Thoughts for another day

Jan. 30, 2008

Today's verse: Eccl. 3:13. And also that every man should eat and drink, and enjoy the good of all his labour, it is the gift of God. (KJV)
(Pls. read the above before you read further. Thanks)

Among the people you interact with, don’t you find many who are negative minded? I am not referring to their speaking against others or mudsling somebody rather, about their opinion of life. It’s just that they have a completely negative opinion of themselves and everything else. Constant worry and anxiety, dot the spectrum of their lives.

It’s as if they see life from the prism of ‘half empty’ when faced with the situation, ‘Is the glass half empty or half full!’ And so, they don’t enjoy what they have, but yearn for something they don’t have or can never achieve. Some of them are so obsessed with this negative trait that their brooding is grave and a few minutes with them are enough to dab your heart with melancholy too. Where do these people fit into the Kingdom of God? Like Jesus said in Luke 7: 31 onward, they are neither happy nor do they mourn.

As Christians, are we to be like them? Absolutely not, because we are to rejoice, even in the midst of tribulation. The writer of Ecclesiastes says that we must enjoy the good of our labor for that is the gift of God. If we have worked hard, we must find the time to enjoy the fruit of our work. Constant worry or nagging or brooding will yield nothing except a bouquet of misery. But being satisfied with what we have is key.

Actually, it’s all in the mind. If we feel insecure all the time, we will be insecure. I have seen people losing their jobs and laughing about it because they believe that adversity brings about the best in them and even I have experienced it. Yet, there are others who, knowing for long that they will lose their jobs, behave as if their world has collapsed when it happens.

Let me tell you, adversity is but for a temporary moment. And even in it, God wants us to rejoice and be glad. Not because we will not suffer in it or that He won’t send problems our way, but because when they come, we will seek His strength and hold on to the faith that, He will handle them.