ECCLESIASTES 12:13-14 – “The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. For God will bring every deed into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or evil.”

THEME OF THE DAY: A WASTED LIFE.    Have we ever looked back on our lives and with wishful thinking said to ourselves, “I would like to go back and do life all over again knowing what I know now?”  I have.  And I am fairly sure all of us would like a retake in certain areas of our lives; parenting, marriages, maybe occupational. What about spiritual things?  Would we like another opportunity to invest more in the work of the Gospel, ministry to God’s people, reading our Bibles, and not giving into our flesh in living misplaced priorities?

Pastor Ray Stedman told the story of a time when, after a Billy Graham crusade meeting, he took a seat on a bus by a young man who had given his heart to Christ. He spoke to him of what his new life would mean and mentioned that he could now be free from all fear of death. The young man turned and looked the older man in the eye and said, “I have never been much afraid of death. But I’ll tell you what I am afraid of—I’m afraid I’ll waste my life.”

Today’s scripture is the conclusion of the wisdom book of Ecclesiastes.  King Solomon writes of his life and throughout the book we encounter the word vanity, and the futility of investing our only life we have on the wrong things.  A vivid illustration from the king appears in chapter two of Ecclesiastes . . .

“I said in my heart, “Come now, I will test you with pleasure; enjoy yourself.” But behold, this also was vanity.  I said of laughter, “It is mad,” and of pleasure, “What use is it?” I searched with my heart how to cheer my body with wine—my heart still guiding me with wisdom—and how to lay hold on folly, till I might see what was good for the children of man to do under heaven during the few days of their life.  I made great works. I built houses and planted vineyards for myself.  I made myself gardens and parks, and planted in them all kinds of fruit trees.  I made myself pools from which to water the forest of growing trees.  I bought male and female slaves, and had slaves who were born in my house. I had also great possessions of herds and flocks, more than any who had been before me in Jerusalem.  I also gathered for myself silver and gold and the treasure of kings and provinces. I got singers, both men and women, and many concubines, the delight of the sons of man.  So I became great and surpassed all who were before me in Jerusalem. Also my wisdom remained with me.  And whatever my eyes desired I did not keep from them. I kept my heart from no pleasure, for my heart found pleasure in all my toil, and this was my reward for all my toil.  Then I considered all that my hands had done and the toil I had expended in doing it, and behold, all was vanity and a striving after wind, and there was nothing to be gained under the sun” (Ecclesiastes 2:1-11).

Can we feel the regret King Solomon is experiencing because of his foolish living?   His pursuit of meaning, contentment and satisfaction in life left no stone unturned.  He had everything and anyone money could buy and at the end of his life, one word would describe his life – wasted.

Friends, we get one life to live, and every day we must choose whether it will be foolishly wasted on this world or wisely invested in the eternal things of the next world.  May we not look back and see we lived with the wrong priorities and the word wasted defines our lives.

PRAYER: Father, make me mindful of the brevity of my life and not waste my precious time on trivial things.

REFLECTION:   One word that would be the saddest ever attached to our lives – wasted.