Ecclesiastes 7 bible reading and devotionals.

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Max Lucado Daily: Mix and Match

If only we could order life the way we order gourmet coffee.  Wouldn’t you love to mix and match the ingredients of your future?  How about a grande happy-latte, with a dollop of love, sprinkled with Caribbean retirement?  Take me to that coffee shop!  Too bad it doesn’t exist.

The truth is, life often hands us a concoction entirely different from the one we requested.  Life comes caffeinated with surprises.  Transitions and alterations.   Some changes are welcome, others are not.

Remember the summary of King Solomon?  For everything there is a season.

A time to be born and a time to die
A time to plant and a time to harvest
A time to cry and a time to laugh
Make friends with whatever’s next!  Embrace it.  Don’t resist it.  As Paul wrote, “These little troubles are getting us ready for an eternal glory that will make all our troubles seem like nothing.”

Taken from Fearless

Ecclesiastes 7

Wisdom

7 A good name is better than fine perfume,
    and the day of death better than the day of birth.
2 It is better to go to a house of mourning
    than to go to a house of feasting,
for death is the destiny of everyone;
    the living should take this to heart.
3 Frustration is better than laughter,
    because a sad face is good for the heart.
4 The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning,
    but the heart of fools is in the house of pleasure.
5 It is better to heed the rebuke of a wise person
    than to listen to the song of fools.
6 Like the crackling of thorns under the pot,
    so is the laughter of fools.
    This too is meaningless.
7 Extortion turns a wise person into a fool,
    and a bribe corrupts the heart.
8 The end of a matter is better than its beginning,
    and patience is better than pride.
9 Do not be quickly provoked in your spirit,
    for anger resides in the lap of fools.
10 Do not say, “Why were the old days better than these?”
    For it is not wise to ask such questions.
11 Wisdom, like an inheritance, is a good thing
    and benefits those who see the sun.
12 Wisdom is a shelter
    as money is a shelter,
but the advantage of knowledge is this:
    Wisdom preserves those who have it.
13 Consider what God has done:

Who can straighten
    what he has made crooked?
14 When times are good, be happy;
    but when times are bad, consider this:
God has made the one
    as well as the other.
Therefore, no one can discover
    anything about their future.
15 In this meaningless life of mine I have seen both of these:

the righteous perishing in their righteousness,
    and the wicked living long in their wickedness.
16 Do not be overrighteous,
    neither be overwise—
    why destroy yourself?
17 Do not be overwicked,
    and do not be a fool—
    why die before your time?
18 It is good to grasp the one
    and not let go of the other.
    Whoever fears God will avoid all extremes.[a]
19 Wisdom makes one wise person more powerful
    than ten rulers in a city.
20 Indeed, there is no one on earth who is righteous,
    no one who does what is right and never sins.
21 Do not pay attention to every word people say,
    or you may hear your servant cursing you—
22 for you know in your heart
    that many times you yourself have cursed others.
23 All this I tested by wisdom and I said,

“I am determined to be wise” —
    but this was beyond me.
24 Whatever exists is far off and most profound—
    who can discover it?
25 So I turned my mind to understand,
    to investigate and to search out wisdom and the scheme of things
and to understand the stupidity of wickedness
    and the madness of folly.
26 I find more bitter than death
    the woman who is a snare,
whose heart is a trap
    and whose hands are chains.
The man who pleases God will escape her,
    but the sinner she will ensnare.
27 “Look,” says the Teacher,[b] “this is what I have discovered:

“Adding one thing to another to discover the scheme of things—
28     while I was still searching
    but not finding—
I found one upright man among a thousand,
    but not one upright woman among them all.
29 This only have I found:
    God created mankind upright,
    but they have gone in search of many schemes.”


Our Daily Bread reading and devotion

Read: 2 Corinthians 12:14-21

14 Now I am ready to visit you for the third time. I won't cause you any expense. I don't want what you have. What I really want is you. After all, children shouldn't have to save up for their parents. Parents should save up for their children. 15 So I will be very happy to spend everything I have for you. I will even spend myself. If I love you more, will you love me less?

 16 In any case, I haven't caused you any expense. But I'm such a tricky fellow! I have caught you by tricking you!

 17 Did I take advantage of you through any of the men I sent to you? 18 I asked Titus to go to you. And I sent our brother with him. Titus didn't take advantage of you, did he? Didn't I act in the same spirit? Didn't I follow the same path?

 19 All this time, have you been thinking that I've been speaking up for myself? No, I've been speaking with God as my witness. I've been speaking like a believer in Christ. Dear friends, everything I do is to help you become stronger.

 20 I'm afraid that when I come I won't find you as I want you to be. I'm afraid that you won't find me as you want me to be. I'm afraid there will be arguing, jealousy and fits of anger. I'm afraid you will separate into your own little groups. Then you will tell lies about each other. You will talk about each other. I'm afraid you will be proud and cause trouble.

 21 I'm afraid that when I come again my God will put me to shame in front of you. Then I will be sad about many who sinned earlier and have not turned away from it. They have not turned away from uncleanness, sexual sins and wild living. They have done all those things.

Conversion

May 25, 2012 — by Julie Ackerman Link

I will very gladly spend and be spent for your souls. —2 Corinthians 12:15

Before my husband and I travel, we go to the bank and trade in our US dollars for the currency of the country we’ll be visiting. We do this so we can pay for expenses while we’re away from home.

