Enjoy Your Life
Pastor KC Liu/Ecclesiastes 9:1-12/November 29, 2015
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So I reflected on all this and concluded that the righteous and the wise and what they do are in God’s hands, but no one knows whether love or hate awaits them. 2 All share a common destiny—the righteous and the wicked, the good and the bad, the clean and the unclean, those who offer sacrifices and those who do not.
As it is with the good, so with the sinful; as it is with those who take oaths, so with those who are afraid to take them. 3 This is the evil in everything that happens under the sun: The same destiny overtakes all. The hearts of people, moreover, are full of evil and there is madness in their hearts while they live, and afterward they join the dead. 4 Anyone who is among the living has hope—even a live dog is better off than a dead lion! 5 For the living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing; they have no further reward, and even their name is forgotten. 6 Their love, their hate and their jealousy have long since vanished; never again will they have a part in anything that happens under the sun. 7 Go, eat your food with gladness, and drink your wine with a joyful heart, for God has already approved what you do. 8 Always be clothed in white, and always anoint your head with oil. 9 Enjoy life with your wife, whom you love, all the days of this meaningless life that God has given you under the sun—all your meaningless days. For this is your lot in life and in your toilsome labor under the sun. 10 Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might, for in the realm of the dead, where you are going, there is neither working nor planning nor knowledge nor wisdom. 11 I have seen something else under the sun: The race is not to the swift or the battle to the strong, nor does food come to the wise or wealth to the brilliant or favor to the learned; but time and chance happen to them all. 12 Moreover, no one knows when their hour will come: As fish are caught in a cruel net, or birds are taken in a snare, so people are trapped by evil times that fall unexpectedly upon them. |
Good morning, everybody! Happy Holidays to you all. Today is a special day in the church calendar all around the world. Today is the beginning of Advent season. The word Advent means “coming”. For Christians, the season of Advent anticipates the coming of Christ in 3 ways. First, it celebrates the first coming of the Messiah 2000 years ago, when he died on the cross for the sins of mankind and rose again on the third day. Second, advent can happen right now as Jesus wants to come into your life and be your King. Third, it is for us to be alert for his Second Coming, in which he will come to rule and judge the nations.
During each Sunday of the Advent season, we focus on one of the four virtues Jesus brings us: Hope, Love, Joy and Peace. The Christ candle, which is the white candle in the middle, is lit on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day to remind Christians that Jesus is the light of the world.
We will invite a couple to come up and light the candles every week until Christmas Eve. Today, we have Julia and Jerry Hsu lighting our first purple candle, which represents hope. They will follow with a prayer of hope.
I am actually really excited to jump back into the Book of Ecclesiastes. The last time we studied the words of King Solomon was almost a month ago; we were on chapter 5. Today we are jumping to chapter 9, and the title is “Enjoy Your Life!” . Originally we planned a 12-part series, but we will only have time to have a 10-parts series. I apologize for that. Allow me to give a brief summary of chapters 7 and 8 before we dive in to 9.
King Solomon, the wisest king who ever lived, was actually struggling with a really hard question in chapters 7 and 8. What was that question? Why do bad things happen to some good people and good things happen to some bad people? How can a just God allow this to happen? He ended chapter 8 with the conclusion that no one can understand all the works of God. Even the wise King Solomon says, “I don’t know. I don’t understand all the ways of God.”
Here we start chapter 9, as Solomon continues his thoughts. "So I reflected on all this and concluded that the righteous and the wise and what they do are in God’s hands, but no one knows whether love or hate awaits them". So what is Solomon reflecting on? What is “all this”? It’s the fact that the righteous sometimes suffer and the wicked prosper, and it baffles us.
Why do little kids get cancer? Why can’t they get a chance at life? And why do evil dictators like Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Khomeini, get to live so old and prosper? This an Islamic leader who says “death to America”, and also “Wiping Israel off the map is a moral obligation.” In other words, genocide of the Jews. He sounds like Hitler to me. Why do the wicked prosper? Life isn’t fair. This world is crazy. I don’t understand it.
But no matter how much the righteous suffer on earth, their deeds are in the hands of God. The bad things that happen to good people are not outside God’s control. God is sovereign. God set the times: “a time to be born and a time to die” (Ecclesiastes 3:2). So when good people suffer, we don’t understand why, but we take comfort knowing that they are in the hands of God. God is still watching over them.
