A man should rejoice in his own works

Eccl. {3:22} Wherefore I perceive that there is nothing better,
than that a man should rejoice in his own works; for that is
his portion: for who shall bring him to see what shall be
after him?


Rejoicing in your work.


Solomon, the wisest of the wise professed that there is nothing better than rejoicing in your own works. No wonder so many people aren't very happy. How many have jobs they can rejoice in? Or is it being able to rejoice no matter what that work is? And even if we aren't talking strictly about what we consider work these days, the 8 hour, 5 days a week position we are in to earn money to afford to live, but rather our lives in general. Our day to day existence is what we have, it's all we have, it is our portion. We won't see what is to come after us. We can't worry about tomorrow so to speak. We have to rejoice in the here and now. We have to rejoice in the life we have. If we sit about wishing we were in a different life- constantly wishing for things to be different in such a way that they are impossible to change, what good is there in that? If you can change something in your life to make it better, do it. If you can't you need to learn to rejoice in what you do have in your life. To do otherwise, to not rejoice in your portion, your works is to live unhappily and that's not good for anyone.


'Nothing better than a man should rejoice in his own works for that is his portion.'


We all have our portion in life. Some have longer portions, some have portions we perceive are much better than our own, and still others have portions that are much worse. Regardless of what anyone else has, we all have our own existence. We don't know what sort of lives our furture generations will have. If we're lucky we watch our children grow up and lead happy lives. We might see our grandchildren do the same and then we might even get to see our great grandchildren begin their own lives of happiness but seldom does it stretch far beyond that for any of us, not that it can't but it grows more rare as time passes that you will see your great, great grandchildren become adults, and even less so great, great, great grandchildren. So while you might get to see glimpses of the future generations, there comes a time in every person's life without exception where death will be their portion. Death- a return to the dust we've come from as God takes back the breath He gave to us. Death, not another life to sit back and watch all that goes on with the living. Death, not an existence that gives us a whole new portion to rejoice in. No. Death isn't another form of life in any way at all. Death is a sleep as Lazarus- one brought back from the dead knew. Death is a sleep from which there is no waking until Christ returns. If people live their lives now not rejoicing in their works, in their portion given to them and pin their hopes on life after death, there is no real hope at all. Life is just that... life. And death is just that...death.


We need to live and rejoice now as we place our trust in the Lord Jesus Christ to raise us from the death sleep when He returns and we are changed and brought to live new lives without any sort of pain and heartache, grief and sorrow this life affords us stealing the rejoicing from us that there is nothing better than a man doing.


Contentment in our lives, rejoicing in the portion given to us. May God help us find this place that Solomon speaks of, may we cling to Jesus Christ our Savior and place our hope in Him as we live today as He would have us live.


In His ever merciful name.


Amen.