What Has Been Gained?

True confessions. I didn’t realize until I was sitting reading my Bible this morning that I had not written a newsletter this week. So, instead of Thursday (which is my goal), here are some thoughts from my Saturday morning devotions. I’m reading right now in Ecclesiastes, Ezekiel, and Romans. I think the cross-fertilization that takes place can be helpful.

Solomon asks in Ecclesiastes, “What has been gained?” He says, repeatedly, that there is so much “striving after wind.” Think of that word picture. What is gained by chasing a gust of wind?

You start a small business. You purchase and manufacture and transport and sell. A whole lot of activity. The frenzied activity proves the fruitfulness, right? No, that’s not right. At some point in the future, perhaps when you do your taxes, you take a look at the bottom line, and behold, nothing was gained. In fact, in many cases, something has been lost. You might get a letter from the IRS stating that your business is in fact, not a business, but a hobby. And, if you want to pour time and energy, and money, into a hobby, that’s allowed. What is gained is your pleasure and satisfaction, but certainly not any assistance to the bottom line.

Ezekiel 33:31 says that “their heart is set on gain.” Their desire is sincere. But that doesn’t mean anything is actually gained. In many cases, we will only know far in the future. The Iraq invasion. What was gained? What was lost? The impeachment proceedings. What was gained? What was lost? Weeks to months indoors. What was gained? What was lost? Eating an apple a day. What was gained, or lost?

Historians says that you cannot write a proper history of a president for at least ten years after their presidency. It might be even longer than that. Why? Because we cannot judge the real fallout in a short time. In fact, it seems that we are naturally wired to evaluate gains only in the short term, which is why Ezekiel is right: people’s hearts really are set on gain. It’s just that they only find out later that little was gained, and much was lost.

Finally, in Romans 4:1, Paul asks what Abraham gained “according to the flesh.” The answer. Nothing. What we gain is not from ourselves, but from Christ: “so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Rom 5:21). In short, in Christ, there is much to be gained.