In Ecclesiastes work is paradoxically both meaningless and a source of contentment. Which is it? We must accept that our work may not always “add up,” that it’s marked by futility as seen in Genesis 3. But Ecclesiastes goes farther than Genesis 3. To aim to please God in our work entrusts our work to a plan that transcends our understanding. God has put eternity into man’s heart, yet man cannot perceive all the mysteries of God’s ways under the sun in this present age. Though our work can seem futile at times, “whatever God does endures forever.” Paul says that for Christians, the inbreaking of the new age, where nothing is in vain, means our work can have enduring consequences too. If Christ hasn’t been raised, everything is vanity. Otherwise, he says we ought to be “always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your label is not in vain.”
