God? Or the Devil?

“As no one has power over the wind to contain it, so no one has power over the time of their death. As no one is discharged in time of war, so wickedness will not release those who practice it.”  Ecclesiastes 8:8

Nobel recipient Bob Dylan offered his view on life; he must have read the eighth chapter of Ecclesiastes...

You may be an ambassador

To England or France

You might like to gamble

You might like to dance

You may be the heavyweight

Champion of the world

You might be a socialite

With a long string of pearls

But you're gonna have to serve somebody

Yes indeed, you're gonna have to serve somebody

Well it may be the Devil

Or it may be the Lord

But you're gonna have to serve somebody.

Here’s the problem: the devil is a master just as God is a master. And neither will let us go willingly. Yet, there is a remarkable difference between the two. God loves us; to the point of offering His Son to redeem us from Satan’s clutches. We receive victory over sin and death so we can live eternally in peace with our creator. If we choose to reject His offer He grants us our freedom.

On the other hand, the Devil “was a murderer from the beginning, and has nothing to do with the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies”. (John 8:44)

And the biggest lie? If we don’t follow God...we follow our own path. 

Nothing could be farther from the truth. We are born slaves to the devil and remain slaves to him unless we allow Christ to intervene. He’s devious; The devil knows very few of us would consciously follow him so he subtly recasts the choice to “I know what I need more than God knows.” And, we go merrily through life thinking we’re in charge. But, the devil is not going to release us from that misperception without a cosmic fight...one we cannot win on our own.

That level of naïveté is fatal...

So, the question is clear; who do we serve? It’s a binary choice. If not God, there is only one other master.

Live boldly out there today...

Things Money Can’t Buy

“Wisdom is a shelter as money is a shelter” Ecclesiastes 7:12

Rumor has it that Walt Disney had his body frozen in hopes of being resuscitated at later date. CRYOGENICS offers the elderly and terminally ill the chance to freeze their body in the hopes of coming back to life in the future. Advocates believe that scientists will one day work out how to warm the bodies up and bring them back to life, by which time doctors might be able to cure cancer and other diseases which are untreatable today. It’s very expensive. But, hey, what’s eternal life worth?

But, doctors don’t have the knowledge required to reanimate a frozen corpse.

Solomon is literally saying, “in the shade is knowledge, in the shade is money”; “כִּ֛י בְּצֵ֥ל הַֽחָכְמָ֖ה בְּצֵ֣ל הַכָּ֑סֶף וְיִתְרֹ֣ון דַּ֔עַת הַֽחָכְמָ֖ה תְּחַיֶּ֥ה בְעָלֶֽיהָ׃ For, in the shadow of both, we find shelter and relief.  That’s where the similarity ends...

The advantage of knowledge, according to Solomon, is that knowledge preserves the lives of its possessors while wealth may allow us to delay the inevitable but can never preserve our lives. On what basis does Solomon make this claim? Proverbs 1:7 tells us the starting point from which all wisdom derives is “The fear of the Lord”, or the recognition that God is the author, authority and sustainer of all things. Anything we call knowledge that is not built upon this premise is foolishness.

This journey toward true knowledge is described is the fourth chapter of Ephesians; “To each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it...So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.”

In other words, real knowledge always results in accepting Christ. Some disagree, and occupy their lives with alternative theories regarding the end of life. And, wealth encourages the search for those alternatives...just like it encourages the search for a nicer house, or car, or job, or spouse. It’s what money does; it provides options. God recognizes this and, with the stubborn, He won’t quarrel; As the Apostle Paul says “just as [some] did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, so God gave them over to a depraved mind, so that they do what ought not to be done.” (Romans 1:28)

Money can offer comfort; heat, air conditioning, food, clothing...even additional days on this earth but...not everlasting life. If we seek relief, there is only one place to begin.

Live boldly out there today...

The Talk of Fools

“Do not let your mouth lead you into sin” Ecclesiastes 5:6

Nearly everybody prays...some, to their own detriment.

Solomon offers his advise in context with our relationship with God. He says  “be careful when you approach God. Listen rather than speak. You might be tempted to say something you’ll regret...like making a promise you can’t keep.” 

We promise God things in order to get out of a predicament of our own making and quickly forget the promise when our lives take a turn for the better. 

“Lord, if you mend my marriage I’ll never treat my spouse that way again...”

“Lord, if you fix my finances I promise to tithe forever...”

We are reminded by our author that God takes our words seriously and takes offense when we don’t deliver. Unfulfilled promises are a sure ticket to misery. So...we are well advised to understand prayer as “listening” to God more than “speaking” to God. 

Also, God has ideas regarding our lives that we could never imagine...if we would let Him get a word in edgewise. What did He say last time we were with Him? Don’t know? That may be a clue to the source of our troubles.

Live boldly our there today...