But Solomon has another problem; he says, “whether it is love or hate, one does not know.” In other words, the righteous and wise do not know whether what they experience is a result of God’s love, God’s favor, or God’s hate, God’s anger. What questions can a suffering child with cancer ask God? “Do you love me? Or do you hate me? Did I do something wrong? Why am I suffering?” These are really hard questions that we have to wrestle with. I appreciate that Solomon isn’t afraid to ask hard questions, and I appreciate that he doesn’t pretend to have all the answers either. It’s a mystery that Solomon was willing to live with.
"2 All share a common destiny—the righteous and the wicked, the good and the bad, the clean and the unclean, those who offer sacrifices and those who do not. As it is with the good, so with the sinful; as it is with those who take oaths, so with those who are afraid to take them. 3 This is the evil in everything that happens under the sun: The same destiny overtakes all. The hearts of people, moreover, are full of evil and there is madness in their hearts while they live, and afterward they join the dead."
Solomon is saying, no matter who you are, we are all going to die someday. And this stinks. Regardless of whether you are good or bad, the end is the same. Solomon says there is something wrong here. This is evil! We may say, “Wow! Okay Solomon. I think you got some anger issues. You are so negative about life! Do you have to be so morbid?” Solomon says, “I am just being real. I am not going to sugarcoat things for you. This is not children’s Sunday school alright? This world is filled with evil. People are full of evil. Every time we turn on the news we see the evil of mankind. And you know what’s madness? That we, as created beings, would rebel and defy our Creator God. So the only thing that I am certain of is that we will all join the dead, because we deserve to die!” We can really sense Solomon’s outrage here, can’t we?
It’s not completely hopeless though. Solomon gives us some hope after his rant. "Anyone who is among the living has hope—even a live dog is better off than a dead lion!" If you are alive, that means you have a chance to experience good things in life. You can still enjoy and rejoice over what you have. Today, there is a proverb that says, “Where there’s life, there is hope.” Solomon is saying the same thing but in a crude manner, “A live dog is better off than a dead lion!” In the Ancient Near-East, a dog was not a house pet but a despised, unclean scavenger that roams in the dirt, eating dead meat. Today, we might think of a rat – a dirty creature. By contrast, the lion was admired as king of the animal world. So Solomon is saying, better to be alive as a scavenger dog than a noble dead lion. In other words, even a dog’s life is better than death; even a miserable life is better than death, for the living have hope.
"5 For the living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing; they have no further reward, and even their name is forgotten. 6 Their love, their hate and their jealousy have long since vanished; never again will they have a part in anything that happens under the sun." Here, Solomon is painting a really dark picture of death. When you die, there’s nothing to look forward to, and you will be forgotten. All your accomplishments, gone. All the money you saved, gone. All the memories of you, gone. You will never be a part of your family gatherings ever again. Wow! That’s so sad! But let’s notice something really important at the end of verse 6. Solomon says that “never again will they have a part in anything that happens under the Sun.” As we’ve studied Ecclesiastes, we know that this phrase “under the sun” means the things on this Earth. Everything on Earth is “under the Sun.” But what is above the sun? That is the realm of God, the kingdom of God, for God is not under the sun. God is above the sun.
As New Testament Christians, we know that there is more to this life, that death is not the end of it all. We will be in the presence of our Lord, Jesus Christ. So we have great hope!
However, Solomon is not making this point yet in this book. He is not encouraging us with the reality of the glorious afterlife. He is still talking about the physical realm. So, against this dark background of death, Solomon has some important advice for us.
"7 Go, eat your food with gladness, and drink your wine with a joyful heart, for God has already approved what you do." This is really interesting. In the book of Ecclesiastes, this is the 6th time that Solomon tells us to enjoy the life God gave us. But here, he is the most urgent. We cannot waste a day. He says this in a form of commands, not just mere advice: Go! Eat! Enjoy! Drink! Do! The first command is “GO!” It’s a wake-up call. There’s no time to waste. Stop your complaining! Stop nursing your anger! Stop getting defeated by your problems! Get over your anxiety! Go!”
