A Thought

“This is an evil in all that is done under the sun: that one thing happens to all.”  Ecclesiastes 9:3

Whether good or bad, life simply happens.  Sometimes the surprises we encounter are pleasant, and sometimes they are not.  The wisdom of Ecclesiastes is in the knowledge that our physical life on this earth for its own sake is pure “vanity” (the writer’s favorite word and the overall theme of the book).  That is, we can do all we wish to do and gain all we wish to gain but in the end, it will all have been for nothing because we will all – good and evil alike – “return to the dust from whence we came”.

On the Day of the Lord, however, when the resurrection of the righteous occurs, the “dead” will still be dead … forever.  The “vanity” of life on this earth is in the idea that personal happiness and wealth and material gain and accumulation of goods can actually mean anything in the end.  What matters in what we do in this life is what we use and how we use it on behalf of the Kingdom of Heaven.  We are sojourners – OR – we are permanent residents.  If sojourners, we are just passing through.  If permanent residents, we will go the way of the earth and every other living thing.

Messiah Jesus was born and brought into our world to show us the way out and the way home, to show us by His Resurrection that there is life beyond the grave!  And one day He will return to call His faithful home.  Let Him return and find us faithful to Him.  Let the season of Advent be that means by which we are reminded that we are not forgotten, and that one day our Journey will be complete.

Blessings,

Michael