The Balancing Act (Meditations in Ecclesiastes - Part VI)
Text: Ecclesiastes 4:4-16
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We have seen in our previous meditation that Solomon places a notable emphasis on the concept of balance in life. There is a rightful time for everything and there is rest and wisdom in acceptance of the fact.
In Ecclesiastes 4, Solomon continues to extend his investigations into the realm of work and toil. In verse 4, he notices that, “[A]ll toil and all skill in work come from a man’s envy of his neighbor.” If that verse does not stop you in your tracks, my friends, I’m not sure anything will.
Consider the notion of envy. All of us deeply relate to it. We find ourselves unsatisfied with some aspect of our life and believe that obtaining something we don’t have but someone else does would rid us of our discontent. We envy others’ houses, cars, salaries, and spouses. Our drive to succeed at our work is fueled by comparison and competition.
We even construct entire political ideologies on envy. The supposed eternal struggle between the have’s and the have-not’s; between the privileged and the marginalized; between the powerful and the oppressed; rages on and on in people’s minds, causing them to call on government to level the playing field. Many of us hold to envy so deeply that we allow it to shape the lens through which we see all of life.
But, Solomon warns, allowing envy to drive us is “vanity and a striving after the wind.”
The New Testament writers would double down on Solomon’s conclusion. James tells us that envy and covetousness are prominent reasons for conflict, even to the point of murder (James 4:2). John teaches that it was envy that drove Cain to kill Abel (I John 3:12), and Paul relates that covetousness is a sin so integral to our fallen human nature that we would not even identify it as evil if it were not for Law of God telling us it was so (Romans 7:7-8).
So, allowing ourselves to admit that envy and covetousness are very much a part of our natural human inclinations and then beginning the battle of renouncing them is a cornerstone of wise living.
Following this instruction on the corrosive effect of using envy as a primary motivator for our efforts is what might be called Solomon’s analysis of a work/life balance. One option in regard to labor is laziness: folding our hands and eating our own flesh (vs. 5). Solomon disregards this as foolish. The next verse, however, brings balance to the more optimal choice: that it is better to both work and rest - to strive and to cease from striving - than to dedicate ourselves fully and completely to our work. As we saw before, all things have their appropriate place, and this includes quietness and rest.
We live in a time saturated with promotional materials and professional coaching all pushing the idea that the key to success both in work and in life is to be more dedicated, more intense, more efficient, more serious, and more committed than we have managed to be before. Pointing to highly paid CEO’s and entrepreneurial geniuses, the alleged lesson to be learned is that working harder, doing more, and renouncing moderation are the things that led this person or that to the heights of success and fortune they currently enjoy.
No mention, of course, is ever made of the sovereignty of God (see James 4:13-17, for instance).
…nor of the purpose of all the striving. It is widely assumed throughout our world that money is an end in-and-of itself. But is that actually true? Solomon takes issue with the sentiment in vs. 7-8: the person that constantly seeks greater and greater sums of wealth by his labor only to discover that that which he gave up in order to achieve it are the very things that might actually make the wealth he acquired worthwhile. What is good is money if you can’t figure out a way to enjoy it? Or if you don’t have any other people in your life to enjoy it with?
We tend to lionize and celebrate those who “risk it all” or “give it all up” in order to achieve their dreams. But what if the achievement of the dream actually costs everything? What good is that?
Solomon concludes our meditation with thoughts on the nature of cooperation and the strength that comes from joining together with other people in our ventures. The inevitable tensions that arise from having more than one cook in the kitchen seem to be outweighed by the advantages that one gains from not being alone in their pursuits. Joining together with others will almost certainly require a healthy dose of humility on our part from time to time, but what is lost by an insistence on flying solo cannot be artificially manufactured. The writer may resent his editor from time to time, the musician may bristle at the recommendations of his producer, and the business owner may fume at getting out-voted by his partners, but the advantages of cooperation make such experiences more than worthwhile.
A proper balance between life and work can be a hard thing to achieve. Many of us are simply hardwired toward diving headlong into our jobs and almost unconsciously ignore the other important aspects of our lives. Others of us may need prompting and encouragement to break out of the funk of laziness we often find ourselves in. Recognizing the value of work but keeping in its proper place is a mark of maturity and wisdom. Work is important, but it is not everything. And, through the sovereign hand of God, work provides us with more than just a paycheck or a pathway to wealth.
But the moment we make our jobs solely about money or begin to derive our identities from them, we wander into dangerous territory. We will make the mistake of thinking our work vitally important only to find out that everything we have achieved has been “vanity and a striving after the wind.”
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For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? - Mark 8:36
And He said to them, “Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.” And He told them a parable, saying, “The land of a rich man produced plentifully, and he thought to himself, ‘What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?’ And he said, ‘I will do this: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.”’ But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’ So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.”
- Luke 12:15-21