Ecclesiastes 11:7

Ecclesiastes 11:7

I. Good-temper is the result of a well-ordered character, in which each quality is so tempered as to act well with the rest, and to minister to the rightful and easy activity of the whole. It may be born with a man in whom the elements are kindly mixed; but for the most part it has to be won. And we can only win it by daily sacrifice of the impulsive, impertinent, and selfish demands of our different qualities, appetites, and passions to be first. If we work at this quietly, we shall get our character into harmony; and the result of that is good-temper, sunlight in heart and home.

II. There is another thing which goes with good-temper. It is that freedom is given to each member of the house to grow and express their growth in acts and words, freedom within the limits necessary for the pleasure and good of the rest. We are bound not only to prefer one another, but also to prefer them "in honour:" that is, to try and find out what each in the household does best, and therefore enjoys most; to find out in doing what things they will most shine and delight others, and to help them towards these things; to suppress ourselves in order that we may be able to make others appear in honour, and be better liked, reverenced, and loved by ourselves and all. This is true courtesy. It is its very flower; it is the essence of Christ's teaching set to music in daily life.

III. If you would have sunlight in your home, see that you have work in it, that you work yourself and set others to work.

Nothing makes moroseness and heavy-heartedness in a house so fast as idleness. What said Christ? "My Father worketh hitherto, and I work." Sunlight comes with work.

IV. The same results that follow sunshine in nature follow its moral image in a home. In such a home there is: (1) light; we see things as they are, and in their right relations. (2) Colour. The smallest flower shines, and enjoys, and expands in sunlight; the smallest child gives forth its special colour, and scent, and charm, and good in a home which is warm and bright with love.

This is the picture and these are the causes of a sunny home. Truly its light is sweet, and a pleasant thing it is for the eyes to behold its sun. The light that lights it is the same light that enlightens the life of God. His sunlight is love and work; and if we would abide with Him, we must love and we must work.

S. A. Brooke, The Spirit of the Christian Life,p. 204.

Reference: Ecclesiastes 11:7. F. O. Morris, Christian World Pulpit,vol. xxix., p. 214.