I am using One Year Bible Online for my daily Bible study. For today, One Year Bible Online links here. I have found that by writing this daily blog of what I see when I read these scriptures, I get more out of them. I hope that by posting these ruminations others may get some benefit as well. If you have any thoughts or comments regarding these verses or what I have written about them, please post them.
There is a focus on meaninglessness throughout the book of Ecclesiastes. I am not quite sure what to make of that focus, except to say that if we are not striving to serve God’s will then everything we do is meaningless. Nevertheless there are some good points about behaviors which are beneficial and others which are harmful to ourselves. In today’s passage the writer tells us that most people are motivated to work hard out of envy of others. He tells us that being idle leads to ruin, but that it is better to be satisfied with enough than to work even harder to get more. He points out that it is foolish to acquire more than one needs if you do not have any loved ones to pass it on to.
The writer mentions the importance of having a companion to stand beside through thick and thin. He then goes on to say that a group of three is even stronger in the face of life’s problems. This strikes me especially since recently my wife and I have found ourselves forming a close friendship with a third person. As this friendship has become closer and we have found ourselves doing more together, our faith walk has become stronger and our lives have become more fulfilling. All three of us have attempted to include others in this group, but few of those who share our common interests share our faith and those who share our faith commitment do not share our common interests. As a result, we have become three who lend support to each other as we attempt to live our faith in our leisure activities.
The final point which comes hits home to me out of today’s passage is the importance of spending more time listening than talking when involved in worship. But more than that, we should choose our words carefully rather than make rash promises which we may not be able to keep.
Today’s passage begins with Paul telling us that believers should not partner with unbelievers. I have seen this most often applied to marriage, but I believe that it applies in other areas as well. As a matter of fact, it appears to me that Paul would have been shocked that anyone would have taken it that way (not because he felt it was OK for a believer to marry an unbeliever, but because he felt that it was so obvious that they should not that he couldn’t imagine why you would need to actually say it). Paul tells us that every believer is God’s temple and every unbeliever is a temple to idols. There can be no union between a temple of God and a temple of the devil. We cannot partner with unbelievers in order to accomplish shared goals, because we do not actually have any goals which we share with unbelievers. The goal of all of our actions as Christians is to glorify God.
Several years ago I knew some Christians that became active in trying to bring about social change in light of their Christian convictions. On one of the issues they were working on there were secular organizations which shared their view on that very narrow issue (but not on the reasons that issue was wrong). The organization they were part of partnered with those secular organizations to form an umbrella organization specifically targeting this particular issue. However, only a few short years later, I read a news article where the umbrella organization was supporting the entire agenda of the secular organizations some aspects of which were contrary to Biblical principles.
Paul goes on from there to discuss how when he was in Macedonia, he was feeling down from all of the difficulties and trials he was facing. However, just at the point when he was feeling the most discouraged, Titus arrived with news of how the Corinthians reacted to his first letter. This lifted Paul’s spirit and brought him joy.
The psalmist calls on everyone from every nation to praise the Lord. God is king over all of the earth. He will subdue all nations under the feet of His chosen ones. God gathers the influential from every nation together with the children of Abraham to worship Him (God’s definition of “influential” may not be the same as ours). Let us praise God because all of the rulers on the face of the earth belong to God (whether they want to or not).
Those who oppress the poor in order to increase their own wealth and those who attempt to gain influence by giving to the rich will soon find their wealth is gone.