Partying isn’t all it’s cracked up to be, so what should you put your time into? OF COURSE. REVISION. If you try to be the best student, it’ll give you something to aim for and maintain. Wait, lets go even further than that. We’re gonna be more than just smart. That’s it! We’re gonna be wise. Amen! Right…Right…Wrong.
Wisdom
12 Then I turned my thoughts to consider wisdom, and also madness and folly.
What more can the king’s successor do than what has already been done?
13 I saw that wisdom is better than folly, just as light is better than darkness.
14 The wise have eyes in their heads, while the fool walks in the darkness;
but I came to realize that the same fate overtakes them both.
15 Then I said to myself, “The fate of the fool will overtake me also.
What then do I gain by being wise? “I said to myself, “This too is meaningless.”
But isn’t wisdom one of the greatest attributes? A wise man would definitely have a great advantage over the fool right? According to Solomon, not really.
Imagine Solomon looking out the window at the town’s fool. He has nothing to his name, resorting to begging. Yet it dawned on him one day, this man, just like him, is going to die. He started to think about it a bit more. In the grave, wisdom and foolishness won’t matter. That degree on your shelf won’t earn you any more merit in the grave, you’re going to be just as dead as the fool next to you. In fact, that fool may live longer while the wise man dies early. Solomon thought about this all and once again asked, “There must be more to life than this?”
Solomon looked past all the fame, pleasure and wisdom acquired, and instead focussed on what will happen at the end, on his deathbed. What is interesting, or maybe even sad, is how this same thought has been translated into such a lucrative business plan. What do you mean?
In the past, funerals were pretty tame. Wooden boxes and horse-drawn carriages to take the deceased to their grave. Put some ropes underneath and lower them, somewhat gracefully, into the hole. Fast forward to today, when you die, you die in style. If you haven’t been able to gain any “significance” in life, you can get it at death. You never got to enjoy a satin pillow, well now you’ll have the opportunity. They’ll deck you out in the top of the line clothing, with a professional beautician. You wanted a limousine, now you’ve got it. You wanted to be famous, well now you’ll stop traffic.
Now I say this with zero intention to disrespect or make light of burial practices. I am nowhere near against honouring someone at death, but I wanted to show that putting your sense of purpose in such temporary things is futile. You don’t want to only achieve significance in death.
Work
Last stop, work. I get what you’ve been trying to say, but let’s be real. Solomon is being ungrateful. He’s the King. How could he ever be unsatisfied, there must always be something to do. If I was the King, I’d always look forward to getting up in the morning!
Let’s ask Solomon.
17 So I hated life, because the work that is done under the sun was grievous to me. All of it is meaningless, a chasing after the wind. 18 I hated all the things I had toiled for under the sun, because I must leave them to the one who comes after me. 19 And who knows whether that person will be wise or foolish? Yet they will have control over all the fruit of my toil into which I have poured my effort and skill under the sun. This too is meaningless. 20 So my heart began to despair over all my toilsome labour under the sun.
That would be pretty frustrating, wouldn’t it? Who wants to see all their hard work undone by someone else? But that’s the risk we all take. “I want to leave something behind for my kids.” Well it is estimated that 70% of wealthy families will lose their wealth by the second generation and 90% will lose it by the third, so, there’s that. It’s this reality that has so many of us up at night thinking about their business, their career, their wealth. This isn’t anything new though.
23 All their days their work is grief and pain; even at night their minds do not rest. This too is meaningless.
You ever met a student with an exam the next day. Some won’t even be able to sleep because their mind is too busy thinking about how they can make sure it goes right, or in many cases, thinking about what can go wrong. I’m sorry if this is you, but if your whole identity and purpose in life is tied up in your job, you’re going to spend a lot of waking nights stressing over it.
I’m sure I don’t have to recommend you to a psychologist for you to realise that this isn’t good for you.
My Sunday Skl 