Tag: Food For Growth

⁹ What gain has the worker from his toil? ¹⁰ I have seen the business that God has given to the children of man to be busy with. ¹¹ He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man’s heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end. ¹² I perceived that there is nothing better for them than to be joyful and to do good as long as they live; ¹³ also that everyone should eat and drink and take pleasure in all his toil—this is God’s gift to man. ~ Ecclesiastes 9:11-13

Solomon asks a very poignant question “What gain has the worker from his toil?” But this isn’t the first time he has asked this same question in his discourse. That question is splashed throughout the book of Ecclesiastes. Why? Because he wants you to think about it, consider it, and ponder it.

As a matter of fact, he starts his whole discourse with “What does man gain by all the toil at which he toils under the sun?” (Ecclesiastes 1:3). Jesus puts a spin on the same question, and He asks it this way “For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? ³⁷ For what can a man give in return for his soul?” (Mark 8:36-37) It’s basically the same question: What gain has the worker from his toil?

And the answer is… nothing… because it will all soon be gone like the grass that is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire unless, of course, the toil is in the Father’s harvest field. All we do and all that we accomplish will be passed from one generation to the other. From one successor to the next, until eternity comes crashing in.

Our life is like dust in the wind or like the weed that is here today and tomorrow. It is thrown into the fire, but our souls will live on somewhere forever. So, if that is the case, then preparation to meet our LORD and Savior must begin now. Today is the first day of the rest of your life. Today is the day of Salvation.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Prepare For Eternity.

¹³ For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” ¹⁴ How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? ¹⁵ And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!” ~ Romans 10:13-15

We don’t mention Jesus to coworkers in our workplaces because of fear of “political correctness.” We focus more on conforming to “Political Correctness” than on submitting to “Obedience to God.” We avoid the two most important issues in life, Religion (Because religion affects our eternity) and Politics (Because politics affects our here and now).

These are the two most important issues that we should be discussing, but yet they are the least discussed… They are the two topics that we try most to avoid. And in so doing, we are kept silent, by our own freewill, and the political boat is not rocked, and thus we conform.

That leaves an open door for the powers-that-be to do whatever they want, whenever they want, to whomever they want. Because nobody can discuss it. Because it’s impolite. It’s rude. It’s disrespectful. It’s offensive. It’s too controversial. It’s politically incorrect.

So, we avoid those two topics like the plague. We keep our distance when the politically incorrect talk starts up. But in so doing, they ensure our silence by us policing our own selves. They don’t even have to do a thing; we do it all for them our own selves…to their delight.

Because, after all, we don’t want to be offensive. LORD forbid. We don’t witness to anyone because that would offend the person. We don’t mention the name of Jesus because someone from another religion might be offended, and we wouldn’t want that. But think about this, would you rather be offended? Or spend eternity in a burning Lake of Fire?

As for me, please offend me and save my soul. And let me spend eternity with Jesus in a place of blissfulness with peace, joy, and pleasures evermore. With all my needs supplied. Listen, no eye has seen, no ear has heard all that God as instore for us who love Him (1 Corinthians 2:9). Jesus has marvelous things in store for us. He has glorious things in eternity for all who love Him and for all who seek Him, but yet we are afraid to tell because we don’t want to offend.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and How Will They Hear?

¹¹ Again I saw that under the sun the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, nor bread to the wise, nor riches to the intelligent, nor favor to those with knowledge, but time and chance happen to them all. ¹² For man does not know his time. Like fish that are taken in an evil net, and like birds that are caught in a snare, so the children of man are snared at an evil time, when it suddenly falls upon them. ~ Ecclesiastes 9:11-12

What is Solomon talking about? Death. No one knows the hour or the day when death will come calling and eternity comes crashing in. The American novelist, short-story writer, and the 1954 winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature, the late Earnest Hemingway, had a fixation with suicide, especially after his father shot himself in 1928. He was reported as saying, “I’ll probably go the same way.”

The Hemingway family is not known for their strong religious beliefs or for their steadfast faith in the LORD Jesus. But instead, they are known, first of all, for Ernest Hemingway’s writings. But they’re also known for alcohol and drug addictions, depression, mental issues, suicide, and sexual molestation.

When that happens, despair sets in because Jesus is the only hope for a future. It’s only through the power of His Name and the cleansing of His blood that can break such family curses.

God said:

¹¹ For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

Jeremiah 29:11^NIV

Our hope and our strength are found in the LORD. Beware of despair, it breeds darkness as it did the Hemingway family. A generational curse. Earnest Hemingway committed suicide in 1961 at the age of 61. As did his father before him, Clarence “Ed” Hemingway, in 1928. Ursula Hemingway, his sister, also took her own life. As did his brother, Leicester Hemingway. His other brother, Ernest Hemingway Jr., also died by suicide. His granddaughter, Margaux Hemingway, committed suicide in 1996. Mariel, Margaux’s older sister, contemplated suicide herself.

