FARM BUREAU MORNING DEVOTION (MEANINGLESS)

Introduction

There is a great phrase I have remembered for a long time. It’s this, “Complaining is like throwing up, you may feel better in the moment, but everyone else that sees it feels sick” .

It’s easy to fall into a rut. It’s easy to find ourselves, in the midst of our work, complaining and being surrounded by negativity. Even the most positive attitudes in this rom have their bad days or bad seasons of work life. This devotion is not an attempt to guilt anyone, but it is a word to help us stop and think about what really matters in our work and how to find enjoyment even when storms come in, insureds are impatient, and loss rations dip.

-----Story?-----

The New International Version Chapter 2

17 So I hated life, because the work that is done under the sun was grievous to me. All of it is meaningless, a chasing after the wind. 18 I hated all the things I had toiled for under the sun, because I must leave them to the one who comes after me. 19 And who knows whether that person will be wise or foolish? Yet they will have control over all the fruit of my toil into which I have poured my effort and skill under the sun. This too is meaningless. 20 So my heart began to despair over all my toilsome labor under the sun. 21 For a person may labor with wisdom, knowledge and skill, and then they must leave all they own to another who has not toiled for it. This too is meaningless and a great misfortune. 22 What do people get for all the toil and anxious striving with which they labor under the sun? 23 All their days their work is grief and pain; even at night their minds do not rest. This too is meaningless.

Right about now, Tim Lee may be regretting asking me to do this devotion. At a glance this may be the worst passage to ever read for a corporate work conference. But trust me there is a pay off.

If we are honest life can feel this way at times. Day in and day out I show up. I put on the same collard shirts, deal with angry insureds, struggle to meet standards set by the company. No one recognizes the work I do. No one sees how hard it is. The claims keep mounting up....and on and on and on.

But I would submit to you, that if this is the attitude in which we maintain. Then what the author of Ecclesiastes has written is true. ITS ALL MEANINGLESS. You will have no positive impact on your co-workers or the insureds around you.

But the good news of the gospel and the good news of Scripture is this. There is a better way. There is a joy that is unexplainable and is contagious to each person you come in contact with. Lets finish the reading of this passage. in verse 24.

The New International Version Chapter 2

24 A person can do nothing better than to eat and drink and find satisfaction in their own toil. This too, I see, is from the hand of God, 25 for without him, who can eat or find enjoyment? 26 To the person who pleases him, God gives wisdom, knowledge and happiness, but to the sinner he gives the task of gathering and storing up wealth to hand it over to the one who pleases God. This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind.

See, there is a better way, and it promises wisdom, knowledge, and happiness. Solomon is not saying that work isnt hard. We should all know this right? Otherwise, it wouldnt be called work. What Solomon is saying is this though. Life is too hard and work is too hard to do it with no real purpose. Only a life that finds satisfaction in God alone will find meaning and happiness. Only a life that is devoted to the joy of the Lord will be able to have a positive impact on every person they come in contact with.

If you seek to please God and find joy in him, you will change from (Day in and day out I show up. I put on the same collard shirts, deal with angry insureds, struggle to meet standards set by the company. No one recognizes the work I do. No one sees how hard it is. The claims keep mounting up....and on and on and on. ) and It will change to Day in and day out I am blessed to have a meaningful job that helps people in the worst of situations. I take joy in how I present myself. By bosses have invested in metrics to help keep us accountable and to an acceptable standard. The claims continue to come and there is a new problem for me to help solve and serve our insureds… and on and on and on.

That is a life and an attitude that is the opposite of meaningless. It is meaningful not just to you, but to all those you come in contact with.

After all, there has never been a tougher job with more reason for negativity than what Jesus did by carrying the cross to die for our sins. But He did it to PLEASE GOD THE FATHER, and because of that act of service and scripture even says JOY, we have all been impacted by eternal life in Him.

Let us pray.