Solomon’s 2nd command is “Eat your food with enjoyment!” Don’t rush through your meals. Don’t just eat as fast as you can so you can go play video games by yourself. God made us so that we not only need food in order to live, but so that we can enjoy it. In Hebrew culture and also Chinese culture, eating a meal together is a social event, to have good conversations about life. You can’t do that while slurping down a cup-o-noodle in 3 minutes. Slow down and enjoy your food. We had an amazing meal and fellowship at Jerry’s house on Friday. We enjoyed each others' company. The kids played and had so much fun. Several families enjoying a meal together. That’s what it is all about! Fun and friendship.
Solomon also says, “drink your wine with a joyful heart”! God has provided a rich variety of drinks for us to enjoy. In Israel wine was a favorite. In Taiwan it might be Oolong tea. At your house it might be 85C Sea salt coffee. The point is not that we should necessarily drink wine, but that we should enjoy whatever we drink.
Solomon is giving good advice, but we might mistaken his advice with 1 Cor 15:32, because it sounds so similar. “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.” This is actually a pagan slogan that Paul is warning the Corinthians against. It means that since we are going to die anyways, we should just do whatever we want. Let’s party, drink, have sex, do drugs, do evil things, and so on. It’s shallow and selfish. Solomon is not saying that. Rather he is saying that we should eat, drink, and enjoy life because “God has long ago approved what you do.” Remember that God created Adam and Eve in the Garden and gave them all the foods for them to enjoy? God created us to enjoy his creation. God not only approves, but he is pleased when we enjoy his provisions. John Piper, Pastor and theologian, has his favorite motto: “God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him.” When we actually enjoy God’s presence, actually enjoy coming to church, actually enjoy serving God, He is glorified. Isn’t that amazing?
Solomon continues on verse 8, “Always be clothed in white, and always anoint your head with oil.” I am using this baptism photo because we were clothed in white. So, I just want to take this chance to congratulate Shawn, Ethan, Ian, and Vicki for getting baptized last Sunday. It was such a joyful event. If you are here just wave at us. Let’s give them a hand. On a hot summer day, white garments better reflect the heat of the sun, and oil keeps the skin from drying out. Here the white garments and oil are symbols of joy. When people were sad they showed it by wearing sackcloths and putting ashes on their heads. As you can see on this picture, these rabbis are wearing sackcloths with ashes smeared on their foreheads. When people were joyful they showed it by wearing white clothes and putting oil on their heads. In our culture we might show our joy by dressing up and buying flowers with smiles on our faces. Solomon says, dress joyfully! So tell the person next to you, “dress joyfully!”
Give your spouse permission to buy a new dress! Amen to that!
Solomon continues, " Enjoy life with your wife, whom you love, all the days of this meaningless life that God has given you under the sun—all your meaningless days. For this is your lot in life and in your toilsome labor under the sun. " What does it mean to enjoy life with your wife? Most likely Solomon is talking about being intimate with her in every way possible. Have physical intimacy, and enjoy each other within the context and blessings of marriage. Have emotional intimacy, and connect on an emotional level, heart to heart level. Husbands, be sure to take your wife out on romantic dates regularly. Find out the desires of her heart and do your best to help her achieve them. Don’t neglect her emotional needs. Also, have spiritual intimacy together. Pray together, share your devotions with one another. Do ministry together.
A wise man once said, “couples that pray together, stay together.”
Solomon adds, this is “your lot in life”, this is your share, your portion for all your toil under the sun. Your time with your loved ones is your reward in this life. There’s nothing else that is worth all the hard work that you do. Wealth, fame, power, are not true rewards for your hard work. Your enjoyment with loved ones is the true reward. Make it count, seize the day!
Whenever you can, hug your friends, kiss your family! No matter how old you are, show your affection!
Solomon continues in verse 10, "Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might, for in the realm of the dead, where you are going, there is neither working nor planning nor knowledge nor wisdom." He reminds us again that death awaits us. So in light of that, do your absolute best by putting in every effort! Have an attitude of doing things with excellence, not mediocrity. “Whatever your hand finds to do” refers to opportunity. If you have a chance to do something, do it now, because who knows what the future will bring. Solomon is also saying that hard work is part of the joy of living. There is just something really satisfying in knowing that you just put 100% into something and it turned out great.
