Living Life Backward: How Ecclesiastes Teaches Us to Live in Light of the End
What if it is death that teaches us how to truly live?
Keeping the end in mind shapes how we live our lives in the here and now. Living life backward means taking the one thing in our future that is certain—death—and letting that inform our journey before we get there.
Looking to the book of Ecclesiastes for wisdom, Living Life Backward was written to shake up our expectations and priorities for what it means to live "the good life." Considering the reality of death helps us pay attention to our limitations as human beings and receive life as a wondrous gift from God—freeing us to live wisely, generously, and faithfully for God's glory and the good of his world.
Top Highlights
“The single question that animates him is this: If we won’t live forever, or even long enough to make a lasting difference to the world, how then should we live?” (source)
“In fact, the Hebrew word hebel is also accurately translated as ‘breath’ or ‘breeze.’ The Preacher is saying that everything is a mist, a vapor, a puff of wind, a bit of smoke.” (source)
“‘The gift of God does not make this meaninglessness go away; the gift of God makes this vanity enjoyable.’” (source)
“Being a Christian doesn’t stop this being true. Rather, it should make us the first to stop pretending that it isn’t true. That is the Preacher’s aim. It may not make perfect sense to us yet, but he is carefully laying the foundations for the main argument of his book: only preparing to die will teach us how to live.” (source)
“What if the pleasure of food is a daily joy that we ungratefully overlook? What if our work was never intended to make us successful but simply to make us faithful and generous? What if it is death that shows us that this is how we are meant to live?” (source)
Product Details
- Title : Living Life Backward: How Ecclesiastes Teaches Us to Live in Light of the End
- Author: Gibson, David
- Publisher: Crossway
- Publication Date: 2017
- ISBN: 9781433556302
David Gibson (PhD, University of Aberdeen) is minister of Trinity Church in Aberdeen, Scotland. He is a coeditor of From Heaven He Came and Sought Her, and his publications include Living Life Backward: How Ecclesiastes Teaches Us to Live in Light of the End; Radically Whole: Gospel Healing for the Divided Heart; and The Lord of Psalm 23: Jesus Our Shepherd, Companion, and Host. He is married to Angela, and they have four children.
