Chasing the Wind

"I denied myself nothing my eyes desired; I refused my heart no pleasure. My heart took delight in all my work, and this was the reward for all my labor. Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done and what I had toiled to achieved, everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind; nothing was gained under the sun." Ecclesiastes 2:10-11

We all work hard. We work to earn a living, pay our bills, and maintain our home. We obviously need to work. The Bible clearly says in II Thessalonians 3:10, "If a man will not work, he shall not eat." Is our work coming before God? If we put aside our quiet time with God to have a few extra minutes of sleep for work, or we forget our morals to listen to the break room dirty jokes, then yes, our work is coming before God.

We all play. We go out to dinner with our spouse, or take the kids for a fun outing, or have friends over. These things are fun and perfectly okay. They are even important. We need to enjoy fellowship with each other and laugh. But are we putting our play before God? If we are missing our time with God to go shopping or golfing or whatever we do for fun, then yes, our play time is coming before God.  

It is okay to work hard and to enjoy nice things. But King Solomon tells us in Ecclesiastes that if we let our work and play come before God, we are only chasing the wind. Have you ever tried chasing the wind? It is absolutely impossible to catch the wind. King Solomon was a rich man. Whatever he wanted, he had. But he knew that all of his riches were meaningless. Without God, nothing mattered. It is still the same for us today. Whether we are struggling from paycheck to paycheck or have all of our bills paid and a nice savings account, it is nothing without God. When we take on extra shifts at work just to have more money, but miss out on our time with God, church and our family, we are doing nothing more than chasing the wind. All of the extra money or relaxing time on the golf course is meaningless, if God is not our absolute first.

Let's stop chasing the wind and start chasing God!