Ecclesiastes 2:18-26 New Living Translation (NLT)
18 I came to hate all my hard work here on earth, for I must leave to others everything I have earned. 19 And who can tell whether my successors will be wise or foolish? Yet they will control everything I have gained by my skill and hard work under the sun. How meaningless! 20 So I gave up in despair, questioning the value of all my hard work in this world.
21 Some people work wisely with knowledge and skill, then must leave the fruit of their efforts to someone who hasn’t worked for it. This, too, is meaningless, a great tragedy. 22 So what do people get in this life for all their hard work and anxiety? 23 Their days of labor are filled with pain and grief; even at night their minds cannot rest. It is all meaningless.
24 So I decided there is nothing better than to enjoy food and drink and to find satisfaction in work. Then I realized that these pleasures are from the hand of God. 25 For who can eat or enjoy anything apart from him?[a] 26 God gives wisdom, knowledge, and joy to those who please him. But if a sinner becomes wealthy, God takes the wealth away and gives it to those who please him. This, too, is meaningless—like chasing the wind.
I. The worship of work (vv. 17-21)
• Worship of pleasure is the self-indulgent life –
• Pleasure is sacred but only fulfills when experienced in
• Worship of work confuses what we do with our
• Worship of work is evident through
• Workaholics fail to enjoy life today in pursuit of imagined
• Worship of houses is the attempt to purchase
• Success is accomplishing work with wisdom to
II. The joy in work (vv. 22-26)
• Enjoying work is evidence we are not worshiping
• Enjoying work is evidence we understand
• Enjoying work empowers us to leave work at
• Work can only be enjoyed in God’s presence in
• Hating work is
• Some jobs are for a
• Crises and “End Times” do not supplant the