What's Worth It? Week 8: The End

This is the final installment in the series.

"Better to spend your time at funerals than at parties.
After all, everyone dies—
so the living should take this to heart.
Sorrow is better than laughter,
for sadness has a refining influence on us.
A wise person thinks a lot about death,
while a fool thinks only about having a good time."

-Ecclesiastes 7:2-4 (NLT)

Modern culture might call this morbid, but life is not about being happy all the time. Sadness is an important element to maturity, growth, and human relations. (Or at least, that’s the message behind the movie Inside Out).
In the past several weeks, we’ve been asking ourselves, “What’s worth it?” First, we ruled out some things.

Ecclesiastes 8:7-8. We’ve learned that avoidance of suffering is not worth it. (How can people avoid what they don’t know is going to happen?)

Ecclesiastes 8:12. Pursuing unrestrained pleasure is not worth it. One who fears God may not seem as prosperous, but they’re still better off.

(And though we didn’t spend much time on this, pursuing wealth is not worth it. Ecclesiastes 5:8-17. Or Linds Redding: “A Short Lesson on Perspective.” Or, an even shorter version.)

Then, we built a framework of understanding. We examined our values, compared them against our choices, and learned the importance of taking responsibility. We also realized that waiting for perfect understanding is pointless because we’re never going to perfectly understand anything, ever. At best, we can try, learn, and do better next time.

But why worry about any of this anyway? Why even worry about what’s worth it at all?

Because we all have an expiration date. The test has a time limit, and we never know when time is up. Ecclesiastes 9:12 Tragedy can happen suddenly. This should put things in focus.

You can react to this with hopelessness…

“We’re all going to die, all of us. What a circus! That alone should make us love each other, but it doesn’t. We are terrorized and flattened by life’s trivialities; we are eaten up by nothing.”
-Charles Bukowski. [Source]

…or you can reconcile with the way things only have meaning when death is in the background.

“Death is the light by which the shadow of all of life’s meaning is measured. Without death, everything would feel inconsequential, and metrics and values suddenly zero.” – Mark Manson [Source]

In this life, the same fate awaits us all (Ecclesiastes 9:3), so there’s no sense in worrying about being the best, the fastest, the wisest, the richest, the most successful, or the best educated. (Ecclesiastes 9:11) Those bits of fading status are for people whose only concern is the present moment.

Instead, we should focus on the kinds of things our values and choices have shown are worth it. Ecclesiastes 5:16-18 and 8:15. Having fun is worth it. Eating, drinking, and enjoying life is worth it. This doesn’t mean overindulge, but put it in the context of time spent with people.

Ecclesiastes 11:1-2. Generosity is worth it. With patience, generosity has a way of coming back around. Whether time, money, or something else – showing generosity brings contentment that you’re helping to make the world a better place.

Ecclesiastes 5:19. Enjoying your health is worth it. This has particular relevance.

In the time we’ve been meeting, one person in our group experienced a death in the family. At the deceased’s memorial service, one speaker’s message related how he spent his past few years since his diagnosis with cancer. He went on a cruise with his family. He pursued forgiveness, studied the Bible, and was baptized. After a decision to end chemotherapy, he entered hospice, put his affairs in order and passed away in his home.

So enjoy your health while you have it.

The same passage says finding enjoyment in your work is worth it. (Note: This isn’t “do what you love.” Rather, it’s “find a way to enjoy what you do.” [Source])

Ecclesiastes 5:20 says, “People who do this rarely look with sorrow on the past, for God has given them reasons for joy.” (NLT 1996) There is one final conclusion at the end of Ecclesiastes 12. In verses 12-13, the writer acknowledges there’s no end to the opinions one can listen to, but if there’s one thing that’s worthwhile, it’s this:

“Fear God and obey his commands, for this is the duty of every person.” (NLT)

*That*, friends, is what’s worth it.

Questions for discussion:

1. What was your first experience with death?
2. What are the things you hope will outlast you?
3. Is wisdom really not “worth it”?