Passage of the Day - April 21, 2011

Ecclesiastes 3:9-15

 ⁹What profit is there to the worker from that in which he toils?

 ¹⁰I have seen the task which God has given the sons of men with which to occupy themselves.

 ¹¹He has made everything appropriate in its time He has also set eternity in their heart, yet so that man will not find out the work which God has done from the beginning even to the end.

 ¹²I know that there is nothing better for them than to rejoice and to do good in one's lifetime;

 ¹³moreover, that every man who eats and drinks sees good in all his labor--it is the gift of God.

 ¹⁴I know that everything God does will remain forever; there is nothing to add to it and there is nothing to take from it, for God has so worked that men should fear Him.

 ¹⁵That which is has been already and that which will be has already been, for God seeks what has passed by.

It is good to enjoy the good fruits of our good labor.  God created us that way.  God is glorified by good work and us enjoying and being thankful for the good fruit.

You will note that this passage intertwines our work with God’s work.  We are designed to work because we are made in the image of God and God works.  We enjoy the fruits of our labor, but do we allow God to enjoy the fruits of His?  We are the fruits of His labor.  Are we pleasing to Him, or are we moldy and rotten?

Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®,
© Copyright 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation
Used by permission." (http://www.lockman.org/)