Ecclesiastes12:13-14|The End Of The Matter...🙏🌿🌼💞🕊

Third, it’s time to live

Verse 14: “For God will bring every deed into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or evil.”

Now we’re back to where we started: the judgment of God. We hate the word judgment don’t we? But it’s in the judgment of God that we find meaning in absolutely everything.

The judgment of God is not something we can avoid—the Christian nor the non-Christian. You see it right there in verse 14: God will bring every deed into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or evil. All of our life falls under the judgment of God.

What will that day be like for each person? Look again at verse 14. Every deed. Every secret thing, whether good or evil. Do you know what that word EVERY means here? EVERY . ALL. EACH ONE. The ENTIRETY. Nothing is hidden from God. He sees every secret thing, whether good or evil.

Jesus will on that day be perfectly just. The sins of the righteous and the unrighteous will be presented. The righteous won’t pay the penalty for them because he already did, but they will be revealed, highlighting the grace of Christ in your life even greater.

Do you see what this means for us? If every day will be judged on that day, then every day matters. Jesus is watching. He knows what our days are really made of. Nothing is hidden. So, that secret sin you’re protecting, why not hand it to Jesus now to find forgiveness and healing? He knows it anyway, so what are you really hiding? Why not confess it and be rid of it. And that secret good deed you wish others new about, why not forget the praise of men and move on to the next good deed? Jesus saw it, and he’ll commend you for it.

So here’s how we live: low before Jesus, totally open to him. We just fear and follow and live open to his grace and mercy. One day, to our utter amazement, we will see how meaningful our life really was. And we’ll see that it’s all because of grace.  It’s like the father who prepares all for his son’s steps, clearing the path for success, and then praising him for the work at the end. The son only walked; the father worked, but he’s praising nonetheless.

Life under the sun only is,“Vanity of vanities! All is vanity.” But life under the hand of God is not meaningless. Your life in Christ is more meaningful than you know. So let’s get to living it for him now because it matters today and will matter tomorrow and will matter for eternity.

Fear him and follow him, and he will show you on that day how eternally significant that moment was. That’s life under the hand of God.-DM

100% to God = 0% Compromise to the world! 

Happy and Joyful Sabbath as We are filled with this Hope that Burns within Our Heart!

We are United in Christ!  

Jesus is Coming Very Soon!  

PRAISE THE LORD!💖

Ecclesiastes12:13-14|The End Of The Matter...🙏🌿🌼💞🕊

Second, it’s time to obey

Verse 13: “Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.”

Becoming decisive for Christ is to learn to fear and follow him. There is a proper order: first fearing, then following. God does not say to us. “Obey and I’ll save you.” He says, “Obey because I’ve saved you.” We obey because we see in God something so wonderful, we can’t imagine not following him.

Fearing God is more reverence and awe than terror and fright.  “When the Bible talks about the fear of God, it means an inner state, an inner condition of awe and amazement and wonder before the magnitude of the love and the power and the greatness of God. It’s an inner condition of awe and respect, of fear and trembling, of amazement before not only the power and the holiness but the love and the mercy of God…The fear of God means to have God look so huge, so glorious, so wonderful, to in a sense bow under the weight of the magnitude of his greatness, that it gets your mind blessedly off of yourself and finally you’re free.”

This world holds us in bondage to itself and it’s rules and regulations and limitations. But God frees us to live before him as we were made to. 

Notice what verse 13 says, “This is the whole duty of man.” Fearing and following God is what we are made for. Following him is the life we really want. It infuses our life with meaning. We’re not just floating around doing what we feel like. We’re following and serving the living God! Yes, it might be uncomfortable at times. He’ll take us some scary places, but not one of them will be bigger than him. He will ask of us more than we want to give, but he’s the one who gives more than we could ever imagine. He will require of us more than we have right now, but he’s the one who provides everything we need anyway. And in the end, as we follow him imperfectly but truly, we find in him all that we look for everywhere else and then some. We find the fullest life possible. This is wisdom. This is the path to life. This is the path to joy. 

God knows the right way to live, and he’s offering us his life right now, today! -DM

100% to God = 0% Compromise to the world! 

Happy and Joyful Sabbath as We are filled with this Hope that Burns within Our Heart!

We are United in Christ!  

Jesus is Coming Very Soon!  

PRAISE THE LORD!💖

Ecclesiastes12:13-14|The End Of The Matter...🙏🌿🌼💞🕊

First, it’s time to decide

Verse 13: “The end of the matter; all has been heard.”

Throughout the book of Ecclesiastes, we’re confronted with the seeming meaninglessness of life.  In his second letter to Timothy, Paul described some people as “always learning and never able to arrive at a knowledge of the truth” (2 Timothy 3:7). We don’t want to be like that.   

Solomon summarized what this world offers in chapter 1: vanity—all is vanity. Everything under the sun is fading quickly away. It won’t last. So why keep reaching for it? We have an alternative: life under the hand of God. And here at the end of the book, it’s time to become decisive for him. God is asking, “What are you waiting for? 

Look at God’s offer in the gospel. Just one example, John 3:16. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” When has the world ever offered that? 

He was all in. He still is. And now he’s asking the same of you, for his glory alone. This world disappoints every day, but God won’t. He can’t. He’s God.

Here at the end of this book, God wants you to become decisive for him. You, like I, have sinned and rejected God in the past, but he wants you to receive his offer of complete forgiveness and eternal life because—this is amazing—he wants you in heaven with him forever. You! Little you! Messed-up sinner you! Stumbling-forward you! You!

All you have to do is receive that love with the empty hands of faith. He’ll do the work required in you. His grace will save you. He’s not asking for perfection—he has that for you in Christ. He’s only asking for openness. Can you give him that?

Why not have heaven, with Jesus forever, instead? “The end of the matter; all has been heard.” It’s time to decide. -DM

100% to God = 0% Compromise to the world! 

Happy and Joyful Sabbath as We are filled with this Hope that Burns within Our Heart!

We are United in Christ!  

Jesus is Coming Very Soon!  

PRAISE THE LORD!💖