When we become Christians, another kind of exchange takes place. Our lives are like currency that we convert from one medium to another. We trade our old life for a new one so that we can begin “spending” ourselves in a different kingdom. Instead of spending ourselves for the causes of this world, we are able to start spending ourselves for the cause of Christ.

The apostle Paul is a good example of this difference. After his dramatic conversion on the way to Damascus (Acts 9), he began spending his life in a dramatically different way. Instead of pursuing Christians to imprison and kill them, he began pursuing non-Christians to convert them. Then he spent the rest of his life for their welfare. He wrote to the church at Corinth, “I will very gladly spend and be spent for your souls” (2 Cor. 12:15). Everything he did was for the edification of his spiritual children (vv.14,19).

Conversion is far more than just changing our final destination. It’s changing the way we spend each day of our lives.

Lord, help me to spend myself on what will last,
not on what will fade away one day.
I give my life to You that I might spend and be spent
for others and Your will. Amen.
Conversion takes only a moment—transformation takes a lifetime.


My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
May 25, 2012

The Good or The Best?

If you take the left, then I will go to the right; or, if you go to the right, then I will go to the left —Genesis 13:9

As soon as you begin to live the life of faith in God, fascinating and physically gratifying possibilities will open up before you. These things are yours by right, but if you are living the life of faith you will exercise your right to waive your rights, and let God make your choice for you. God sometimes allows you to get into a place of testing where your own welfare would be the appropriate thing to consider, if you were not living the life of faith. But if you are, you will joyfully waive your right and allow God to make your choice for you. This is the discipline God uses to transform the natural into the spiritual through obedience to His voice.

Whenever our right becomes the guiding factor of our lives, it dulls our spiritual insight. The greatest enemy of the life of faith in God is not sin, but good choices which are not quite good enough. The good is always the enemy of the best. In this passage, it would seem that the wisest thing in the world for Abram to do would be to choose. It was his right, and the people around him would consider him to be a fool for not choosing.

Many of us do not continue to grow spiritually because we prefer to choose on the basis of our rights, instead of relying on God to make the choice for us. We have to learn to walk according to the standard which has its eyes focused on God. And God says to us, as He did to Abram, “. . . walk before Me. . .” (Genesis 17:1).


A Word with You, by Ron Hutchcraft

The Survivor Tree - #6620

Friday, May 25, 2012

It was right after Christmas in 2004, and Damian Barrett was on a beach in Thailand. Suddenly he saw the tide go out so quickly that the bay was drained dry. And moments later, the ocean came roaring back with the monster tsunami that claimed so many lives that day across South Asia. A massive wave swept Damian into the shopping area and then into a store which then started filling with water. Unfortunately, he was carried to the ceiling by that rising water. He was sure he was going to die there, until the water actually pushed him through a gap in the roof.

But any relief that he felt didn't last long. Now he was being sucked out to sea where he would stand no chance. And then the tide slammed him into the trunk of a large tree - a massive tree that could withstand even the force of the tsunami. As vehicles, appliances and all kinds of debris swept past him, he hung onto that tree with everything he had.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Survivor Tree."

That man lived to tell his story because of a tree that stood between him and certain death. For 2,000 years, a tree has been saving the lives of people who would otherwise have no chance. I'm one of them. That tree has stood between them and the deadly tide of eternal judgment that awaits on the other side of this life. Because as Hebrews 9:26-27, our word for today from the Word of God says: "Man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment."

The verses immediately before and after that unsettling verdict tell us about the tree that offers hope of life. One of those verses says of Jesus, "He has appeared...to do away with sin by the sacrifice of Himself." See, our sin is the tide that is sweeping us inexorably toward the judgment of a holy God. He made us to live for Him; we've lived for ourselves instead. Everything else He made obeys Him except us. We are the rebels of the universe, and our rebellion carries an awful death penalty that the Bible calls hell. So imagine the power of those words, "He appeared to do away with sin." How? "By the sacrifice of Himself." See, that's the tree! It's that horrific cross where Jesus poured out His blood and His life to take the judgment you and I deserve.

The judgment for your sin fell on Jesus at the cross. That tree is what stands between you and the penalty of your sin no matter how good you are, no matter how religious you are, because no amount of good can satisfy a holy God or pay a death penalty. All our spiritual efforts are no match for the size of the wave of God's judgment.

So our only hope is clinging to the tree where God's judgment fell on His Son. Or, more importantly, to cling to the One who died on that tree, which means abandoning all other hopes: our pride, our religion, our self-reliance. And realizing we are as desperate and as helpless as a man being swept out to sea, and then clinging to the One whose death on that tree for us is literally our only hope - your only hope.

Have you ever told Him that? Have you ever said, "Jesus, I'm lost without You. I have no hope without You. But I'm ready to turn from my sin and I'm ready to hold onto You with all the faith I've got." If you've never done that, you're still facing the judgment for your sin. But if you'll do that today, your sin will be forgiven, erased from God's Book, your hell cancelled, your heaven guaranteed. It's time to tell Him, "Jesus, I'm Yours."

You know, our website is there set up really to be there for you at a moment like this to help you know how to belong to Him, how to begin your relationship with Him and know you've got it settled. If you want to get this done, would you go to our website? It's YoursForLife.net.

There's an old hymn that says it pretty well, "Nothing in my hand I bring. Simply to Your cross I cling." Wow! I pray that that will be you today.