The Sleep Of A Laborer Is Sweet
If
you see the poor oppressed in a district, and justice and rights denied, do not
be surprised at such things; for one official is eyed by a higher one, and over
them both are others higher still. The increase from the land is taken by all;
the king himself profits from the fields.
Whoever loves money
never has enough; whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with their income.
This too is meaningless.
As goods increase, so
do those who consume them. And what benefit are they to the owners except to
feast their eyes on them?
The sleep of a
laborer is sweet, whether they eat little or much, but as for the rich, their
abundance permits them no sleep.
I have seen a
grievous evil under the sun: wealth hoarded to the harm of its owners, or
wealth lost through some misfortune, so that when they have children there is
nothing left for them to inherit. Everyone comes naked from their mother’s
womb, and as everyone comes, so they depart. They take nothing from their toil
that they can carry in their hands.
This too is a
grievous evil: As everyone comes, so they depart, and what do they gain, since
they toil for the wind? All their days they eat in darkness, with great
frustration, affliction and anger.
Ecclesiastes
5:8-17
The stuff we have,
the stuff we accumulate, is only ours for a short time. It is all in a state of
decay.
We come into the
world with nothing, and we leave the same way.
Stockpiling
possessions in the here-and-now is foolish, because we really can’t take it
with us when we die. What’s important is a proper attitude toward what we have
and how we use what God has given us. That way we’ll be storing up our treasure
where it belongs – in heaven.
Letting
go of earthly possessions enables us to take hold of heavenly treasure.
Our Daily Bread –