Jan
06
2010
It’s a wonderful life
“Go, eat your bread with joy, and drink your wine with a merry heart, for God has already approved what you do. Let your garments always be white. Let no oil be lacking on your head. Enjoy life with the wife whom you love.” Ecclesiastes 9:7-9a
I refuse to be completely serious. I refuse to be so rigorous that I become a pain to the people closest to me. That cannot be the will of God. If I am not under law but under grace, as the Bible says, then I can relax and enjoy life without a single thought that somehow that will jeopardize my standing with God. It is God himself who gave me this life and who explicitly authorizes me to receive it from his hand as a good gift — not an ultimate gift but a good gift — and who settles the question of my acceptability to himself through Christ my Substitute who was perfect for me. Especially with Jani, God’s greatest earthly gift to me, I want so to trust God that I set a tone of enjoyment in our life together. Like today. Like right now. I think I’ll call her and just tell her I love her. I think God would smile on that. So would she. So would I.
God be praised.
10 Comments
Yes, Yes, Yes!
Ray these words are wonderful and breathe life into my cold bones today! By the way, 10 years ago (this Friday) you married Erin and Me… and we are still kickin!
God Bless.
I read this and my heart resonated and was thankful, even called my wife. But then I read the context that ends, “for there is no work or thought or knowledge or wisdom in Sheol, to which you are going.” Can you clarify for me?
[...] Ray Ortlund, Jr. [...]
=) Savoring life – something the Master has been teaching me – It is such a delight to hear the experiences of others taking time to enjoy what He’s blessed them with!
Well this was very encouraging. I’m looking into grad schools and churches that are available near it and I’m glad I came across this. Now if only I could get accepted into a grad program in TN.
Thanks, Josh. Two themes run through Ecclesiastes. One, life is good. Two, life is short. Both are true. Our take-away? Enjoy this life for what it is, because it doesn’t last.
We can drive into one ditch on one side of the road and try to squeeze ultimacy out of mortality with wildly naive optimism. Or we can drive into the other ditch on the other side of the road and become bitter and cynical because the mortal fails to be the ultimate.
The path of wisdom, right down the middle, is to see this life for what it is, not demand of it what it cannot provide, receive today by faith from the good hand of God and enjoy it as an unrepeatable opportunity for joy, because it is.
Many thanks for the clarification, Ray. My natural disposition is of one who loves life, laughs much and smiles more, so reading this greatly challenged me–to be joyful and to be wise.
Is my thinking correct here: Because I am no longer under the law but under grace that the end of verse 10 is not applicable to me as it was to the initial recipients of Ecclesiastes?
Thanks again, Josh. I don’t think the author’s category of thought dovetails in that way with the more developed gospel outlook of the New Testament. As I understand it, he is pointing out the fact of our mortality and urging us to face its implications for the enjoyment of this passing moment. It isn’t a threat or an ultimatum but simply a fact.
I see. Thanks again for kindly clarifying and correcting. One more example of God’s grace to me is His using His servants to teach me.
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Michael Fleming, Monte Lawlis. Monte Lawlis said: It’s a wonderful life – Ray Ortlund http://bit.ly/87Ymwi >"Enjoy life with the wife whom you love…" Good thought. [...]