“Go, eat your bread with joy, and drink your wine with a merry heart; for God has already accepted your works.” (Ecclesiastes 9:7)
I recently found myself feeling like I was falling short of God’s expectations. I imagine you’ve felt that way before, too. Buried under calendars, lists, and random slips of paper with reminders on them, I tried to plan, prioritize, and organize.
Like a gerbil on a wheel, I was busy doing, doing, doing, but not getting anywhere, and certainly not enjoying it very much. I didn’t have the “peace of God that passes all understanding” (Philippians 4:6-7) that lets us know our life is in line with God’s plan.
Without realizing it, I had slipped into a mode of trying to earn God’sapproval and wondering why life felt so overwhelming and unrewarding. I was praying for direction and clarity but forgetting one vitally important part of prayer — listening! I was distracted by all the to-dos, and to-remembers. God wasspeaking to me, but I was drowning out His voice with busyness.
Then one morning this verse about the bread and wine caught my attention. I knew immediately that it was the answer to my prayers. God was not telling me to eat all those carbs I was trying to avoid, or to sit around drinking wine and ignoring my responsibilities, but He was reminding me that He wasn’t evaluating me according to all the things I was doing or not doing. I had His approval.
The theme of bread and wine runs throughout the Bible and has many meanings. In this case, I saw it as a metaphor for His goodness. God was saying, “Stop trying to earn what I have already given you. Forget the guilt. Enjoy the rewards.”
He was reminding me that His approval was not based on anything I was doing, but on what Jesus had already done on the cross. “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we could become the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Corinthians 5:21). Because I had accepted His sacrifice as payment for my sins, my works should be a result of His love for me, not a way to earn it. But I had let this wonderful truth get lost in the shuffle.
What a relief! This is so encouraging. We don’t have to earn His approval. He has already accepted our works if we have accepted His forgiveness.
We are His children. Instead of doing things for God, He wants us to let Him do things in and through us. Our Father is interested in us as human beings, not human doings.
I thanked Him for putting my “works” into proper perspective and asked Him to show me His plan for my life, day by day. This is a better way to live! I’m still busy, but I’m not so stressed. I still have my calendar, lists, and slips of paper, but I am no longer a slave to them.
They are here to serve me. I am learning to listen more carefully for God’s direction instead of just jumping into things. To quote one of my favorite teachers, “I haven’t arrived, but I’ve left!” And I know I’m on the right track. I’m receiving the rewards with joy and a merry heart.