Ecclesiastes

 

Ecclesiastes Chapter 9 verse 4 says:

Anyone who is among the living has hope—even a live dog is better off than a dead lion!

Better to be alive, than to be dead.

It sounds obvious and self-evident. But the fact that the writer King Solomon has committed it to writing would suggest it is not!

It is our natural earthly instinct to look at our lives and compare it to those around us, those we see on TV, those we aspire to be like and are confronted and frustrated by our lack.

There will always be people with things you don’t have. But, if you’re a believer in Jesus Christ, you have something more. You have LIFE!

See, it is better to have life, without status, without fame or money, without influence or image or profile. Because if you have life you have everything over a person who has all that, and yet is dead spiritually.

Our primary problem as people is without Jesus, we are dead spiritually. We are not just morally in need of help. We are not just ignorant and in need of direction. We are DEAD!

But the good news is Jesus says I have come so that you can have abundant, eternal life! (John 10:10) If you have LIFE, then you have HOPE! And it is better to be a dog with life and hope than be all that a lion is, and yet be dead.

PRAYER: Thank you Father, for your LIFE. I acknowledge the amazing work you did in me to make me alive in you. I ask for perspective to see my life and my future through your eternal lens. In Jesus name, Amen.

Ecclesiastes 7:8 and 10 says:

8 The end of a matter is better than its beginning…

(Therefore) 10 Do not say, “Why is it that the former days were better than these?”
For it is not from wisdom that you ask about this.

There is a natural forward movement in the things of God’s kingdom. He was the one who invented time, after all.

And by virtue of us, being His image bearers, humankind has this also. We see this in technology advancing, knowledge increasing, cities and population developing and expanding constantly.

Importantly, we need to be able to locate this forward movement and progress in our own lives as part of God’s kingdom. There is a danger in all of us to look back wistfully and pine for the “good old days”. As a child I remember hearing my Dad tell us about life when he was a child – without any of the modern conveniences we had – and thinking they don’t sound so good!

We can look back to a certain season, a certain period of time and associate it so strongly with the blessing and favour of God it paralyses us from moving forward into the new things God has for us.

Your life and my life is not complete. There is still more God wants (and needs) to do in and through us. There is a progressive work of Christ right now occurring in your life and whilst we are breathing on this earth, it is not finished!

The Word of God tells us this work continues and the end of it will be better than the beginning. That is God’s promise to you – “the better” is yet to come.

PRAYER: Father, I thank you for your promise. I choose to believe it today and set my eyes on you. As good as the days in the past were, I thank you for the best being ahead of me. In Jesus name, Amen.