, “I have no pleasure in them”; before the sun and the light and the moon and the stars are darkened and the clouds return after the rain, in the day when the keepers of the house tremble, and the strong men are bent, and the grinders cease because they are few, and those who look through the windows are dimmed, and the doors on the street are shut—when the sound of the grinding is low, and one rises up at the sound of a bird, and all the daughters of song are brought low—they are afraid also of what is high, and terrors are in the way; the almond tree blossoms, the grasshopper drags itself along, and desire fails, because man is going to his eternal home, and the mourners go about the streets—before the silver cord is snapped, or the golden bowl is broken, or the pitcher is shattered at the fountain, or the wheel broken at the cistern, and the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it. Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher; all is vanity.

Besides being wise, the Preacher also taught the people knowledge, weighing and studying and arranging many proverbs with great care. The Preacher sought to find words of delight, and uprightly he wrote words of truth.

The words of the wise are like goads, and like nails firmly fixed are the collected sayings; they are given by one Shepherd. My son, beware of anything beyond these. Of making many books there is no end, and much study is a weariness of the flesh.

The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. For God will bring every deed into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or evil.