I had a chance to run with Team World Vision earlier this year. Pastor Owen invited me to join him in running a marathon, a half marathon for me. But I hated running and am slow as a snail. I didn’t think it was possible for me to cross the finish line. But I had the opportunity, and if I didn’t do it, I probably never will. So I decided to go for it, and we trained for 3 months. And on May 2, we crossed the finish line together. It was deeply satisfying to know that all of our hard work and training paid off as we ran and raised money for a cause. This was hard work for me personally.
For you, hard work might be training for the soccer varsity team, or studying the SAT's, or starting your own business. God wants us to work. God created us to work, ever since the Garden. He gave you big muscles so you can work hard! Tell the person sitting next to you, “work your muscles”! When you do, it will give you great satisfaction and joy.
Today, if you are not enjoying your life to the fullest, Solomon wants to talk to you. He wants to say to you, “Life is short and unpredictable, death is waiting for you, so in light of that, enjoy your life now! As much as you possibly can! Go! Eat your food with joy, drink your wine with a happy heart, enjoy life with your spouse whom you love, and whatever you do, do it with all your might!”
These are really good instructions for life. Even though we know that as followers of Christ, we have hope beyond death, Solomon’s words still ring true.
During each Sunday of the Advent season, we focus on one of the four virtues Jesus brings us: Hope, Love, Joy and Peace. The Christ candle, which is the white candle in the middle, is lit on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day to remind Christians that Jesus is the light of the world.
We will invite a couple to come up and light the candles every week until Christmas Eve. Today, we have Julia and Jerry Hsu lighting our first purple candle, which represents hope. They will follow with a prayer of hope.
I am actually really excited to jump back into the Book of Ecclesiastes. The last time we studied the words of King Solomon was almost a month ago; we were on chapter 5. Today we are jumping to chapter 9, and the title is “Enjoy Your Life!” . Originally we planned a 12-part series, but we will only have time to have a 10-parts series. I apologize for that. Allow me to give a brief summary of chapters 7 and 8 before we dive in to 9.
King Solomon, the wisest king who ever lived, was actually struggling with a really hard question in chapters 7 and 8. What was that question? Why do bad things happen to some good people and good things happen to some bad people? How can a just God allow this to happen? He ended chapter 8 with the conclusion that no one can understand all the works of God. Even the wise King Solomon says, “I don’t know. I don’t understand all the ways of God.”
Here we start chapter 9, as Solomon continues his thoughts. "So I reflected on all this and concluded that the righteous and the wise and what they do are in God’s hands, but no one knows whether love or hate awaits them". So what is Solomon reflecting on? What is “all this”? It’s the fact that the righteous sometimes suffer and the wicked prosper, and it baffles us.
Why do little kids get cancer? Why can’t they get a chance at life? And why do evil dictators like Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Khomeini, get to live so old and prosper? This an Islamic leader who says “death to America”, and also “Wiping Israel off the map is a moral obligation.” In other words, genocide of the Jews. He sounds like Hitler to me. Why do the wicked prosper? Life isn’t fair. This world is crazy. I don’t understand it.
But no matter how much the righteous suffer on earth, their deeds are in the hands of God. The bad things that happen to good people are not outside God’s control. God is sovereign. God set the times: “a time to be born and a time to die” (Ecclesiastes 3:2). So when good people suffer, we don’t understand why, but we take comfort knowing that they are in the hands of God. God is still watching over them.
But Solomon has another problem; he says, “whether it is love or hate, one does not know.” In other words, the righteous and wise do not know whether what they experience is a result of God’s love, God’s favor, or God’s hate, God’s anger. What questions can a suffering child with cancer ask God? “Do you love me? Or do you hate me? Did I do something wrong? Why am I suffering?” These are really hard questions that we have to wrestle with. I appreciate that Solomon isn’t afraid to ask hard questions, and I appreciate that he doesn’t pretend to have all the answers either. It’s a mystery that Solomon was willing to live with.
"2 All share a common destiny—the righteous and the wicked, the good and the bad, the clean and the unclean, those who offer sacrifices and those who do not. As it is with the good, so with the sinful; as it is with those who take oaths, so with those who are afraid to take them. 3 This is the evil in everything that happens under the sun: The same destiny overtakes all. The hearts of people, moreover, are full of evil and there is madness in their hearts while they live, and afterward they join the dead."
