Ecc 11: 7-10 - Benefits of the Short-Term View

Ecclesiastes 11: 7-10

7 Light is sweet, and it is pleasant for the eyes to see the sun. 8 So if a person lives many years, let him rejoice in them all; but let him remember that the days of darkness will be many. All that comes is vanity. 9 Rejoice, O young man, in your youth, and let your heart cheer you in the days of your youth. Walk in the ways of your heart and the sight of your eyes. But know that for all these things God will bring you into judgment. 10 Remove vexation from your heart, and put away pain from your body, for youth and the dawn of life are vanity.

What is vanity, but life received and lived apart from the Lordship of God? A life lived unto the natural man - delighting in the pleasures of the unenlightened soul - is sweet at the moment but will prove to be a complete waste. Worse than that, it will be a wasted life under the just and eternal condemnation of God.

God has indeed made all things good. But man has made evil use of all the goodness God's creation. To have the greatest gift of all, which is life itself, and to live that life as a selfish possession, stolen from God without acknowledgment, is great folly. But it is a great folly that all of natural humankind exhibits.

There is nothing wrong with rejoicing in the good things - a sunny day, the strength and health of youthfulness - but to do so as unto oneself is sin. To live in the midst of God’s goodness, lacking a present gratitude and without a constant care for the proper use of it all is living death, even though it seems like life.

The immediacy of selfish pleasure and the arrogant denial of the inevitability of death and judgment that permits the willful sins of the moment is an illusion. It is foolishness. It is vanity.

There is coming a Day when God will judge the secrets of men by the ONLY standard that matters - His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. {Romans 2:16} If we are not in Him - if His righteousness is not our righteousness - then we shall fail the test.