Read Ecclesiastes 6:1–9
All man’s efforts are for his mouth, yet his appetite is never
satisfied.
Ecclesiastes 6:7
Rich and poor alike labor to stay alive. But even after all this labor, the
appetite of neither rich nor poor is fully satisfied.
Why do we eat? So that we can add years to our life. But what
good is it for us to add years to our life if we don’t add life to our years?
We are like the birds that I watch in the backyard. They spend all their
waking hours either looking for food or escaping from enemies. These
birds are not really living; they are only existing. Yet they are fulfilling
the purposes for which the Creator made them—and they even sing
about it!
Solomon is not suggesting that it is wrong either to work or to
eat. Many of us enjoy doing both. But if our life consists only in
working and eating, then we are being controlled by our appetites,
and that almost puts us on the same level as animals. As far as nature
is concerned, self-preservation may be the first law of life, but we who
are made in the image of God must live for something higher.
Something to Ponder
What things can you do to keep from letting routine activities (like
working and eating) prevent you from enjoying what is truly important in life?