Ecclesiastes 12
Today's Passage: Ecclesiastes 12
If Christ is risen – then nothing else matters. And if Christ is not risen – then nothing else matters. Jaroslav Pelikan
As we end Ecclesiastes, Solomon gives two pieces of wisdom:
1. Do not put off following Jesus (v. 1-7)
For me, there was a time when I was in middle school that I thought, “Following Jesus seems like a lot of work. I will take it more serious about it when I get older.†It was a terrible mindset to have, but I hadn’t fully grasped the beauty of following Jesus. Ask yourself: Is this my mindset right now?
Solomon uses figurative language to describe how life and health flee away.
2. Everything is meaningless apart from Jesus (v. 8-14)
Solomon wants us to see that life is meaningless if we are chasing after our own desires and wants. And the meaningless of life should drive us to follow God, where we can find meaning. God can only satisfy the human heart. We may try to find meaning in comfort, job, education, etc., and those are not bad things. But those things will never bring full satisfaction.
The bottom line is verse 13: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.
God wants us to enjoy life and His creation, but we can never truly enjoy it apart from Him.
In what ways have you put off following God?
Written By: Brice Stockton
If Christ is risen – then nothing else matters. And if Christ is not risen – then nothing else matters. Jaroslav Pelikan
As we end Ecclesiastes, Solomon gives two pieces of wisdom:
1. Do not put off following Jesus (v. 1-7)
For me, there was a time when I was in middle school that I thought, “Following Jesus seems like a lot of work. I will take it more serious about it when I get older.†It was a terrible mindset to have, but I hadn’t fully grasped the beauty of following Jesus. Ask yourself: Is this my mindset right now?
Solomon uses figurative language to describe how life and health flee away.
2. Everything is meaningless apart from Jesus (v. 8-14)
Solomon wants us to see that life is meaningless if we are chasing after our own desires and wants. And the meaningless of life should drive us to follow God, where we can find meaning. God can only satisfy the human heart. We may try to find meaning in comfort, job, education, etc., and those are not bad things. But those things will never bring full satisfaction.
The bottom line is verse 13: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.
God wants us to enjoy life and His creation, but we can never truly enjoy it apart from Him.
In what ways have you put off following God?
Written By: Brice Stockton
3 Comments
Enjoy every day, yet there are many dark days - still enjoy every day (Ecclesiastes 11:8). Choose joy; fight for joy. "Rejoice in the Lord always" (Philippians 4:4). Sometimes I think enjoying life will be easier in the future when circumstances are less overwhelming, but God wants me to choose to enjoy HIM now - in today's circumstances. There's no guarantee that things will ever really get "easier" this side of Heaven....
Verse 11 stood out to me this morning:
"The words of the wise are like cattle prods-painful but helpful."
In other words, "you're not going to like what I'm going to say, but I'm going to say it anyways".
True wisdom builds others up. It may not be pleasant in the moment, but looking back you can see how it was beneficial. We need to allow God's wisdom to change us. And we need to allow wise people in our lives to speak God's truth, even when we don't want to hear it. I pray that we may be molded, by God's Word, into true disciples of Jesus Christ.
Enjoyed the study on Ecclesiastes. It has given me a new perspective about this book.