Greater Than the Sum

A man who has friends must show himself friendly.

Proverbs 18:24

Read

Today let's look at Ecclesiastes 4:7-16. It's a familiar section of Scripture, but look at it with fresh eyes, thinking about each verse with your own life in mind. Place brackets around each of the three parts of this section, and label them.

Think

Here are my labels:

Pursue relationships over work because people make your job worth doing. How many lonely souls have put off family and devalued friends in the pursuit of their career? We'll never know. They are rich in possessions, but impoverished in relationships. What are we really working for if all of our time is spent at work, thinking about work, or on-call 24/7? Let's value our family and friends enough to turn off our phones, shut down our computers, and disconnect from work for a while. We'll be happier and more productive if we do.

Pursue relationships for our own good. Work is more fun with someone else. Life is easier with someone who can share our burdens and pick us up when we're down. The warmth of a friend is better than facing the cold alone. The world is a much safer place with a couple of friends to fight with. People who have close inter-personal relationships live longer, healthier, and happier than those who do not. And Proverbs tells us that to have friends we need to be a friend.

Pursue relationships over fame and popularity because they last longer. Solomon speaks of a king and two young men. Maybe he's talking about Saul and the next two kings of Israel. One king was old and foolish, and would not listen to instruction, while a young man was growing in popularity. Sounds like Saul and David to me. Then that young man, after being popular for a while, was overshadowed by another young man. Solomon? The point remains, though, that fame and power and popularity are fleeting. They have no lasting value. Relationships, though, give life and they last a lifetime.

Pray

Ask the Lord to help you to find time to disconnect from work or school for a while each day and focus only on family and friends.

Do

Consider your work schedule. Are you over-worked? Do you feel that you can turn off your cell-phone for a couple of hours a day and just spend time with your family? Is your laptop constantly on so you can catch those e-mails as soon as they come into your inbox? Do you have 3-4 really close friends that you spend time with, that you can share the most difficult struggles of your life with?

Life From God's Perspective

We are often destitute of the things that life demands,
We want of food and want of shelter, thirsty hills and barren lands;
We are trusting in the Lord, and according to God's Word,
We will understand it better by and by.

Charles Tindley

Read

Today let's look at Ecclesiastes 4:1-6. This "under the sun" section is divided into 2 paragraphs, and they don't seem to have much in common. Read it a second, or even a third time, thinking about what in the world they have to do with each other.

Think

Solomon takes us to more evil under the sun. More things to confuse us, to make us wonder about whether or not God knows what He's doing, if He even exists. First, we have oppression. Powerful people oppress the weak and poor. It's a fact of life. Second, the workplace is full of both over-competitive and lazy people. The bosses relentlessly fight their way to the top, and the lazy people do just enough to live.

But then there are those people who live above it all.

In the midst of oppression, though it seems it would be better to never have been born, there are always those people who seem to be unaffected and unwavering in the face of their oppressors. In the workplace, there are those who don't seem to be concerned with getting ahead, yet they are productive, not just getting by.

The common thread?

If our mindset is under the sun, we will never be able to reconcile the oppression of the poor with the idea of a good and just God. If our mindset is under the sun, we will either be consumed with getting ahead at work, or we will do just enough to get by. Living life in God's perspective, though, allows us to know that oppression happens, but God is the ultimate judge. Living life in God's perspective allows us to realize that there are more important things in life than that next promotion or raise, and at the same time gives us purpose and meaning in our work.

Help us indeed to be content, Lord, in the pleasant valley between too much and too little; between slavery and sloth; between overcompeting and underperforming. There, in that valley where heaven meets earth, we can walk with our hand in Yours rather than grasping at the wind.

David Jeremiah, Searching for Heaven on Earth