Daily Devotional: Live in the Moment (Day 12)

Reading: Ecclesiastes 4:4-6

In this process of getting down to what is truly important and worth investing your life in comes this great question, “Why do you do what you do?” In the passage for today the Teacher makes a great observation that most toil and achievement is driven by envy. Have you ever gone into someone’s house and said, “I want that.” Gotten it. Then in a year be disappointed because you now have last year’s model.

I remember a TV commercial a few years ago, selling one of those ridiculous “pay day” HIGH interest loans so that a person could buy a big screen TV that you “deserve.” We work hard to get what someone else has. There is no end to it. It just leads to a bad place.

The teacher goes on to point out that only a fool would say, “why work at all?” A fool also lets themselves get caught up in the competition and working so hard for what adds up to nothing. “Two handfuls of toil,” he says.

The wise person finds the balance. Finding satisfaction in their work while meeting their true needs and having a relatively stress free life (financially.)