Today's passage is Ecclesiastes 2:1-11
I thought it in my heart, “Come now, I will test you with pleasure to find out what is good” but that also proved to be meaningless. Ecclesiastes 2:1
Solomon had anything he could imagine at his fingertips. All his wildest dreams could come true, and in chapter 2 he decides to make these dreams happen. But what he found was that all he could acquire on earth, the gold and silver, the vineyards, the buildings, and the livestock was like a chasing after the wind, and nothing was gained under the sun. (v.11)
What is it that our focus is on? Where do we pour out all our efforts? What ladder are we trying to climb? Most of us will spend our entire life trying to achieve a small percentage of Solomon achieved. We spend our days building our own kingdoms, as we claw and scrape to try and seize a piece of the “American Dream”, the mansion on a hill, a bigger paycheck, nicer cars, a better boat, and more stock options. All this so that someday, someday we can kick back, retire, and live the good life for just a few short years before we are no longer able to “enjoy” the fruits of our labor because we are just physically unable to.
Funny that we spend our entire life chasing a dream that someone who lived the dream told us is not worth chasing. It is kind of like going to a see a movie, that the main actor personally came to you and told you "don’t waste you time it won’t be worth the two hours", and yet you go see the movie anyway.
The Bible is very clear that instead of focusing on building up our treasures here on earth we should be building them in eternity. The book James compares our life to a mist that is here for a little while then vanishes. And yet we work so hard to achieve “Status” in the few short seconds we are here.
Solomon became greater than all that had gone before him. More wealth, more positions, and as we learned yesterday more wisdom, and what he found was that it was all pointless, meaningless, a chasing after the wind. Chasing a dream that never came true. Today let’s stop for just a minute and examine our own lives. What are our goals? What dream are we chasing? Are we spending countless hours seeking to gain what Solomon has already told us is pointless?
Here is a action step for today, refocus your efforts into what really matters. Today and from this point on focus on things that are everlasting. The things of God. When we leave this world we will stand before the creator truly as we are. By ourselves, no houses, cars, retirement plans, just us. And the only thing that will make any difference is what we did with the Truth that has been revealed to us. Did we put our trust in the Truth? The saving message of Jesus Christ. Did we take this message of hope to a lost and dying world? Did we do all we could to deepen our relationship with a Savior, who paid our fine our penalty of Hell for us? Did we work our entire life to build our kingdom, or did we work to build God’s kingdom?
What a difference it would make, if we turned or efforts to what really matters, reaching the world with the Truth (capital T) the Truth of salvation through Jesus Christ.
I have never read such a wonderful article and I am coming back tomorrow to continue reading.
Posted by: Canada Goose Outlet | September 13, 2011 at 08:54 PM