How to Have a Life That is Not All in Vain
In my childhood, I used to love a song by the Clark Sisters entitled, "Is My Living in Vain?" The lyrics go as follows:
Is my living in vain
Is my giving in vain
Is my praying in vain
Is my fasting in vain
Am I wasting my time
Can the clock be rewind
Have I let my light shine
Have I made ninety-nine
No, of course not
Its not all in vain
No, no LORD, no
Cause up the road is eternal gain
I would sing this song with vigor, even while my life was truly being "lived in vain" as I was on a path set for Hell. It is interesting how you can sing Gospel songs with fervor, say Amen to the preacher, and yet still be far, far away from God. Mere excitement about the Lord can deceive us into believing we are somewhere we are not and blind us to our true condition (Romans 10:2).
In the following message, Min. David Pawson reviews the Book of Ecclesiastes as Solomon considers the vanity of his life and examines how we can be assured that our own lives are not in vain.
- Scriptural text taken out of context is dangerous and can be used to support any false doctrine.
- Ecclesiastes reflects Solomon's perspective at the end of his life as he contemplates whether his life has been worth living. Solomon's reflections don't necessarily mean that this is God's view on life, but there is a reason why God included it here. We need to understand why that is.
- If you only see that which is "under the sun", if you never lift your eyes up to Heaven, then you will never understand the meaning of life. We need the perspective of God - outside of time and space - so that we can see what life is all about.
- Whenever Solomon looked to God in Ecclesiastes, he had joy and hope. Whenever he focused on human behavior & observation, he got more and more depressed.
- When you believe that God orders your times, then the things which happen to you are not chance, but God's choices as He weaves the fabric of our lives for our good.
- Remember God, fear Him, and obey His commands. The fear of God is the beginning of wisdom. If we have proper reverance for God, we won't fear anything or anyone else.
This is interesting. My husband messaged me this morning saying he felt doing things for his business seemed to be in vain then he asked that I pray for him. I prayed for him but wanted to share a word of encouragement to him as well. I too was feeling a little down about things but I needed to encourage him so I decided to search on living in vain. Now even though what he was saying is a little different than actually living in vain, I still looked up doing things in vain and came right to your site. I thought that was funny. LOL!
ReplyDeleteThis is the part that stood out the most to me ((("Whenever Solomon looked to God in Ecclesiastes, he had joy and hope. Whenever he focused on human behavior & observation, he got more and more depressed. When you believe that God orders your times, then the things which happen to you are not chance, but God's choices as He weaves the fabric of our lives for our good.")))
I sent these exact words to him along with scripture and it did encourage him. Yes we get tired but we're holding on to His hand. And even though this post is over 2 years old, it was just what we needed today! I thank God I stumbled to this post and thankful that it's still up to be seen. God bless you :-)
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ReplyDeletehttps://blog.mindvalley.com/define-worth/