Life is a Team Activity

Read Ecclesiastes 4

There's a song called Bullet with Butterfly Wings by The Smashing Pumpkins. The very first line of this song is "The world is a vampire." The meaning behind those lyrics is that the world sucks the life out of us, some slow, some fast. There is a law of thermodynamics related to this. Everything is in a state of entropy, or everything is dying. Side note, I believe this one law shows how evolution cannot work, but maybe that's for another time.

Here in Ecclesiastes 4 we see that the foolish or the sloths are slowly killing themselves, but not doing a thing. Those who work hard though hold a double edged sword. Either you work yourself to death, or you build up your body to last longer. Recently my dad had a mild heart attack because he was so over worked. Luckily it was as un-serious as a heart attack can be, but his job still could have put him in the ground. I think God every day that it didn't. But no matter how you are, lazy as all get out or working your hands to the bone, the reality is you're going to die.

I'm glad Solomon made that painfully clear for us. Negative Nancy.

But while on the subject of working ourselves to death, we are told of a man that Solomon sees who in one translation he describes as, "another wisp of smoke on its way to nothingness." This just reaffirms that we all are just passing breaths, just waiting to move on from this life. But this wisp of smoke, this man that Solomon sees, he is alone. No friends. No family. No co-workers. Alone. And this man is constantly working into the wee hours of the morning, always wanting more than what he has, and never stopping to ask himself, "Why don't I get help with this?" We then see some proverbs or sayings that tell of the importance of teamwork and community. I suggest you read those and see what God has to say about "going it alone." We came into this giant community which spans the globe. They're there to support us just as we're there to support them. Take advantage of it.

Finally we see a poor young kid with some wisdom is better than and old man who is full of foolishness. Yet this young man who had nothing ended up gaining everything, and was marveled at by the people. Yet he still died, and was soon forgotten.

Remember that there is only one important thing in life: Christ. What you've done, what you've gained, it's all meaningless, it doesn't go with you. Instead look to help those around you, use the community of believers you are a part of, and focus on Christ in all you do.