SEPTEMBER 19, 2023

  “Have enough courage to trust love one more time and always one more time.” 

― Maya Angelou

ECCLESIASTES 7-9

7Go, eat your food with gladness, and drink your wine with a joyful heart, for God has already approved what you do. 8Always be clothed in white, and always anoint your head with oil. 9Enjoy life with your wife, whom you love, all the days of this meaningless life that God has given you under the sun—all your meaningless days. For this is your lot in life and in your toilsome labor under the sun. 10Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might, for in the realm of the dead, where you are going, there is neither working nor planning nor knowledge nor wisdom. (9:7-10)

2 CORINTHIANS 11:1-15

12And I will keep on doing what I am doing in order to cut the ground from under those who want an opportunity to be considered equal with us in the things they boast about. 13For such people are false apostles, deceitful workers, masquerading as apostles of Christ. 14And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. 15It is not surprising, then, if his servants also masquerade as servants of righteousness. Their end will be what their actions deserve.

JOURNAL 

A few years ago I wrote about "Pound the Rock" and what it really means. Reading this in Ecclesiastes is another reminder that I may not have tomorrow and my time on earth is ticking away. Why do I think that I am guaranteed anything other than this moment? I am not, it can all end in a flash and the question is...have I really made the most of this moment? Have I really lived it fully, or have I spent it in regret over yesterday and in worry over tomorrow? Have I spent it comforting myself or protecting myself from the realities of life? If the answer is any of these then...my moment was wasted.

One of the realities of life that is often easy to forget in our Facebook, social media world is that every single human is struggling with something. Most of the time its not obvious but no matter the surface indicator they are hurting and struggling in some way. That's just the nature of being human and being alive. That's why love matters! We all need it and we all crave it and the crazy thing is that when we give it...our world changes for the good. 

Love is an action, love is doing something, not sitting around pondering. Love risks, love bleeds...love does not waste time protecting itself. Love gives and nurtures and is willing to risk rejection and heartache and embarrassment just to connect and give to someone else. Love's goal is simply to give love, not to get. Yet too often my focus is on the end result rather than satisfaction and joy in the doing, in the "swinging of the hammer". God promises us that obedience to him will be worth it. Therefore that is all we need, nothing else...accept God's love and then give it away.

14What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? 15Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. 16If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? 17In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.

JAMES 2:14-17