Solomon is saying, no matter who you are, we are all going to die someday. And this stinks. Regardless of whether you are good or bad, the end is the same. Solomon says there is something wrong here. This is evil! We may say, “Wow! Okay Solomon. I think you got some anger issues. You are so negative about life! Do you have to be so morbid?” Solomon says, “I am just being real. I am not going to sugarcoat things for you. This is not children’s Sunday school alright? This world is filled with evil. People are full of evil. Every time we turn on the news we see the evil of mankind. And you know what’s madness? That we, as created beings, would rebel and defy our Creator God. So the only thing that I am certain of is that we will all join the dead, because we deserve to die!” We can really sense Solomon’s outrage here, can’t we?
It’s not completely hopeless though. Solomon gives us some hope after his rant. "Anyone who is among the living has hope—even a live dog is better off than a dead lion!" If you are alive, that means you have a chance to experience good things in life. You can still enjoy and rejoice over what you have. Today, there is a proverb that says, “Where there’s life, there is hope.” Solomon is saying the same thing but in a crude manner, “A live dog is better off than a dead lion!” In the Ancient Near-East, a dog was not a house pet but a despised, unclean scavenger that roams in the dirt, eating dead meat. Today, we might think of a rat – a dirty creature. By contrast, the lion was admired as king of the animal world. So Solomon is saying, better to be alive as a scavenger dog than a noble dead lion. In other words, even a dog’s life is better than death; even a miserable life is better than death, for the living have hope.
"5 For the living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing; they have no further reward, and even their name is forgotten. 6 Their love, their hate and their jealousy have long since vanished; never again will they have a part in anything that happens under the sun." Here, Solomon is painting a really dark picture of death. When you die, there’s nothing to look forward to, and you will be forgotten. All your accomplishments, gone. All the money you saved, gone. All the memories of you, gone. You will never be a part of your family gatherings ever again. Wow! That’s so sad! But let’s notice something really important at the end of verse 6. Solomon says that “never again will they have a part in anything that happens under the Sun.” As we’ve studied Ecclesiastes, we know that this phrase “under the sun” means the things on this Earth. Everything on Earth is “under the Sun.” But what is above the sun? That is the realm of God, the kingdom of God, for God is not under the sun. God is above the sun.
As New Testament Christians, we know that there is more to this life, that death is not the end of it all. We will be in the presence of our Lord, Jesus Christ. So we have great hope!
However, Solomon is not making this point yet in this book. He is not encouraging us with the reality of the glorious afterlife. He is still talking about the physical realm. So, against this dark background of death, Solomon has some important advice for us.
"7 Go, eat your food with gladness, and drink your wine with a joyful heart, for God has already approved what you do." This is really interesting. In the book of Ecclesiastes, this is the 6th time that Solomon tells us to enjoy the life God gave us. But here, he is the most urgent. We cannot waste a day. He says this in a form of commands, not just mere advice: Go! Eat! Enjoy! Drink! Do! The first command is “GO!” It’s a wake-up call. There’s no time to waste. Stop your complaining! Stop nursing your anger! Stop getting defeated by your problems! Get over your anxiety! Go!”
Solomon’s 2nd command is “Eat your food with enjoyment!” Don’t rush through your meals. Don’t just eat as fast as you can so you can go play video games by yourself. God made us so that we not only need food in order to live, but so that we can enjoy it. In Hebrew culture and also Chinese culture, eating a meal together is a social event, to have good conversations about life. You can’t do that while slurping down a cup-o-noodle in 3 minutes. Slow down and enjoy your food. We had an amazing meal and fellowship at Jerry’s house on Friday. We enjoyed each others' company. The kids played and had so much fun. Several families enjoying a meal together. That’s what it is all about! Fun and friendship.
Solomon also says, “drink your wine with a joyful heart”! God has provided a rich variety of drinks for us to enjoy. In Israel wine was a favorite. In Taiwan it might be Oolong tea. At your house it might be 85C Sea salt coffee. The point is not that we should necessarily drink wine, but that we should enjoy whatever we drink.
