Living Life Backwards: How Ecclesiastes Teaches Us To Live In Light Of The End. David Gibson. 176 pp. Crossway, 2017.

Ashlyn Jones, MS. Coordinator of Oasis Counseling Center, Instructor.

David Gibson in Living Life Backwards examines Ecclesiastes in several ways but under the main premise that in dwelling on the certainty of death it changes the way that we live. He starts the book by addressing our human condition and the unwillingness to accept things as they really are. He manages to have you wonder at the vapor that is life under the sun without embracing hedonism or fatalism as a conclusion. It encourages the reader to grasp at joy and allow the inevitable end of our lives through death to become an invitation into  wise, full life. Gibson paints death as a “preacher” who urges the reader to embrace our short time here on earth— not out of fear but gratitude that for at least a time we can love, breath, work, preach, give and marvel at beauty. This is what Gibson repeats: Life is a gift, not gain. Ecclesiastes reiterates that to gain and toil is meaningless, vanity and a striving after the wind. But the author stresses that life is meant to be enjoyed, not mastered. Just as the preacher in Ecclesiastes Gibson hammers the reader with reminders of our impending trip to the grave. His main thesis is painted in these words, “Far from being something that makes life in the present completely pointless, future death is a light God shines on the present to change it. Death can radically enable us to enjoy life. By relativizing all that we do in our days under the sun, death can change us from people who want to control life for gain into people who find deep joy in receiving life as a gift. This is the main message of Ecclesiastes in a nutshell: life in God’s world is gift, not gain” (Gibson, 37). The preacher in Ecclesiastes tests every good thing that God has given us—work, food, drink, sex, wealth, fellowship, gain, projects and bursts the bubble that ultimate happiness found in these good things is possible. The author states, “in the created world, you can only truly enjoy what you do not worship” (Gibson, 115). While bursting the bubble of these things that “promise life” he puts these good things in the perspective of the end. All of these things were meant to be enjoyed, but none were meant to be the satisfaction of life. Even wisdom under the sun has limits and was not designed to help you master or control the world but instruct you how to enjoy and live life well in the time you have and within the circumstances and suffering of life—often outside of your control.

“One day, working and planning and knowledge and wisdom will cease, so do them now while you can. Dying people who truly know they are dying are among all people the most alive. They are not here to live forever. They are her to live for now, for today— and most of all they are here to live with and for others. A life lived in this way looks like this:

Ride a bike, see the Grand Canyon, go to the theater, learn to make music, visit the sick, care for the dying, cook a meal, feed the hungry, watch a film, read a book, laugh with some friends until it makes you cry, play football, run a marathon, snorkel in the ocean, listen to Mozart, ring your parents, write a letter, play with your kids, spend your money, learn a language, plant a church, start a school, speak about Christ, travel to somewhere you’ve never been, adopt a child, give away your fortune and then some, shape someone else’s life by laying down your life” (114)

Love God, love others and live life as a gift, not for gain.