God has put eternity in the heart of mankind, and we cannot get away from it. Without Jesus, the future is bleak and dark. There is no hope; deep down, we feel hopeless because we are. Whether or not those without Jesus will admit it, there is a longing for stability, hope, something more than what this life can offer. It’s a longing for something to fill the void. And only Jesus can fill the void. Because the void is in the shape of a cross.

The world is trying to fill that cross-shaped void with sex, drugs, music, entertainment, social media, alcohol, and the like. They’re searching for eternity because God has placed eternity in the heart of mankind. They don’t understand the longing, the emptiness, or even the loneliness. The world needs Jesus, and they don’t even realize it.

Dear LORD, please forgive me for all the times I didn’t share Your Gospel of hope with others. Please forgive me for all the times I kept Your Word to myself. Please give me the boldness, wisdom, and love to share Your Word with others. In Jesus’ name, I pray, amen.

¹³ The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. ¹⁴ For God will bring every deed into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or evil. ~ Ecclesiastes 12:13-14

It sounds as if Solomon is saying these temporal things are all going to end in judgment when God calls every secret thing, whether good or evil, into account. Also, did you notice what Solomon, the wisest man to ever live, highlighted in his conclusion?

He said:

… Fear God and keep His commandments … For God will bring every deed into judgment …

Everything is vanity or is meaningless in this life if it is not connected to eternity. Our whole duty is to fear God and keep His commandments. In other words, work for eternal things. Work to store up real treasure that will last forever and ever, safe and secure, far away from inflation and thieves. In other words, it is meaningless, a vanity of vanities to work for treasures that do not last and are not secure.

Solomon is advising young people not to get caught up in things that will not last because not even your youth will last. The days will come when the pleasures of life will no longer yield their bounty for you. Your eyes will grow dim. Your hands will tremble. Your legs will grow weak. Your teeth will fall out. Your taste for good food will fade. And you will no longer desire marital pleasures. Temporal things are like chasing after the wind. It’s all meaningless, utterly meaningless. Unless, of course, you’re working for eternity, which lasts forever. For without Jesus, everything is vanity, meaningless, utterly meaningless.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Flee Vanities.

¹² Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned. ~ Romans 5:12

Paul specifically states that sin entered the world through Adam and death through his sin, but the Ruin Reconstruction Theory says that death and destruction were already here way before Adam, making the Biblical account inaccurate. Now, I wonder how that teaching came to be.

Its purpose is to reconcile the atheistic, scientific propaganda of a 4.54-billion-year-old Earth with a literal reading of the Bible. Their aim is to align Scripture with science instead of aligning science with God’s Word. But truth and lies will never reconcile, and disinformation will never align with Scripture.

Please understand that these are the same scientists who say that there is no God and man, meaning You. Me. Us. The whole human race. Evolved from apes, that they are trying to align Scripture with. Think about that. And even knowing this, some Christian theologians will fight tooth and nail to defend a belief invented to prove that there is no God and to prove Scripture is inaccurate.

There is only one Truth. That Truth is the Word of God. Therefore, if the world contradicts the Word of God, we are not to try to manipulate and twist Scripture in order to force it into the false truth of the world. The Word of God should be our foundation for Truth not an obstacle we have to try to get around.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Don’t Twist.

⁵³ Do you think that I cannot appeal to my Father, and He will at once send Me more than twelve legions of angels? ~ Matthew 26:53

Jesus was in the crucible. But notice, He was not fighting to get out. The Father had a purpose for Him there. It was for our benefit. My benefit. Your benefit. Your loved ones’ benefit. And my loved ones’ benefit.

If Jesus had prayed to get out of the crucible, and the Father had indeed rescued Him, there would be no salvation for us. There would be no way for us to be saved. For without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins (Hebrews 9:22).

The crucible is important, but do not be confused. Some things are God-ordained, and some things are simply our own fault. I’ve heard people say that they had to go through a certain situation, like a divorce so that they can minister to others. But that is simply not the case. That is definitely unbiblical.

God does not have to put you through a divorce, something that He hates, for you to give comfort to others. They say things like, “The Scripture says to comfort others with the comfort you’ve been comforted with.”

Well, let us see exactly what that Scripture says:

³ Blessed be the God and Father of our LORD Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, ⁴ who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.

2 Corinthians 1:3-4

It says …in any affliction… It does not necessarily have to be the same affliction; it is the comfort that is important.

Therefore, we use the same comfort that we ourselves have been comforted with to comfort others. It’s the same comfort that we received from our heavenly Father no matter the affliction because His grace is sufficient (2 Corinthians 12:9). It’s all about Him. It’s all about His grace. It’s all about His mercy.

