“Then
I looked on all the works that my hands had done and on the labor in which I
had toiled; and indeed all was vanity and grasping for the wind. There
was no profit under the sun.” Ecclesiastes 2:11 NKJV
The
author wrote of houses and vineyards, gardens and orchards, servants acquired
and born, flocks and herds, gold and silver. “I had greater
possessions … than all who were in Jerusalem before me” (vss
4-10). Yet he also wrote that by wisdom, imparted from Above, he was able
to see that none of these things mattered. None of these things made him
any greater than those who came before him, no greater than those he was to
rule. “Indeed all was vanity and grasping for the wind.”
Among
the many battles of the so-called “Culture Wars”, the comfort and satisfaction
and vanity of possessions and the honor we think they bring is the one sure way
we so easily shoot ourselves in the foot and diminish our capacity to speak to
and for Truth in these “Culture Wars”. The Bible speaks of the “dust to
which we shall all return”, and even the “Preacher” (of Ecclesiastes)
points out that great or not, rich or not, wise or not; the great equalizer is
the grave. The reality that we are no better than those we spent a
lifetime condemning or looking down upon is brought home in wisdom, in Truth …
and in reality. Maybe we can buy a nicer casket, but we will still be
“naked” before The Throne of Judgment and will not be asked about our
portfolios or possessions.
Nor
will we be asked whether we made a proper “profession of faith”. The
Bible speaks of judgment according to our “works”, our “deeds”, our sense of
“righteousness” (justice and mercy), and our love of Christ (The Word) and for
His Church (His faithful). We will even be judged according to how we
treated the “stranger”, the “alien”, “widows and orphans”; those who are powerless
and unable to speak for themselves. So the “profession of faith” we made
will not be judged according to our words. We will be judged according to
our choices in how to live that faith and how we used our many blessings
to build up the Body of Christ rather than ourselves.
Yes,
we should appreciate and be thankful for everything we have been entrusted
with; but we are compelled by the Great Commandment to love the Lord our God -
and our neighbor - with all we have and with all we are. “Talk is cheap”,
we say when we really want to know about someone’s intentions or sorrow when
we’ve been wronged. Is our God, in whose Image we are created, that much
different? According to the Scripture, we are to strive toward
“perfection” in seeking to become the best expression of our faith and our God
we can possibly become. Our “stuff” has nothing to do with any of it.
“Seek
first the Kingdom of God … THEN all these things you need will be given”.
Not the other way around.
Blessings,
Michael
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