I have started to meditate over the book of Ecclesiastes. The first paragraph is chapter 1, verses 1 to 11, which says that all things in this world are meaningless, meaningless and that there is nothing new under the sun. My eyes first stopped at the word “new”. Indeed, there is nothing new in this world – but there are new things in Christ. I was reminded of 2 Corinthians 5:17 and Lamentations 3:22-23.

After the Sunday Service last week, Alan came and asked me how I had been during the past week. What did I get up to? I remembered that I was quite busy, with church meetings on each weekday evening, and that I spent time in the garden with my two sons to enjoy the good weather.
There isn’t much to share when we talk about our day-to-day lives. Our lives are repetitive without much variety. “New things” in life come from “meaning” – and that comes to life when we walk with Jesus Christ. And “new things” in earth come from our increasing knowledge about Jesus Christ.

This is a topic that we must all become knowledgeable in – knowing who Jesus Christ is. But this knowledge is something that we will never be able to master, even if we were to devote our entire lives to studying the topic. This is because there is always something new about Jesus, and because he is too great to be understood in full. So our lives in heaven – while it may not be appropriate to refer to eternal life in this way – will be filled with daily wonder and awe. It will not be in any way boring or dull.

But the worldly things that are supposedly “meaningless” according to Ecclesiastes – studying, working, getting married etc – are still very important during our time in this world, so we do need to devote our attention to these. If we ever forget this, we should be reminded of the verse that says, “If a man will not work, he shall not eat.”

Therefore, during our lives in this world, it is important for us to be able to draw a distinction between the necessary things and the things that help us learn more about Jesus Christ, and learn about the appropriate attitudes towards each as well. The former, we need to let go and lift up to God; and the latter, we must seek. All the worries in our lives are related to the former, and exist because we refuse to let go these things.
Only after we let go our worries about what to eat, drink and wear, will we be able to seek his kingdom and his righteousness. Until we do not learn how to let go of these things, we will not be able to gain knowledge about Jesus Christ or devote our lives to Christ.

Letting go in this context does not refer to doing nothing or giving up. Letting go means to lift up our worries to God. It is to trust in God and enjoy the peace that he gives us – in the same way that our hearts would be at rest when we entrust someone trustworthy with something that we care about, and something towards which we have been devoting our time and effort.

Letting go also means that our positions will change –the owner of the restaurant becomes a part-time worker. After work, the owner will continue to think about, agonise over and carefully plan the restaurant’s affairs – but a part-time worker will, as soon as they leave the restaurant, forget about all things restaurant related and just focus on what the owner asks them to do.

So letting go means to elevate Jesus Christ to the owner and master status in all of our affairs. All worries and concerns in life come when we consider ourselves to be the owner. We should all strive to become part-time workers of our lives, rather than the owners themselves.