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23rd March 2025
SundayReflection
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Thomas Schreiner
'Professor,
The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary'
'Stop and Enjoy the Ordinary'
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God wrote a book, and within that book is another book, the book of Ecclesiastes.
Ecclesiastes is realistic.
It teaches us that life under the sun is often empty, futile, and absurd, and yet it does not run us into the rocks of despair either.
The conclusion of the book functions as the lens, the perspective, by which the whole of the book should be read.
So I realised that all we can do is be happy and do the best we can while we are still alive.
All of us should eat and drink and enjoy what we have worked for. It is God's gift.
.....Ecclesiastes 3 v 12-13
Ecclesiastes reminds us of our limitations and finiteness.
He has put eternity into man's heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end.
Life is a blend of beauty and mystery.
We see the beauty of life in the waves of the ocean crashing ashore, in the rain cascading down in a thunderstorm, and in seeing shafts of the sun streaming through the trees while hiking in woods.
We see the beauty of the created world, but at the same time we yearn for eternity.
We long for something that transcends time.
We sense there is something more than just this life.
I was looking at an intensely purple iris this year and thought how indescribably beautiful it was.
I longed for the beauty in the flower to be in me.
We realize that such beauty is found only in God himself, in Jesus.
Notice also that though God has put a desire for eternity and a desire for beauty in our hearts, our lives contain many mysteries we cannot understand.
We can sense beauty in the world God has made; we cannot master our lives.
Life doesn't always make sense to us.
We cannot explain why babies die, why the godly suffer, while the wicked are spared.
Many of the deepest questions in life are beyond our understanding.
None of us can articulate what God is doing from beginning to the end.
We do know that God does everything for his glory.
We don't always understand how the specific things that happen in our lives bring him glory in the end.
Ecclesiastes teaches us that life on earth is full of suffering and tragedy.
And yet at the same time we are called upon to enjoy everyday life.
The call to enjoy life is a persistent theme in the book.
We are not being told here to eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die.
Instead, we are being told how to live our lives during this present evil age.
God gives us time to enjoy the fruit of our toil, whether we are a salaried labourer in the workforce or a busy mum at home with the kids all week.
Whatever our station in life, there is joy God intends for us to experience from our toil.
God calls us to be content as creatures.
Pride makes us want to be gods, but humility accepts the truth that we can't master time.
We are flesh and blood creatures; we are made of dust.
So we accept our work every day from God.
To be a creature means we cannot unravel all the mysteries of the universe, but we can live and work and rest in God.
We give thanks to God for what he has called us to do.
We don't master life, and we don't know what the days ahead will bring.
But we put our trust in God, and eat and drink every day with joy.
v
We give thanks for our daily bread.
We find joy in the ordinary things of life: in taking walks, in exercising, in regularly attending church, and in meeting with friends.
If our days are good, if we are spared suffering, that is a gift of God.
Ordinary days have their own glory.
Every piece of toast with jam on it is a gift of God.
When we receive life as God's gift, we see the glory in the ordinary.
Ecclesiastes says,
"Don't try to unravel and figure out the reason everything happens in the world."
It is beyond your ability; "the secret things belong to the Lord our God".
Receive them as a gift of God and see God's goodness in such days.
><(((°>
This is an edited version.
The full article is avaiable on request
'Thomas Schreiner'
is James Buchanan Harrison Professor of New Testament Interpretation and Professor of Biblical Theology at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary where he also serves as Associate Dean of the School of Theology.
He is the author or editor of several books and commentaries.
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