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Sunday, April 5, 2015

Our Human Gain Is All In Vain


Verses:  Ecclesiastes 2:1-11

My thoughts about the verses:

Imagine being able to do and have all that you wanted in this life.  Having the money and power to say I want this and it is instantly yours.  Having the wisdom and understanding to ask any question and know the answer immediately.  How would our lives really be in this situation?

Most scholars agree that the Book of Solomon was most likely written by King Solomon.  We know under his rule that Israel grew they were able to build God’s temple.  We are told that Solomon was one of the wisest men ever born.  Yet, listen to what he says.  After I surveyed all that I had I found that it was all in vain.

Do we not find that we are working in vain?  We spend 90 percent of our time trying to get what we want.  Once we get it we discover that it wasn’t what we thought it would be like.  Then we go back and try to get the next thing to replace what we worked so hard to get.  We are only to be disappointed when we get the new thing.  This happens over and over in our life.  We come to the same conclusion that Solomon did in this moment.  All that I worked for was in vain.

Yet, there is a gift that we can receive that we do not have to work hard to get.  In fact, a gift that is given completely free to those those seek for it.  We can all obtain the gift of eternal life through the power of the resurrected Jesus.  See Jesus did all the work all we have to do is decide that we want to accept the gift. 

A simple task but one that people find so hard to accept.  We want the miracle yet we are afraid that it will be too hard to obtain.  We want to believe it is free but our humanness says there has to be more to the story.  We find it hard to believe that our Savior would go to the cross die freely so that we may be blessed with the gift of eternal and everlasting life. 

Yet, this is truly the free gift from our savior.  All who accept the gift much will be given to them.  They will have the perfect redeeming power of the Christ covering all the sin and wrong that they have done in this world.  Think of it this way how would it be if Jesus had gone to his death and it is in vain.  We can understand from looking at it this way that the gift is freely a gift of love and life.  Jesus didn’t die out of vain but out of love for us.  His death means that we will have everlasting life if only we will accept it.

The treasures of the world seem like the spoils that our hearts desire.  Yet, in reality what do we give up if we only want the things the world gives us.  Do we not sale ourselves short of the greatest gift?  Do we not in our humanness miss that the things of this world will never fill us like the power of the risen Savior?  The next time that we try to achieve things without God in the forefront we need to ask ourselves is this we really truly want.  Isn’t what we desire is happiness?  With that being our desire the only way to obtain it is not through our own work but through the acceptance of our Savior. 

Prayer:

We thank you for your Love.  We praise you God for your gift that is freely given.  We thank you for the sacrifice on the cross.  We praise you for your victory from the grave.  Help us concentrate on receiving your gift.  Help us to refrain from gaining worldly possessions that will never truly make us happy.  In the name of the Risen Savior we pray.  Amen

Questions:


Have you accepted the gift of eternal life?  Are you trying to gain the riches of the world?  Are you concentrating on the work of God or on the work of the World? 

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