Monday Morning Perspective

Ecclesiastes is quickly growing on me. In a good way that is. What started out depressing me somewhat is now challenging and encouraging me. I hope it is for you as well. 

The simple message is, there's nothing material or worldly that will bring lasting satisfaction. Purpose and meaning in life is found when we pursue Jesus. All that we have, whether we are believers or unbelievers, is on loan to us from God. It's all His because we breathe His air. Only His children receive the gift of meaning and lasting enjoyment. 

God means for us to enjoy all that He has given us. But we are expected to have the proper perspective which is, we are not connected to the stuff, we are connected to the Savior. If we are pursuing relationships, stuff, and good circumstances, we will never find purpose. People will disappoint us. Stuff will break or get old. Circumstances aren't always good and they're beyond our control. If our purpose is to pursue Jesus, who is the only constant and will never fail us or leave us, we'll find meaning in this life. 

Pursue Jesus! 

Shoutout to Keiffer and Kaylee who led night church worship. You set the table beautifully for worship and ready our hearts for the Word! God is using you mightily, be encouraged!! And Kaylee the song you wrote and shared was amazing! Thank you for letting us in to such a tender place that we needed as well! 

Monday Morning Perspective

The question of the day from this message is...

What will it take to make me happy?

If we are asked to fill in the blank of this sentence...I will be happy when______, what would we put in that blank? 

We looked at the things many of us have tried to no avail to find fulfillment: parties, projects, power, position. The problem with these is these are all temporal things and we are eternal beings. 

Interesting how Eddie pointed out in verse 9 the phrase "my wisdom stayed with me". How often do we think people have "lost their mind" when they make certain choices yet that's not true for Solomon. 

So what's the point? The point is found in Eccl 3:11. We try to satisfy our eternal heart with temporal things and it will never work. John 4 tells the story of the woman at the well where Jesus says the temporal water we drink will leave us eventually thirsty again. But He is living water. A relationship with Jesus leads to eternal satisfaction. 

We can have a good life without Jesus but we won't have a great life without Him. 

And to the one I rarely give shout outs to...

This guy amazes me! He's a preaching machine!! And no it doesn't come easy. It doesn't come easy for anyone. No matter your years in ministry or whatever, it's never easy. But he loves what he does and he has a heart of gratitude that God allows him to do it. And he's always had a "whatever it takes" mentality. Sometimes you have to dig deeper than other times, but it's worth the dig. With baseball season, many Saturday nights we've come in at the midnight hour and 

Sunday morning starts early for him and now with night church it makes the day longer. I'm just a proud wife! He never cheats those God has placed under his care. And I've seen that for over 30 years now.  

Monday Morning Perspective

Welcome to the rat race. Ever been there? There now? It's tough and it's hard to know how to get out. Many of us have found ourselves in the rat race never realizing how we got in it and certainly not remembering signing up for it. Somehow, we just find ourselves there. 

We looked at the rat race of Solomon in Ecclesiastes 1:1-11. Solomon entered the race when God was no longer the center of his life. He forgot his life line and became consumed with making a name for himself and ends up disillusioned and cynical. 

Three things about the rat race that Eddie pointed out: it's a rut, it will wear you out, and it's meaningless. 

We have to live above the sun. As Eddie said many claim to not want to be so heavenly minded they're no earthly good, but few of us have met that man. 

Jesus is the answer. Work hard. Play hard. Keep Jesus first. And He will bring meaning to life. If you're tired of the old, come to Jesus. He gives new life. 

Monday Morning Perspective

Today we began the journey through the book of Ecclesiastes. It was a great introduction to this series that served to whet our appetite for what's to come over the next 14 weeks. Needless to say it's going to be an exciting, thought provoking time ahead. If you're like me and you know Jesus as your Savior and assured of heaven one day, then our biggest thing may be "but what about now?"  I want to know how my life can be meaningful NOW. I don't want to waste my time here. I want purpose and meaning. But maybe you're not so sure about the future. Maybe you're still investigating the Christian faith and you want to know what difference that makes anyway when it comes to living a life of purpose now.  I believe this series will be for both of us!

Eddie began this series talking about the avenues to worldly success. They consist of a good education, work and pleasure. He followed that with the results that come from following the world's way and concluded with the statement "been there, done that, now what?"  

My takeaways from this message were questioning myself on what am I doing with the dash. You know, that dash that lies between when you were born and when you will die. Whether that dash represents a short amount of time or a long time, what we do with it matters. 

I also came away with the determination that I don't want to get to the point where I'm a cynical and bitter old. And I don't want to become so enamored with temporal things that I forget what is truly meaningful and brings purpose to life. 

As Eddie said "fear God, keep His commandments". Without Jesus we have a hopeless end. With Jesus we have endless hope. 

May this Monday find you enamored with the reality of how much Jesus loves you!!