Work Hard, Play Hard, Right?
When coming up with topics for my blog, I often want to incorporate biblical concepts that encourage people to do better in life, business, and relationships. Since my website has a large emphasis on writing and how to write a book, many of those concepts are loosely related to writing.
This verse from Ecclesiastes 9 popped up recently, and it seems like a really good verse… but taken in context, maybe not so much.
“Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might, for in the realm of the dead, where you are going, there is neither working no planning nor knowledge nor wisdom.” Ecclesiastes 9:10 NIV
I looked through some commentary and study Bibles, and it seems like either everyone else is missing the mark. Or, perhaps, I am.
The Context Surrounding the Verse
On its own, the verse seems like good advice. Work hard because death is inevitable and soon you won’t be able to. So, let’s take a gander at the preceding verses:
“Go, eat your food with gladness, and drink your wine with a joyful heart, for God has already approved what you do. Always be clothed in white, and always anoint your head with oil. Enjoy life with your wife, whom you love, all the days of this meaningless life that God has given you under the sun—all your meaningless days. For this is your lot in life and in your toilsome labor under the sun.” Ecclesiastes 9:7-9.
Solomon, the author here, appears to be saying something along the lines of, “Hey, live it up, because everything is meaningless, we’re all going to die, so do what makes you happy.” The “meaningless” theme and the theme of “everything under the sun” is quite common through this book. In fact, it seems to be less of a book of encouragement, but a lamentation that life sucks then you die.
So, when we look at the context, and the idea that there is nothing new under the sun, everything is meaningless, and even the next few verses that talk about how everything happens by chance – you can barely control the events in your own life, it seems that verses 7 – 10 aren’t exactly instructions or encouragement, but rather said in a sarcastic manner.
Why I Think the Verse is Quoted Incorrectly
Which is why when people quote verse 10, where they say, “Hey, even the Bible says that when you start a new project go all in and give it everything you’ve got!” they’re missing the mark.
What I feel this verse is trying to say, the passage in general actually, is that we toil hard, we all die, and even after we are gone the sun still comes up, the sun still sets, as though we never existed in the first place. So, why shouldn’t we eat with gladness and enjoy life? Because that’s all we have, because it’s all worthless and meaningless.
Read it again from a sarcastic viewpoint. One that is focused on the meaninglessness and the despair of toiling your entire life just to die and the world continues as though you were never even a part of it.
It’s not so much about work hard because you’ll be rewarded, but more of, “Sure buddy, work hard and find great success because pretty soon you’ll be dead and all that labor will be for nothing.”
But The Concept is Still There
Okay, big rambling preamble to insert my big but(t).
There’s still a bit of truth and a nugget of goodness in there. We’ll have to twist the viewpoint just a little.
Verses 7 to 9 talk about enjoying life, eat with gladness, drink with joy, then it takes a darker twist because we’ll all be dead soon. So, let’s view this with a modern-day lens.
In many business circles – such as the cesspool that is LinkedIn – it’s all about hustle. Rise and grind, hustle till you make it (then hustle more), put in the long hours now so you can have success later. Work, work, look at my wealth, check out my followers, see how successful I am!
In this hustle culture, there’s no room to enjoy life, eat drink and be merry, love your wife, love your life. In this case, it is all meaningless. Why work so hard just to die and have it all for naught? I like saying “all for naught.”
Instead, it’s all about balance (and I believe that humans should work to live, not live to work – opposite of what most people push these days – full time should be 25 hours a week, not 40+). Find that project, work really hard, then enjoy your life.
So, What Will You Do to Work Hard?
Take a look at what’s going on in your life right now. Are you living to work? Making your job or your career the focal point of your entire life and forgetting to spend time with the family, eating good foods, drinking your wine with joy?
On the other end, are you working too little? Unable to enjoy life because your finances are in shambles and you’re not pouring yourself all-in to a project?
Work-life balance, to me, is all about working hard enough to make an impact, but then enjoying yourself, exploring the world, and “being meaningless.”
I’ll take a tip from the LinkedIn cesspool:
Agree?