Ecclesiastes 1:3 What Is The Profit Of Your Work?

What profit has a man from all his labor in which he toils under the sun? Ecclesiastes 1:3

Everyday people go to work all over the world. Many will work long hours each day and nearly every day of the weak. Some will work a fairly easy job, while many will have to work hard at their job. The difficulty may be mentally or physically, but either way it is exhausting. The goal is often to draw a large paycheck to be able to pay the expenses of life in general or to purchase bigger and better things.

Solomon asks the question of what profit a person has from all the hard work he does each day.

In America, the average person who is working, will work at least forty hours a week, many will work many more hours than that. People are willing to put in many hours of overtime to get a larger paycheck. The focus is to have a larger bank account and bigger and better toys. Having a little more gives one the feeling that one has made it.

While having all those things gives joy for a moment, that joy is only for a moment. With having many things, there also comes a lot of grief and trouble. Things break down, thieves break in and steal, the economy goes bad, and the retirement account loses value. All that work is often quickly lost or becomes of no value.

Ultimately, when a person dies, someone else gets all of those things.

Instead of toiling away for something that has no real value, believers are to work at something that has eternal value. First is value for their own soul, living for God and doing what He wants. The second is value for the souls of others, building God’s kingdom on this earth. The profit is eternal life and joy in heaven with God and others.

Most likely you have to work a job in order to pay for your bills and expenses in life. Although this is good, do not put all of your focus upon that paycheck. Seek out what God would have you do that has eternal value. That paycheck and all the things you purchase will go away some day, the things of God will never go away. Do not toil for temporary things, but for the things that will last for eternity.

Today I pray that you will know Jesus as your Lord and Savior; that you will know what God has for you to do; that you will work for God first in your life; and that you will have eternal value in God for all that you do.

Picture by Josh Appel on Unsplash