One Year Bible, September 5

ECCLESIASTES 10:1 - 12:14                                                                                                  
WISE IS BETTER THAN "STUPID":  Because the world is so mixed up, ("twisted" and "incomplete") we must live wisely or get swept up into cynicism.  

DELAYED JUSTICE:  2 Pet 3:8-15 tells us that justice is delayed because God is unwilling to call anyone "hopeless".  He wants everyone to know Him and not waste their lives.  Time----that's what people need.  And believers need "patient endurance" as we await the fulfillment of God's promises of justice and deliverance.

IN A MEANINGLESS WORLD:  How do we behave?  It is the curse that accounts for the inqeuity, tyranny, oppression, death, and haphazardness of life.  The world was not created that way ORIGINALLY, and it won't be that way FINALLY.  We much orient our lives around the fact that FINAL JUDGMENT is coming, and so we must live our lies to PLEASE GOD.  Trying to read God's signs (Chap 11) before we make our move will result in failure to succeed at anything! 

LIFE OF JOY:  We don't live "under the sun" but IN IT.  So rejoice!  "Dead" is a long time. (Actually, ETERNITY is a long time - and there is no darkness there.)  Always CHOOSE JOY. Happiness is a choice.  Misery is an outward expression of ingratitude and unbelief. CHOOSE JOY. 

DESCRIPTION OF AN "OLD MAN": Yield your whole life to God while you have a whole life! Give Him your joy and your strength while you have it.   Because the day is coming when:

Arms and legs grow weak and we can't defend ourselves. Our teeth decay and fall out. We can't see good or hear anything.  Everything is out of reach and too much trouble.  The least little thing becomes a burden ("grasshopper").  Our appetite is gone. "The golden bowl (BRAIN) will be broken."  "The pitcher will be broken at the fountain" (HEART).   And then my spirit will return to God Who gave it. 

RESPONSE:   There are a lot of things in life we don't know; but there are a few that we DO! We are accountable to God for everything in life.   Get your eyes off of things "under the sun" and onto to God, Who is above the sun.   Do it while you are young and have something to give Him.   Don't wait until you don't have the strength or the energy, and there is nothing for you to look forward to but dying.  The one thing on which our lives turn is our attitude toward God.  

Does anything last beyond the grave?  Can we be make certain that what we do in this life has some lasting value?  When we fear God and keep His commandments, our fleeting lives begin to count for eternity.  The disappointments we have in this life can be born because they can never separate us from the fact that God loves us.  What would you like for God to accomplish through you?

2 CORINTHIANS 8:1-15                                                                                                      
GIVING & OFFERINGS:  HOW we give and HOW MUCH we give are outward expressions of our LOVE (8:8), GRATITUDE (9:12), and RIGHTEOUSNESS (9:10) toward God.  GIVING is called "a grace", "a service", "communion in service", "munificence", "a blessing", "manifestation of love", "manifestation of gratitude to God", "fruit of righteousness".   Money is not just a material thing in the Bible, but it is a spiritual matter.   Jesus's poverty was self-imposed. He actually owns it all!

LAWS OF CHRISTIAN GENEROSITY: (1) It must be given freely and willingly (v.11).  (2) "according as a man has" - this means we give all that is in our power to give.  (3) Reciprocity: someday you may need to receive someone's offering. When we give to the poor, we are cooperating with God!  You can cheat your neighbor, but you can't fool God; He will make all this come out even in the end. 

RESPONSE:   There are two things that people think are "hands off": their privacy and their money.  As Christians, we don't get to keep either one!

PSALM 49:1-20                                                                                                                  
YOU CAN'T TAKE IT WITH YOU!  MAMMON is anything you trust in, other than God.  Money can't buy your salvation or stop you from dying.   In fact, after you die, someone else will spend your money.  Your house won't even stand forever; someday someone will tear it down.   In heaven, righteousness counts for more than wealth.   Self-sufficiency is DECEIVING.  The glory of the world is EMPTY.

PROVERBS 22:20-21                                                                                                         
"Have not I written to thee excellent things in counsels and knowledge,that I might make thee know the certainty of the words of truth; that thou mightest answer the words of truth to them that send unto thee?"

It is important to see this closer to the original language. The words "excellent things" is actually the Hebrew word "threes, triads, triples".   The "threes" are in "counsels and knowledge" , or in everyday practical life.   And the purpose of the "threes" is so we can "know the certainty of the words of truth".   "Threes" are "excellent" because in David's day, the elite three of highest rank were bodyguards to the king.

You will find "threes" all through the Bible: Little children, young men, fathers (1 Jo 2:12-14), Passover, Pentecost, Tabernacles.  Orpah, Naomi, Ruth.  30-fold, 60-fold, 100-fold.   In the story of the Good Samaritan: priest, Levite, Samaritan.   In the tabernacle: outer court, inner court, Holy of Holies. The Israelites: out of Egypt, through the wilderness, into the Land.   Many, many more - all referring to the spiritual growth process with its responsibilities and privileges.  The purpose of teaching us this way is so that we'll KNOW AND UNDERSTAND about spiritual things, and will grasp them quicker.

RESPONSE:   If you examine the "threes", you will see that the distinctions are made by maturity levels, and by how much we are willing to give up.  The "fathers", the "good Samaritan", the "holy of Holies", "into the Land" - and so forth - the THIRD PART requires us to lay down our lives.   Read about the Good Samaritan again (Luke 10) and notice that he was the only one willing to give his time, his money, his reputation.   The others even KNEW about the problem, took a closer look, and left the man laying there!   When we see "threes" in the Bible, sometimes it helps to put them in a line and examine them closer.   In the story of Ruth, she had to leave her country and her family to follow Naomi.  BUT, Naomi has "disqualified" herself for the THIRD PART, because she was "bitter" - "Marah".   And Orpah never left the outer court!  That THIRD PART will cost us EVERYTHING.  We discover that being spiritually mature is not about privilege, but about responsibility!  (Like the king's bodyguards).