His grace, no matter the situation and no matter the circumstance, is more than enough to comfort those who mourn or those who are hurt. For in Him we live, and move, and have our being.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Do For Others.

⁴ Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. ~ Philippians 4:4

We are taught that life is a series of hilltops and valleys … It’s either or, but not both at the same time. But that doesn’t seem to be the case at all. It might seem that way when we are on the hilltop or especially when we are in the valley. We can’t see the forest for the trees.

When all hell breaks loose against us and we can’t even seem to see a hill, much less a hilltop. It’s hard to see the good. It’s hard to stay encouraged. It’s hard to remain joyful. But to suggest that life is a series of hilltops and valleys would suggest that life is either all good or all bad.

If that is the case, if life is either 100% all good or 100% all bad at any given point of time, then how can we rejoice always if it’s all bad, 100% bad? The quick and simple answer is you can’t because there would be nothing at all to rejoice about. There is no problem rejoicing when we’re on the hilltop and life is 100% good. But how can we rejoice if life is 100% bad?

So, life is not a matter of hilltops and valleys, but rather, life is like a railroad track. Train tracks are built with two tracks so that the train rides smoothly on it. There is one track on the right side, and there’s another track on the left side, and we are the train that runs on those two tracks.

The train cannot run on just one; it needs both. It needs the two tracks to safely reach its destination. And if the train runs off the track or derails, then there is a crash, which ends in much loss of product, whatever the train is hauling, and even loss of lives.

The environment around the crash site might even be impacted by the crash, depending on the type of material and if it was toxic or not. Life is much the same way. On one side, we have the good, but on the other side, running parallel right alongside, we have the bad. And when you have a derailment in life, it can become very toxic, depending on how you handle the situation. The more anger, the more wrath, the more the environmental toxicity.

So, here is how it works. Those tracks that the train runs on, they take that train to its destination. The train cannot move without them. Likewise, the tracks of life have brought us to where we are now. It’s those ups and downs of life that have shaped, molded, and made us who we are today. The things that seem so huge, and even life-changing or life-threatening, sometimes turn out to be minimal, or at least not as impactful as it had appeared to be.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Prepare To Always Rejoice.

John 15:1-2 CSB

[1]  I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. [2] Every branch in me that does not produce fruit he removes, and he prunes every branch that produces fruit so that it will produce more fruit.

As I continue my journey, I found focusing on myself and less on others an instrumental part of growth. Now, on the surface, that sounds selfish, so let me further explain. When things happened, such as an argument or hurt feelings, or any negative situation, when I prayed about it or thought about it, everything was focused on what the other person did to me and their behavior. This just caused more and more resentment and anger in me. Why? Because I was focusing on that person and their actions instead of focusing on myself.

See, you can’t control how someone else will act, respond, or even treat you. You have no control over anyone but yourself. So, instead of my thoughts and prayers focused and centered around the other person, I make myself the center. If I’m hurting, I say, “LORD, I’m hurting. Please comfort me.” If I’m angry, I breathe in then out and say, “LORD, I’m angry. Please calm my spirit.” I don’t focus on how I’ve been wronged or mistreated. Instead, I focus on moving forward and the first step is fixing my mood. So that’s exactly what I do.

The more I do this, the more I feel genuine joy, peace, and comfort. Why? Because I’m no longer dwelling on how I’ve been wronged. Instead, I’m turning the other cheek, forgiving, letting go, and moving forward. Matter-of-fact, I find myself not getting angry, upset, annoyed, frustrated, or hurt by things people do that used to really bother me. The more I focus on me, the more God fixes me. The more God fixes me, the more I feel His love, and in return, the more I love. The more I love Him, the more I love life, and the more I love those around me.

This life we have is very short. It can all be over in the blink of an eye, so don’t live it focusing on the wrong that’s been done to you. Use it to focus on yourself and how you can love so that your life might consist of more love, joy, and peace.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Shift The Focus To Yourself.

[13] Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will travel to such and such a city and spend a year there and do business and make a profit.”  [14] Yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring—what your life will be! For you are like vapor that appears for a little while, then vanishes.  [15] Instead, you should say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” [16] But as it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. 
(James 4:13-16) CSB

I bet you did not realize that God considered it boasting to say that you’re going to do such and such, in such and such place, at such and such time.

God considers it boasting because you’re actually bragging that that is what you’re going to do. When in reality, God holds your very breath in His hands. It is only by His tender mercy and His great grace that we are even saved.

Jesus gave up all of heaven and was obedient to the Father. Now, He expects us to be submissive and to be obedient to Him as well. So, the next time you’re talking about a future event, you need to say, “If God is willing.”