Solomon is giving good advice, but we might mistaken his advice with 1 Cor 15:32, because it sounds so similar. “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.” This is actually a pagan slogan that Paul is warning the Corinthians against. It means that since we are going to die anyways, we should just do whatever we want. Let’s party, drink, have sex, do drugs, do evil things, and so on. It’s shallow and selfish. Solomon is not saying that. Rather he is saying that we should eat, drink, and enjoy life because “God has long ago approved what you do.” Remember that God created Adam and Eve in the Garden and gave them all the foods for them to enjoy? God created us to enjoy his creation. God not only approves, but he is pleased when we enjoy his provisions. John Piper, Pastor and theologian, has his favorite motto: “God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him.” When we actually enjoy God’s presence, actually enjoy coming to church, actually enjoy serving God, He is glorified. Isn’t that amazing?
Solomon continues on verse 8, “Always be clothed in white, and always anoint your head with oil.” I am using this baptism photo because we were clothed in white. So, I just want to take this chance to congratulate Shawn, Ethan, Ian, and Vicki for getting baptized last Sunday. It was such a joyful event. If you are here just wave at us. Let’s give them a hand. On a hot summer day, white garments better reflect the heat of the sun, and oil keeps the skin from drying out. Here the white garments and oil are symbols of joy. When people were sad they showed it by wearing sackcloths and putting ashes on their heads. As you can see on this picture, these rabbis are wearing sackcloths with ashes smeared on their foreheads. When people were joyful they showed it by wearing white clothes and putting oil on their heads. In our culture we might show our joy by dressing up and buying flowers with smiles on our faces. Solomon says, dress joyfully! So tell the person next to you, “dress joyfully!”
Give your spouse permission to buy a new dress! Amen to that!
Solomon continues, " Enjoy life with your wife, whom you love, all the days of this meaningless life that God has given you under the sun—all your meaningless days. For this is your lot in life and in your toilsome labor under the sun. " What does it mean to enjoy life with your wife? Most likely Solomon is talking about being intimate with her in every way possible. Have physical intimacy, and enjoy each other within the context and blessings of marriage. Have emotional intimacy, and connect on an emotional level, heart to heart level. Husbands, be sure to take your wife out on romantic dates regularly. Find out the desires of her heart and do your best to help her achieve them. Don’t neglect her emotional needs. Also, have spiritual intimacy together. Pray together, share your devotions with one another. Do ministry together.
A wise man once said, “couples that pray together, stay together.”
Solomon adds, this is “your lot in life”, this is your share, your portion for all your toil under the sun. Your time with your loved ones is your reward in this life. There’s nothing else that is worth all the hard work that you do. Wealth, fame, power, are not true rewards for your hard work. Your enjoyment with loved ones is the true reward. Make it count, seize the day!
Whenever you can, hug your friends, kiss your family! No matter how old you are, show your affection!
Solomon continues in verse 10, "Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might, for in the realm of the dead, where you are going, there is neither working nor planning nor knowledge nor wisdom." He reminds us again that death awaits us. So in light of that, do your absolute best by putting in every effort! Have an attitude of doing things with excellence, not mediocrity. “Whatever your hand finds to do” refers to opportunity. If you have a chance to do something, do it now, because who knows what the future will bring. Solomon is also saying that hard work is part of the joy of living. There is just something really satisfying in knowing that you just put 100% into something and it turned out great.
I had a chance to run with Team World Vision earlier this year. Pastor Owen invited me to join him in running a marathon, a half marathon for me. But I hated running and am slow as a snail. I didn’t think it was possible for me to cross the finish line. But I had the opportunity, and if I didn’t do it, I probably never will. So I decided to go for it, and we trained for 3 months. And on May 2, we crossed the finish line together. It was deeply satisfying to know that all of our hard work and training paid off as we ran and raised money for a cause. This was hard work for me personally.
For you, hard work might be training for the soccer varsity team, or studying the SAT's, or starting your own business. God wants us to work. God created us to work, ever since the Garden. He gave you big muscles so you can work hard! Tell the person sitting next to you, “work your muscles”! When you do, it will give you great satisfaction and joy.
Today, if you are not enjoying your life to the fullest, Solomon wants to talk to you. He wants to say to you, “Life is short and unpredictable, death is waiting for you, so in light of that, enjoy your life now! As much as you possibly can! Go! Eat your food with joy, drink your wine with a happy heart, enjoy life with your spouse whom you love, and whatever you do, do it with all your might!”
These are really good instructions for life. Even though we know that as followers of Christ, we have hope beyond death, Solomon’s words still ring true.