At work I'm very careful about my time. I want to make sure that I make the most of every hour I spend working and I want to demonstrate to my line manager and others I work with that I am being effective and not wasting time on unimportant things. I want to see results from what I do and I know that the best way to make sure my work bears fruit is to make sure I'm working on the right things.Solomon concludes his book by telling us how we can make the most of our lives and not waste any of the time we have...
Have you ever heard someone say anything like this: 'Well I suppose I might think about God one day but I'm going to have some fun first.'?
A story is told of a circus bear who lived in a cage ten feet by ten feet square. Every day the bear would pace back and forth, ten feet one way and ten feet back. This was its life. Then one day it was time for the bear to retire and they gave him a massive enclosure with trees and landscape in which he could enjoy living out the rest of his life. As they observed the bear however, the saw that all he did was to pace back and forth, ten feet one way and ten feet back, as if he were still in the cage. He had all this new freedom and yet didn't make the most of it because all he wanted to do was to keep living his own small little life.
The best time to know God is now! People think that becoming a Christian is like getting into a cage and that somehow they will have less freedom to enjoy life but the truth of the matter is quite the opposite. Becoming a Christian is about discovering true freedom, forgiveness, life and hope.
Solomon knows that when it comes to thinking about when to know God, we should say 'the sooner, the better'. Why miss out on all God has for us, thinking all the time that our idea of fun is bigger and better than his? This is why Solomon says we should get to know God when we're young if we can. Why waste our life waiting to know God later?
And this is Solomon's conclusion on the matter. We should know and fear and love and obey God, rather than ignore him and think that we know best. His love, his life, his hope, his fun are all way, way bigger than ours and we ignore him at our peril! Living with and for God is right where we should be. We're more free, more ourselves and more alive when we're in God!
A prayer...
Thank you God that you're real and alive and fun and exciting and relevant to me. Forgive me for the times I've tried to live my life without you and help me to give you my everything because you are Lord of all. Please give me a bigger and better perspective on my life so that I can glimpse something of the way you see me. And thank you that because of your forgiveness I can be free to live life to the full and life forever with you. Amen!
