This morning I was reading through Ecclesiastes, and there is really only one way to describe some of the thoughts contained in this book – depressing. Solomon details his journeys through gaining riches, success, wealth, wisdom, possessions, and really anything you can think of. It almost makes you wonder, how could someone like that not be happy with their life? 
Solomon had a very different perspective on money and wealth than most of us have, and his perspective came from pure and utter personal experience with it. He had the highs and lows of accomplishments and toil, he ruled over people that came to him with all kinds of situations and problems, and he struggled to find God’s will in all of these situations.
In the first couple of chapters, Solomon goes through the way that men “work” and relates all that we do “under the sun” as vanity. Over and over again he repeats this word, not able to find anything else that describes the hopelessness in going to work every day without a cause or meaning behind what you are doing. Have any of you ever felt this? You wake up to a tireless alarm, get ready for the day, and before you know it, you are sitting at your desk wondering what exactly you are doing with your life?
There is hope in God’s word for the purpose behind work, and we are not left to be in this hopeless state forever. Ecclesiastes 2:24-26 highlights this…
“There is nothing better for a person than that he should eat and drink and find enjoyment in his toil. This also, I saw, is from the hand of God, for apart from Him who can eat or who can have enjoyment? For to the one who pleases him God has given wisdom and knowledge and joy, but to the sinner he has given the business of gathering and collecting, only to give to one who pleases God. This also is vanity and a striving after wind.”
It is scary to think of the alternative isn’t it? Apart from God, work is just a meaningless task that will really get us to one place…nowhere.
Today is Friday, the day where most of us are overjoyed at the thought of the weekend! (I know I am). But today, I want you to take some time throughout your tasks and think about one thing, What is God’s place in your work?
Are you primarily doing it all for yourself? For personal gain? Or are you working to please God, and to make Him proud of you as His child?
God opens doors for us every single day, he brings situations upon us where we can either choose to honor and glorify Him, or we can shirk away in the shadows. Today make it your goal, (even though it’s Friday), to do everything as if you were doing it for Him. No matter how small the task, make it count, and don’t sacrifice on any of the details.
Did you do something today that was above and beyond the call of duty? Tell us about it. We all need encouragement to get out of our comfortable and daily routine, and to go against what the world screams at us to give in to – laziness.
By: Erika Pizzo