| “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 nor planning nor knowledge nor wisdom.” |
| —Ecclesiastes 9:10 |
Many years ago, when I was an eight-year-old boy back in 1955, my father gave me a small pocket perpetual calendar that he recieved as a bonus gift for renewing a well-regarded scientific magazine. This perpetual calendar allowed one to examine the days and dates of any particular month from the mid-1700s through the year 2024. From the vantage point of 1955, the year 2024 seemed like an inconceivable period of time in the far-distant future.
I have faithfully carried that calendar in my wallet for all of these intervening years. Fifty years ago, I had it laminated so that it could stand the wear-and-tear of time. Just today, I finally removed this perpetual calendar from my wallet because it no longer applies. The year 2024 has come to an end.
Now, as another new year begins, please seriously consider heeding these wise words found recorded in Ecclesiastes 9:10:
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 nor planning nor knowledge nor wisdom.
For followers of the Lord Jesus Christ, the realm of our death will be the eternity that God has provided for us through the birth, life, suffering, death, burial, resurrection, and ascension of His precious Son, our Savior, Lord, and King. Nevertheless, while we are alive on this earth, the admonition of the Scripture passage quoted above still applies. We do well whenever we apply ourselves to the tasks that God gives us with the strength and determination of all our might. Doing so will honor the trust that God has placed in us.
