ECCLESIASTES 9.7-10

7. Go your way, eat your bread [food] with joy, and drink your wine with a merry heart; for God has already accepted your works.

8. Let your garments be always white; and let not your head lack oil.

9. Live joyfully with the wife whom you love all the days of your life of vanity, which he has given you under the sun, all your days of vanity: for that is your portion in life, and in your labor wherein you labor under the sun.

10. Whatsoever you hand finds to do, do it with your might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in Sheol [the grave], whither you goes.

Perhaps the previous positive theme continues, then, as Solomon ends this major fourth section with a powerful principle of psychology – that we can take charge of our emotions, and that positive thoughts and feelings can flow from positive actions.

Eat your bread with joy, says Solomon – and perhaps his comment also implies learning more about good food and how to prepare it.

Drink your wine, he says -- not mournfully and in a depressed state of mind, but with a merry heart.

Let your garments be always white -- Let your positive attitude also reflect in the way you dress and set high standards of personal care.

Let not your head lack oil -- Pay attention to your grooming.

Live joyfully and find a wife to share that joy with you. Be an interesting and enthusiastic, rather than boring, bad-tempered, withdrawn, uncommunicative and hard to get along with.

All these things are possible through the power of the Holy Spirit of God, as Paul explains when he says, Quote: “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control” (Galatians 5:22). The committed Christian gradually bears these practical and useful fruit, just as apples develop on a tree.

Solomon ends this fourth major section of Ecclesiastes by offering the following good advice that is commonly found in the inspirational best-sellers – Whatsoever you hand finds to do, do it with your might! In other words, find realistic goals to pursue and go after them. Be persistent. Be enthusiastic. Be successful. Be an optimist, a positive thinker, a possibility thinker, a doer, a creator – a liver of life as God intends you to be. But whatever you do, do good!