Do it with thy might
My old Bible college is in a big country house. The house used to belong to the Buxton family. There were a very wealthy Christian family. Many of their family members and their staff became missionaries. Some of them even came to Japan. Those who stayed behind used their money and time to help out the poor in Britain.
On the side of their house, and over the fireplace, they had the Buxton coat of arms. And the Buxton motto. And as a Bible college, we sort of unofficially adopted the motto for ourselves. It was ``Do it with thy might.'' (``Thy'' is an old English word for ``you'', so it's ``Do it with your might.'')
Most people when they first heard this motto thought it was talking to God. It was asking God to do something great with His might and power. But then one day one of the tutors told us where the motto really comes from. And the truth was a bit more... disappointing.
It's from a little book in the Old Testament called Ecclesiastes. It's just after Psalms and Proverbs. And it's probably the most depressing book in the Bible. Let's have a look at Ecclesiastes 9:10, and then Ecclesiastes 1:1-11.
(9:10)
Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might, for in
the grave, where you are going, there is neither working nor
planning nor knowledge nor wisdom.
I think many people, when they read Ecclesiastes, wonder what on earth this is doing in the Bible. Isn't the Bible supposed to be a book of hope? Now it's telling us that life is meaningless and nothing ever changes. So a lot of commentators think that the book of Ecclesiastes is ironic. Or that it's saying that life is meaningless without God. But I think that it's something else. I think Ecclesiastes is a book about a man who has everything.
Solomon was one of the greatest kings over Israel. He had money, he had fame, he had wisdom. He could do whatever he wanted. And he decided to try to use his wealth and his wisdom to do something with his life. He wanted to achieve. He wanted to be great. He wanted to be one of the big names of history.
But as he looked around history, he realised that even the big names get forgotten in the end.
So next he just went out and chased after having a good time. In chapter 2 it says ``I denied myself nothing my eyes desired; I refused my heart no pleasure.'' But still it didn't satisfy him. He worked hard, had more money and possessions than anyone else in the world, but he still thought it was meaningless. John Rockefeller said ``If your only goal is to become rich, you will never achieve it.'' Because you'll always want more. Solomon said it's like chasing the wind - you'll never catch it.
And then next he uses his wisdom, and he chases after being wise: in chapter 1, v17 he says ``I applied myself to the understanding of wisdom, and also of madness, and folly, but I learned that this too, is chasing the wind. For with much wisdom comes much sorrow; the more knowledge, the more grief.'' And then in chapter 2 v14-15 he says ``The wise man has eyes in his head, while the fools walks in darkness; but then I came to realise that the same fate overtakes them both. Then I thought in my heart, 'the fate of the fool will overtake me also. What then do I gain by being wise?''' Basically, he's saying that whether you're wise or foolish, by the end of your life, you're still going to die. So why bother?
And that question comes up a lot in Ecclesiastes: Why bother? What is the point? But at the same time, Solomon says that you should do what you can, and find enjoyment in your work, because that's all you've got.
Some people look at this book and say that Solomon is trying to say that life is meaningless without God. But he isn't. Let's not forget that Solomon was a man who knew God deeply and intimately. He built the Temple in Jerusalem. He met God face-to-face twice. And God gave him all of this wisdom and riches and possessions. And in the book he talks a lot about God. This isn't a book about how awful it must be to be an atheist.
This is a book about how awful it is to spend your life chasing after things. Chasing after money, or chasing after fame, or chasing after wisdom. Even a good thing like wisdom can destroy you if it becomes an obsession. This is a book about how awful it is to spend your life chasing after things and never being satisfied. He says in chapter 3 that being satisfied with what you eat and what you drink and the work you do is a gift from God. That's why he says ``Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might.''
This week I turned thirty. Living in Japan is lovely, because everyone lives so long, when you say you're thirty, everyone says ``Oh, you're still so young!'' But for me, being brought up in the UK, I feel like thirty is when you stop being young. And so it's no secret that I have a bit of a complex about being thirty.
And I was talking to a friend about it, and she said that people who have a complex about their age normally feel like they haven't achieved enough. That's exactly what I was feeling! I felt, right, now I'm thirty, I'd better hurry up and start achieving things! I want to make something with my life!
And that's such a dangerous feeling. If I don't kill that feeling dead, it will haunt me all of my life. Chasing after fame, chasing after achievements or history. Even chasing after good things - like being a good missionary - will never satisfy. Because you will never feel like you have done enough.
So I thought about all the plans I need to hurry up and do now that I'm thirty, and threw them all out the window. Now my plan for being thirty is to learn to be satisfied with the work God gives me to do.
The Bible doesn't say it's wrong to dream. And it's not wrong to want to do great things for God. But if I was really honest, I wanted to do great things for God so that I would look good. I had ambition, but I was trying to use that ambition to satisfy myself. I wanted to satisfy myself with what I haven't done yet! And like it says in Ecclesiastes, that is meaningless. It's like chasing the wind.
So what should we do instead? First, Solomon says we should be joyful: (9:7) ``Go, eat your food with gladness and drink your wine with a joyful heart, for it is now that God favours what you do.'' It's so hard to be truly thankful to God for what you have, if you're always striving for something more. It's hard to honestly say ``thank you God'' when you actually want something else. But it works the other way too. If you are joyful and thankful for what you have; if you are honestly grateful to God for what he's given you now, then you realise you don't need to strive for something more.
Second, Solomon says to be satisfy yourself with where you are now, not with where you want to be - (2:24) ``A man can do nothing better than to eat and drink and find satisfication in his work. This too, I see, is from the hand of God.'' Sometimes we can be so caught up with the future, what we want to achieve, that we forget about now. ``It is now that God favours what you do''.
One of my missionary heroes was a man called Jim Elliot. He was a missionary in South America; he was there less than a year, before he was killed by the tribe he was sent to. But his life inspired millions of people. And he often used to say ``Wherever you are, be all there.''
Actually, I personally think this is what Jesus was talking about when he said that he gives us life to the full. It's easy to think that Christians are so caught up with heaven and what happens after they die that they're not really living in real life now. I don't think Jesus promises us life to the full after we're dead. I think he promises us life to the full now.
And how? Because if we trust God for our future, and if we know that our sins in the past are forgiven, we are truly free to be satisfied in the present. We are truly free to be all there right now. Actually we should be more alive than anyone else. God has taken care of the past. He will take care of the future. And what he has given us is the now.
So we don't need to worry about leaving a legacy to the world. We don't need to be looking for our place in history. If God gives us a place in history, that's fantastic. But that's not what we work for, because chasing these things is like chasing the wind.
There's a band I like called the Blind Boys of Alabama. One of their songs is an old song called ``Satisfied Mind''. I was looking up that song once, and I found a quote from the person who wrote it. He said this:
The song came from my mother. Everything in the song are things I
heard her say over the years. I put a lot of thought into the song
before I came up with the title. One day my father-in-law asked me
who I thought the richest man in the world was, and I mentioned some
names. He said, "You're wrong, it is the man with a satisfied mind."
All of the things the world tells you you should be trying to achieve in your life: money, fame, sex, power, greatness - they don't satisfy. They don't last. They don't mean anything. They're just like chasing the wind. They won't give you a satisfied mind.
At the end of Ecclesiastes, it says this:
Now all has been heard, here is the conclusion of the matter; fear
God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.
If you want a satisfied mind, if you want to life a meaningful life, this is what you should do: Thank God for what he's given you now. Whatever your hand finds to do, serve God with all your might. Love God. Give the past to Him. Trust Him for the future. Then you can live a full life in the present. That's how you get a satisfied mind.