Ecclesiastes 3:11 ESV
"He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man's heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end."
Our memory verse for this week comes from a very controversial book of the Bible. Solomon was a man of great wisdom. He sought to explore every avenue of life to its fullest and found that every area of life is vanity (empty or meaningless). How can everything be meaningless? Solomon found that all of the activities of life apart from God are futile and empty. Yet he realized that even the most mundane things of life have everlasting consequences because God sees all that we do and will judge us for our deeds both good and evil (Ecclesiastes 12:13). God has given us food, drink, work, and all sorts of activities for our benefit and enjoyment (Ecclesiastes 3:12-13).
Amidst the wisdom of Solomon in Ecclesiastes is our memory verse which tells us that God has put in all of us a sense of eternity. Though we are mortal creatures, our spirits will exist for eternity. It is because of this innate knowledge that all men and women seek after something greater than themselves, even if it leads them to despair. It is our responsibility as Christians to live a life that illuminates the eternal God to our friends and family so they can escape the futility of life without God and instead fear God and live.
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4 comments:
It is interesting that even people who claim that there is no after life still cling onto a hope that there is something after death. If you stopped and thought about it, can one really comprehend extinction. To be living in this material world and after we die we become nothing. Our brains can't comprhend nothingness. On the flip side, we can't comprehend God as always being here, never haveing a begging. That is where the difference is. We cling onto faith, knowing that there is something more after we die. A non-believer clings on to reason and that is their demise.
Why is it their demise? I found your comment to be rather thought provoking, you say we cling onto faith, 'knowing' that there is something more. Is it really that much different when a person feels they 'know' there is nothing after death?
I find it quite true that my brain does not comprehend nothingness well, and neither does it the idea of God, but just because I can't really comprehend either does that make the one I least identify with null and void?
That's a fair statement. But faith and beliefs are totally different. Every non-christian that believes that there is no after life, beliefs that they have complete control over their life. Faith is the letting go of human control and and human reasoning and knowing that God is controling our lives. I don't really word things all that well, and as you see, my spelling is bad because I type too fast. But what I am trying to convey is that we as Christians can cling onto a hope that "God is in control and He has a plan." That there is an after life, and if we become Christians, we will go to Heaven. The non-believer that does not believe in an after life believes that they're in control and they have a plan for their lives. Some time it works out, sometimes it doesn't. And after their time on earth has been spent, they just disapear. They have no faith, and most try to shield themselves from the obvious conclusion of their worldview: that there is no afterlife. Do you see what I'm saying?
If you talk to Tim Fary from our church who is a chaplain in the US Army he has conversations with soldiers from all religions and even "atheists" who come to him to talk things out because death is all around them. They may not be 100% sure that there is an afterlife, but they want to make sure they have all the facts. Tim has a unique opportunity to speak truth to people who are ready to listen. Like we talked about in youth group, everybody asks the ultimate questions in life, but we only ask them at certain times in our life when we go through certain experiences. It takes wisdom to know the right timing when speaking to someone about spiritual things. Engaging someone at the wrong time can be very detrimental to that person's reception of the gospel.
P.S. Lois, if you're in town we'd love to have you come to youth group on Thursday nights at 6:45...hey that's tonight.
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