Better Is The End Of A Thing

“Better is the end of a thing than its beginning, and the patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit.”

As we come to the end of this year, we probably are staggered at how fast it has gone. Time has slipped by. The end of the year has come. Usually we reflect at the end of a year on the past, and as we approach the new year we will pause and think of new things to accomplish. Perhaps we will want to improve in some areas or do something not yet done. Whatever it may be, we desire to go forward. We don’t want to go backward. In fact, we cannot. The end of a matter is better than the beginning in the sense that the past is done and you cannot reverse it. It is better to move forward.

In Ecclesiastes 7:1–6, the writer has focused on the simple fact that we learn more from adversity than from prosperity. We learn more from the hardships of life than the comforts. We learn wisdom in the trials of life. The crucible is for silver and the furnace is for gold, but a man is tested by the praise he receives, according to Proverbs 27:3. Life is similar to a crucible. There will be fiery times and there will be quiet times. We will feel the heat of this life and we will experience the joys of this life. We do not know what a day will bring forth. The writer of Ecclesiastes urges his readers to live life as God intended it to be lived. When God begins a process in our lives there is no guarantee that it will be pleasant, but it will always be good for us. God can never do anything that would violate his unconditional love for us. There is much in Christianity today that is simply not Christian. Christians are being told that God means for them to have everything that is superlative. We are constantly told that God means for us to have a better and bigger house, the best car to drive, perfect health, and money in the bank. God does not promise any of these things. And faith is never linked in the Bible to having any of these things, contrary to the name-it and claim-it gang or word-faith movement. In fact, faith operates totally in the realm of believing the unseen God, and never on the basis of what we see or touch.

The latter part of our verse puts it perfectly: “the patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit.” The Apostle John speaks of the same thing in 1 John 2:15–17: “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world–the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life–is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.” The world is saturated with desires for the flesh, for that which pleases the eye and for pride in what we have and even sought after. To be a friend of the world is to be an enemy of God (James 4:4).

The very things that we are told to stay away from are the very things that certain elements in the Church believe we should have. It is not that they would say that you should be immoral or ungodly, but what they fail to recognize is that the pursuit of things or the belief that it is a divine right granted to every Christian is most dangerous of all. This is how Satan presented the issue to Eve in Genesis 3:1–6. A pursuit of all the things John speaks about ends in the same way the world does: by passing away. Doing God’s will remains forever. That is the proof that the end is better than the beginning. Doing God’s will can get you killed! Doing God’s will can bring you pain! Doing God’s will can lose you your friends! But it is the end that matters. Patient endurance in well-doing is what is required. Paul said that “to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life…” (Rom. 2:7). John speaks in the Revelation of “patient endurance” by the saints in the churches (Rev. 1:9; 2:2, 19; 3:10). These are those who receive the praise of the Lord.

We have been conditioned from birth to expect all good things and to demand all good things. But we have forgotten that if you want these good things now, you can sell your soul to get them, or you can wait (with patient endurance) to receive far better things. The truly superlative is eternal. Heaven, which is far superior to anything we can comprehend about it, is to be obtained only at the end. As long as we are in this world, as our Lord said, we shall have tribulation (John 16:33). This means that if you obtain what you think are the good things now, you will discover that they also are themselves fraught with tribulation. Things don’t last. Doing the will of God lasts.

The lives of God’s best saints in the Bible are loaded with trials and tribulations. Abraham had to wait for the promise of God. Moses had to wait for forty years to hear from God and then lead the people for another forty years to Canaan, only to not enter the land he so ardently longed for. Joseph had to sit in prison for many years. David had to run for his life even though the kingship was his by divine right. The writer to the Hebrews tells us that all these “through faith conquered kingdoms, enforced justice, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, were made strong out of weakness, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight. Women received back their dead by resurrection. Some were tortured, refusing to accept release so that they might rise again to a better life. Others suffered mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were killed with the sword. They went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, afflicted, mistreated—of whom the world was not worthy—wandering about in deserts and mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth. And all these, though commended through their faith, did not receive what was promised, since God had provided something better for us, that apart from us they should not be made perfect” (Heb. 11:33–40). Notice that all of these Old Testament saints did not receive what was promised in this life. They endured seeing him who had promised. The things are always secondary to the one who promised them.

Thomas Brooks (1608–1680) wrote a beautiful work called Heaven on Earth, in which he says that “all real hunger in the soul after righteousness arises from spiritual and heavenly considerations. These spring in the soul from convictions, apprehensions, persuasions, that the soul has a real worth, a real beauty, glory, and excellence that is in Christ, and in his righteousness, imputed and imparted. Such desires after righteousness that flow from external considerations are of no worth, weight or continuance, but only those desires that flow from spiritual considerations are full of spirit, life and glory; they are such that God will not only observe but accept, not only record but reward.” (Works, Vol. 2, p. 420).

The end is always better than the beginning in spiritual matters. Faith and patience are necessary to obtain the reward. Spiritual growth is a slow and long process. Maturity does not happen overnight. It requires the furnace of experience, the school of hard knocks, and a confident trust in the ways of God. The more heat there is, the better refined the end result will be. Isn’t that the amazing thing? If we wish to be like our Lord then we must be willing (like our Lord) to suffer much for him. Perhaps we can truly say of ourselves: “we have it easy and comfortable.” Ease and comfort can also be blessings from God, but they must be used wisely and carefully lest we lulled into complacency and distraction. The race is about the end, not the beginning; so run well and long with your eyes on Jesus.