Nothing Better: Part 1 (4)
So I commended enjoyment, because a man has nothing better under the sun than to eat, drink, and be merry; for this will remain with him in his labor all the days of his life which God gives him under the sun. Ecclesiastes 8.15
For a time
When I was in college, I spent a summer at a Christian camp, working as an assistant to a very skilled carpenter. I knew nothing about carpentry, but I had to work somewhere, and this was where I was assigned.
I was amazed at all the different things Ernie could do and I could not. But of course, Ernie’s framework—his world—was carpentry. It’s what he’d done all his life. He thought like a carpenter; I thought like a college kid. He lived in a carpentry universe; my universe was of a decidedly different sort. Ernie delighted in conceiving a project and giving me some small part in it. I was happy to do my small part—usually with Ernie’s help. At the end of the day, Ernie and I would clean up the shop. He was always cheerful and seemed to have as much energy as when the day began. It was clear to me that he was already thinking ahead to the next day. He lived in a bigger world than I did. I was just glad the day was over and that I hadn’t messed anything up. Too much.
Yet Ernie Daniels and I shared a framework and a world that was larger than carpentry but included it as a valid and much-needed calling. For Ernie. He had found his calling within that glorious setting, but I would need to discover mine elsewhere.
My experience that summer suggests one of Solomon’s main points in the book of Ecclesiastes: “Good” is always defined by one’s framework, one’s world. And if your framework or world is not merely unclear or unfolding, but misguided, your definition of “good” will be, too. So misguided that, in the end, it may not satisfy at all. And if you have no other framework to move to at that point, then your life will have been feeding on the wind, vanity of vanities.
Put another way, whatever in one’s misguided world they consider to be their greatest good—that than which nothing is better—it will end up not being good enough when they finally depart this life.
It depends on what you’re “under”
In Ecclesiastes, Solomon makes a distinction between two kinds of people—those who have a large, expansive, eternal orientation to life, and those who see their lives only within a brief temporal and material framework. The first people live “under the heavens” and the second “under the sun.” Those living “under the sun” try to milk life for all it’s worth to satisfy the fleeting desires of their fading souls. They seek what is good—at least, as they understand it—but their too-small view of what is good cannot satisfy their soul, and then they die.
Those who choose to live “under the sun” will have to be content with what such a framework can afford. And that means settling for uncertainty, wishful thinking, and a lot of hard work. Merely fleeting stuff. Such people have asked the most important question—What is the greatest good I can do in this life?—but because their understanding of “life” is misguided, their sense of “good” is misguided and therefore necessarily unsatisfying.
I could get all excited about nail guns and stucco and making furniture and all while I was in that framework for a brief time. But once I left it, the fun was over, and I hadn’t accomplished much to shout about. But I also knew that carpentry wasn’t my ultimate framework. My life was other than that, though my framework was the same as Ernie’s, so my understanding of good, which has much in common with Ernie’s, has continued to sustain and guide me to this day.
But those who choose life “under the sun” as their framework for doing the greatest good may get excited and energetic about things and even realize a modicum of success and happiness, but when they die, there is nothing beyond that brief time of life except an unanticipated terror they had chosen not to consider.
Those who live “under the heavens” have more to lead them onward in life than enjoyment, working, eating, drinking, and being merry. Bur for those living in the too-small world of “under the sun”, under-the-sun living is, in Peggy Lee’s unforgettable phrase, all there is.
And in the end, it won’t be good enough.
Other better things
For those living “under the sun” there is no greater good than to indulge oneself and enjoy one’s friends. So if that’s your answer to this most important question, Solomon says, go for it. But know as you do, that when your time is up it’s all up, and there will be nothing more of good for you.
Which implies, as Solomon intends, that we should consider that there might be another framework for thinking about the greatest good we can do, one which will satisfy us better, and which we should therefore investigate.
For we were not made to live “under the sun”. We were created to live “under the heavens”, with a view to God and His will and purpose for life, and His counsel as to what things are true and wise and beautiful and good.
But even today, many Christians who think of themselves as living in the infinitely larger world “under the heavens”, keep clinging to, orbiting around, and seeking joy from “under the sun” diversions and stuff, as if these were in fact the greatest good they can do. God created us to live in this world unto the unseen world and the world to come. Because knowing and doing the greatest good anyone can do begins there, is lodged there, and holds there the secrets to full and abundant life and joy.
Living “under the sun” may have an endless array of new and interesting things to offer. But by itself it’s a dead end. Nothing of lasting goodness can come of it. We must not wait until it’s too late to realize this truth.
Search the Scriptures
1. In what sense is living “under the heavens” a larger and more expansive framework than living “under the sun”?2. How does the framework within which we live define the choices we make and the things we do?
3. Working, enjoyment, eating, drinking, and making merry are not inherently evil. But they can be futile and meaningless. Explain.
Next steps—Preparation: In prayer, walk through a typical week, naming everything you do. How much of this have you sincerely devoted to living “under the heavens”? Are there any lingering “under the sun” activities or priorities in your life?
T. M. Moore
If you have found this meditation helpful, take a moment and give thanks to God. Then share what you learned with a friend. This is how the grace of God spreads (2 Cor. 4.15).
How should joy affect our lives as Christians? Our booklet, Joy to Your World!, can show you how both to know more of the Lord’s joy and to invite others into it as well. Order your copy by clicking here.
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Except as indicated, all Scriptures are taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
