YOU CAN’T TAKE IT WITH YOU
Ecclesiastes 12:13,14 Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this the whole duty of man. For God will bring every deed into judgment, including every hidden thing, whether it is good or evil.
In some ways Ecclesiastes was kind of a sad book to read. Solomon really had everything he wanted in life and much more, and yet he was still not happy. Solomon had taken God’s many blessings and began to hold them so tightly that he couldn’t enjoy them for fear that someone else would get them. He couldn’t even be grateful to God for them, because he now saw them as a curse. He couldn’t see that the problem didn’t come from his blessings, but how he had become his own problem. He had made his blessing from God, his god. His focus had turned from God as being his greatest love and joy to materialism. While he found a fulness in materialism, his soul was empty. Now all that he looked for in death was God’s judgment. He couldn’t take even the very least of his possessions with him in death. He had given up God for things that others would possess at his death.
Have you thought much about your death? Most people try to avoid it. Everyone once in awhile someone will pass away and we have to go to a funeral, and we catch ourselves momentarily staring at the casket and thinking about what it will be like for us. But the stark reality of it makes us quickly turn to something else as if in denial. While death looms over everyone, very few really take it so seriously as to adjust their life to prepare for death. We may get life insurance policies, so our families will be provided for, but often little else is done. Few people even relate to their family and friends in such a way as to think that if they were to die that night, what would be the last things others would remember them of doing or saying. Often we get in a huff over some little thing and slam the door and walk out never thinking that might be their last memory of us. This is a sobering thing to say the least, but it happens every day to multitudes of people all over the world. Just this past week a child in our community died a sudden death. Our son was driving in the parking lot where he works, and a police officer stopped to tell him of a friend of his just lost his wife and she left her husband and three children. A couple of days ago a famous singer by the name of Prince passed away suddenly. There have many who have died in the flooding in Texas and perhaps hundreds in the earthquake in Ecuador. The thing was none of them realized that their life on earth would end when it did, and that that day they would stand accountable to God.
It is a sobering thing to think that in a matter of seconds all that we have worked so hard for and cherished so much could be gone forever with our last breath. What are you living for? What do you see as the purpose or goal for your life? What do you want to be remembered for? Are you focused on horizontal temporal things, or vertical eternal things? Are you living haphazard or with a purpose?
When we break down our life to the very basic of things, the reality points to our eternal relationship with God. The question is why doesn’t everyone want to have that primary focus of life with Jesus? The answer is of course just like with Solomon, materialism. This is why it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for the rich to enter the kingdom of God. I wonder what King Solomon will think as he stands before the Lord on judgment day? I know what I want to think! I want to be happy that I lived my life to glorify the Lord, and that I trusted in Jesus for the forgiveness of my sins and eternal life with him.
God purposely made reconciliation with him so easy that a child could do it. All it takes is the sincerity of heart to ask Jesus to forgive us of our sins and to come into our heart. God wants to forgive us, that's why he provided a way for when we had no way on our own. After all when we try to be good, we are only doing what we were created to do from the beginning. Our forgiveness and eternity with Jesus in heaven is solely a gift and can not be earned.
Have you prepared for your death, so that your loved ones will be provided for? Are you prepared to give account of your life before God? There is only one way if you want a good outcome. That way is God’s way! Jesus said that no one can come to his Father but by him. If you have not received Jesus as your Lord and Savior, you really need to do it right now! You literally have no guarantee of your next breath!
Prayer: Thank you Lord Jesus for providing for our forgiveness, and eternity with you in heaven. You are a wonderful God and Savior! We love you Jesus.
