Just do it!
Ecclesiastes 11 is a manifesto for positive action. As our vicar used to say, in the words of prophet NIKE, ‘Just do it!’
Be generous and share what you have with others.
You never know when you might get something back.
Just do it!
Get involved in loads of different things.
You never know which will succeed.
Just do it!
Don’t wait forever for the right time.
No one will ever know where the rain will fall, or the tree fall, or the wind blow.
Just do it!
Don’t wait until you understand it all.
No one will ever be able to fully understand the work of God.
Just do it!
Work hard at everything you turn your hand to.
You can never know what will pay off in the end.
Just do it!
Enjoy the years that you have! Enjoy the light of the sun!
You can never know how many years you have left.
Just do it!
Stop worrying and be happy while you are young.
You can never know how long it will last.
Just do it!
Don’t be held back by what’s wrong with your body, what causes you pain.
Work with what’s right.
Just do it!
Now, to be clear, I’m not advocating reckless behaviour. Behaviour that unnecessarily endangers our own life or puts others in danger. And of course, I’m not condoning ‘wrong’ behaviour. Behaviour that exploits others or goes against any of God’s teachings.
I’m just saying – along with the writer of Ecclesiastes – that sometimes we overthink things. We want to wait until we are absolutely sure. We come up with so many reasons for not doing something that our hearts yearn to do that we never end up doing it. Anxiety makes us procrastinate. We wait for the right time and the right time never comes. Fear holds us back.
And sometimes, we wait for God to tell us this is right or His idea and to go ahead – and we wait and wait and wait and all the time, life is passing us by.
There are so many unknowns and sometimes it is the unknowns that paralyse us.
And I believe that the best way of finding out whether something is going to work out is to try it and see. And actually, in saying that, by ‘work out’, I don’t necessarily mean success. Because I’ve seen people judge whether an idea is godly or not by how outwardly successful it is. And yet I’ve discovered that I have learnt the most from the ventures that have not been so obviously successful – from the things that I try that I will never succeed at…from the failures. The failures and tough things have helped me develop far more as a person than the successes.
So how do we know? So can we decide when this is a moment to ‘Just do it!’
Follow the ways of your heart
and whatever your eyes see,
but know that for all these things
God will bring you into judgement. Ecclesiastes 11:9
I was brought up not to trust my heart. It was a way of teaching that was supposed to help me resist temptation, I think. So that I would ‘do the right thing’. The expected, conventional thing, as it turned out. But actually ‘the desires of our hearts’ is a phrase used a lot in the Bible – that as we seek to align our hearts with the heart of God, when we pray His will will be done in our lives, then He will give us the desires of our hearts. I’ve had to learn how to listen to the desires of my heart. To discover what makes my heart sing – and to accept that will be different to what makes your heart sing. What we love to do is one indication of what God had in mind when He created us, I believe.
And then there is opportunity. ‘Whatever your eyes see.’ When the opportunity to try something new crosses our path, we can listen to the deepest desires of our heart and respond. We don’t have to try everything. It’s OK to say we don’t want to. But if we want to, why not? And then of course, the deep desire to do something will inspire us to seek out the opportunity, create the opportunity.
And then in all things, we are accountable. As I said before, God will bring us to account for the effect our actions have had on others. It all comes down to love and respect. For ourselves and for others. If something is clearly ‘wrong’ – damaging in some way to ourselves or to someone else – then no amount of desire or opportunity will make it right.
TO DO: Just do it! Just say yes! Whatever crosses your path today, if you want to give it a go, then just do it! Do one thing today that you have never done before. Life is for living!
