| Good morning everyone, Our theme for this month: “Lifelong learning” Our Bible verse for today: “All share a common destiny – the righteous and the wicked, the good and the bad, the clean and the unclean, those who offer sacrifices and those who do not. As it is with the good man, so with the sinner; as it is with those who take oaths, so with those who are afraid to take them. This is the evil in everything that happens under the sun: The same destiny overtakes all.” Ecclesiastes 9:2-3 (NIV) Our thought for today: “You can choose how you live” Ecclesiastes 9:2-3 is such a negative and depressing passage, isn’t it? Everybody dies. Death is evil and we’re all going to experience it – so says the wisest man who ever lived (Solomon). Negative. Depressing. Hopeless. Or is it? If you read the entire book of Ecclesiastes, and you consider this verse in the context of the message of the entire book, then you realize that this verse, and all the others like it, are used by the writer as a strawman. He is setting the strawman up just so he can, in the end, knock him down. Here’s the conclusion of the matter as written in chapter 12:13-14: “Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. For God will bring every deed into judgment, including every hidden thing, whether it is good or evil.” What’s the lesson of Ecclesiastes? For much of it the message seems to be “You’re going to die anyway, so what’s the point?” Unless Jesus comes back first, some day you are going to die. And in most of our cases we cannot control when or how we are going to die. It will happen in God’s way and in God’s time but be assured, some day you are going to die. However, until then, you are going to live. And although you may not be able to choose when or how you die, you can choose how you live. And that brings us back to the examples I have cited in recent devotionals about older Christians who have been lifelong learners and who have aged well by staying curious and adventurous and active. The woman who wrote a book for children at the age of eighty-eight; my friend who got remarried at ninety and then at ninety-three took his new bride to go parasailing in Hawaii; my friend in his sixties who is so full of life that his enthusiasm for life and the joy he gets from it radiates from his face; my wise friend, pastor, and mentor Oren Teel; and so many others. Their examples are inspiring. The truth is that although you may not be able to choose how you die, you can choose how you live. I encourage you to live well. God bless, Pastor Jim (If you like what you’re reading in these daily devotionals, and if you would like more content from Oak Hill Baptist Church, join us on Sundays at 10:00, in-person if you are nearby or, if you are geographically distant or if you just can’t make it, online at www.YouTube.com/@oakhillbaptistcrossville) |
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