Living Each Day with the End of Life in Mind
Photo by Johannes Plenio on Unsplash
Words from wise people are like spurs. Their collected sayings are like nails that have been driven in firmly. They come from one shepherd.
After having heard it all, this is the conclusion: Fear God, and keep his commands, because this applies to everyone. (Eccl 12:11, 13 GW) [context– Eccl 12:9-14]
What Comes After Death?
What do you think comes after death? Does it all just fade to black? Do we all go to heaven? Do we get absorbed into the universe in some way?
Whatever you believe takes place after physical death will impact how you live your life—either directly or indirectly.
If you give little thought to what lies beyond death, it may indicate you don’t give much thought to your daily life. You just live it the same day in and day out.
If you believe physical death is the end of any existence, then you may not care how you or anyone else lives their life. If there’s no afterlife and things just fade to black, why would it matter? Many different philosophical beliefs hold this view.
From a faith-based point of view, what we believe about life, death, and an afterlife does matter. It also ought to have a direct impact on how we live now. But does it?
The western mindset puts great emphasis on setting goals.
Once a goal is set, a plan is made to achieve the goal often with a schedule of smaller goals leading to the completion of the final goal.
Too often this same goal-setting mindset is applied to living the Christian life with the goal being heaven. It’s seen as a practical way of living the Christian life, which is thought of as a good and meaningful life.
But this practical approach to the Christian life can be done with or without a belief in God—the God of the Scriptures. A general term for this is Christian atheism—a form of Christianity that rejects theistic claims of Christianity (Wikipedia).
This should not be confused with the book, the Christian Atheist by Craig Groeschel, who says a Christian Atheist is—someone who believes in God, but lives as though He doesn’t exist.
When a person strives to live a “Christian life” but doesn’t believe God exists or lives in a way that reflects a lack of belief in God, the life they lead is a moralistic version of Christianity. It’s an attempt to be Christ-like without genuine faith in God.
Sadly, many people who profess to be Christian live this way. They lack genuine faith as defined in the Scriptures (Prov 3:5-6; Heb 11:1, 6).
The goal of the Christian life is to trust God in all things at all times.
Eternal life is not the goal of the Christian life—as if we can obtain it by living a good life—it is the gift and promise of God to those who trust in Him (John 3:16 36; 5:24; 17:3).
Insights
These last few verses of Ecclesiastes reveal the point of all of Solomon’s existential reflections and seem to verify him as “the Preacher” or “Spokesman.”
Solomon collected and wrote many proverbs that can be found in the Book of Proverbs. I believe these two books (Ecclesiastes and Proverbs) are connected in the same sense as expressed in verse 11—
Words from wise people are like spurs. Their collected sayings are like nails that have been driven in firmly. They come from one shepherd.
Ecclesiastes acts like “spurs” to prompt introspection and reflection on the purpose and value of life. Proverbs gives us practical wisdom to help a person live their life with the end of life in mind.
Reading and processing the wisdom of Proverbs can be a valuable guide to help a person live a purposeful life—”…like nails that have been driven in firmly.” These words of truth from “one shepherd”—possibly an allusion to the Lord as the ultimate author—provide a firm foundation for life.
Solomon encourages us to keep things simple as a segue into his final thoughts on life under the sun. He returns to something he said at the beginning (Eccl 1:18)—
Be warned, my children, against anything more than these. People never stop writing books. Too much studying will wear out your body. (Eccl 12:12 GW)
Solomon seems to point us to the basic and practical wisdom found in Proverbs.
The conclusion is Solomon’s wise exhortation in answer to all the questions about life under the sun—
Fear God, and keep his commands, because this applies to everyone. (Eccl 12:13 GW)
During Solomon’s time, the Law of the Covenant was the foundation of the relationship between God and His people. This Covenant Law was intended to guide God’s people to live a life reflecting their trust in and worship of the One True and Living God.
God’s people who were descended from Abraham—a man of great faith and a friend of God (Jam 2:23)—were called to be a living testimony of a living God.
The fear of God is the beginning of knowledge and of wisdom, as Solomon points out at the beginning of Proverbs and throughout this collection of practical wisdom (Prov 1:7; 9:10).
The fear of God is a biblical truth often ignored and misunderstood.
It is not an anxious, paralyzing fear of terror.
To fear God (in a biblical sense) means we have an awe and respect that motivates us to honor and worship God for who He is. The fear of the Lord is grounded in a personal relationship of trust.
Solomon’s final exhortational reminder of a final examination of our lives after death is a simple yet powerful reason to fear God and keep His commands.
Existential Reflections
What happens as we take our final breath and pass from life into death?
As said earlier, what we believe takes place after physical death directly or indirectly impacts our life.
Ignoring this question isn’t wise. Putting off the inevitable doesn’t resolve this question or make it go away. Dismissing it as nonsense won’t enable anyone to avoid this ultimate reality.
Subjects like the fear of God, commands, and eternal judgment aren’t popular topics of discussion.
They make us feel uncomfortable, or worse, they’re of no interest to us. Why is this? I’m sure there are lots of ways to answer this but the simple reason is that it requires us to consider our lives in the light of God’s truth.
Some may ask— Why should we fear God if He is a God of love? Doesn’t the Bible say, “perfect love casts out fear” (1 John 4:18)? Yes, but that speaks of a fear of torment, not a fear of respect for God.
What about all those commandments? As Jesus pointed out to an expert in the Covenant Law, all the Law is summed up in two statements—love the Lord your God and love your neighbor (Mark 12:28-34).
When it comes to a final assessment and judgment of our lives, a concern about judgment should be a non-issue. After all, people make judgments and assess the lives and actions of others while they’re alive. And this was true long before social media platforms.
We are often our own harshest critics. We judge ourselves throughout any given day with all sorts of self-talk no one else hears. And though Jesus cautions us not to judge others, we do so anyway.
Our biggest problem with questions about life, death, and an afterlife is connected to our personal relationship with God or our lack of one.
All our questions about life under the sun, death, and what happens after physical death depends on where things stand between us and God.
Do you believe in a living, personal God?
If so, trust in Him implicitly and the great questions we have about life will be answered in a way and at a time when we are able to understand the answers.
If you don’t believe and trust in God, then you’ll be wrestling with these existential questions throughout life under the sun, and continue to wonder about the value and purpose of your life.
The key to fearing God as Solomon exhorts us to do is to trust in God.
God will honor and bless your trust in Him.
As far as commands—keep it simple—as Jesus explained it to the law expert.
First—Love and honor God with your trust in Him.
Second—Love and respect others.
When those are our priorities the rest will take care of itself, even as Jesus said in Matthew 6:33-34.
This is an excerpt from my newest book available on Amazon! Glimmers of Light in the Darkness of Life
The Scripture text for this devotional study can be found by clicking the blue button link– “Ecclesiastes Chap 12” [I’ve used God’s Word Translation (GW) for ease of reading but the button link will take you to the text in a parallel version with the NKJV text.]
Also, for further commentary, I recommend Enduring Word by Ptr David Guzik.
