Scripture: Ecclesiastes 6: 2-5
2 God gives some people great wealth and honor and everything they could ever want, but then he doesn’t give them the chance to enjoy these things. They die, and someone else, even a stranger, ends up enjoying their wealth! This is meaningless—a sickening tragedy. 3 A man might have a hundred children and live to be very old. But if he finds no satisfaction in life and doesn’t even get a decent burial, it would have been better for him to be born dead. 4 His birth would have been meaningless, and he would have ended in darkness. He wouldn’t even have had a name, 5 and he would never have seen the sun or known of its existence. Yet he would have had more peace than in growing up to be an unhappy man.
Scripture Commentary:
We are bombarded with messages and images of wealth, from the Powerball to seeing the lifestyles of the richest people in the world. These riches refer to earthly value. Solomon asks how rich and valuable is your soul? How do you go about enhancing your relationship with God.
Solomon shows us that having God as the head of your life is the only value you need. What you’ve accumulated here on earth stays on earth but what you’ve accumulated for God goes with you into eternity. Think about it: if you live a thousand years, it’s ultimately meaningless without God.
Everyone dies; it does not matter if you are rich or poor. And none of us will take anything that we have acquired with us. We can eat the right foods, do physical exercise but in the end, death is waiting for all of us yet we don’t spend nearly as much time or effort on our spiritual health. It’s short-sighted to work hard to extend this life and not take the necessary steps to fulfill what God has for us. Solomon is telling us that we have the road map to God. It’s the Bible. Follow it!
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