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Reading for Lent: Ecclesiastes 5

barren1Watch your step when you enter God's house. Enter to learn. That's far better than mindlessly offering a sacrifice, Doing more harm than good.

Don't shoot off your mouth, or speak before you think. Don't be too quick to tell God what you think he wants to hear. God's in charge, not you - the less you speak, the better.

Over-work makes for restless sleep. Over-talk shows you up as a fool.

When you tell God you'll do something, do it - now. God takes no pleasure in foolish gabble. Vow it, then do it.

Far better not to vow in the first place than to vow and not pay up.

Don't let your mouth make a total sinner of you. When called to account, you won't get by with "Sorry, I didn't mean it." Why risk provoking God to angry retaliation?

But against all illusion and fantasy and empty talk There's always this rock foundation: Fear God!

Don't be too upset when you see the poor kicked around, and justice and right violated all over the place. Exploitation filters down from one petty official to another. There's no end to it, and nothing can be done about it.

But the good earth doesn't cheat anyone - even a bad king is honestly served by a field.

The one who loves money is never satisfied with money, Nor the one who loves wealth with big profits. More smoke.

The more loot you get, the more looters show up. And what fun is that - to be robbed in broad daylight?

Hard and honest work earns a good night's sleep, Whether supper is beans or steak. But a rich man's belly gives him insomnia.

Here's a piece of bad luck I've seen happen: A man hoards far more wealth than is good for him

And then loses it all in a bad business deal. He fathered a child but hasn't a cent left to give him.

He arrived naked from the womb of his mother; He'll leave in the same condition - with nothing.

This is bad luck, for sure - naked he came, naked he went. So what was the point of working for a salary of smoke?

All for a miserable life spent in the dark?

After looking at the way things are on this earth, here's what I've decided is the best way to live: Take care of yourself, have a good time, and make the most of whatever job you have for as long as God gives you life. And that's about it. That's the human lot.

Yes, we should make the most of what God gives, both the bounty and the capacity to enjoy it, accepting what's given and delighting in the work. It's God's gift!

God deals out joy in the present, the now. It's useless to brood over how long we might live.

The focus for me in these verses is God--how do I regard him, and how do I regard the life, and things in this life, that he has given me? If I make each day about my needs, and the things I  have (or don't have) my focus. I love Peterson's  translation--his use of the word "smoke" to represent the ephemeral nature of everything that we have. What is not smoke is whether or not we choose to be in a relationship with God, and get to know more about who he is, his otherness, his holiness, and his love for us. That is substance.

Reflections to Consider

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Publications

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Music

  • Jesus be the centre

    Center is a song that speaks of the essence of our life in Christ, and echoes the words the Christ Read More
  • I Lift My Hands

    A powerful hymn of adoration and praise Arkansas Gospel Mass Choir. This succinctly captures the joy of knowing our savior. Read More
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Audio & Video

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Favorites

  • Transforming this World: The Hope of Glory by NT Wright +

    Wright confronts the perspective that this world doesn’t matter, and that we live only to be in heaven. He shows Read More
  • What is Good in a World that Defies Hope: a talk by NT Wright +

    This is the second part of three talks by NT Wright at Harvard University in November, 2008 on the topic Read More
  • The Stream, the Lake and the River: NT Wright +

      Acts 2.1-21; John 7.37-39; a sermon at the Eucharist on the Feast of Pentecost, 11 May 2008, by the Read More
  • Jesus in the Perfect Storm by NT Wright +

    Zechariah 9.9-17; Luke 19.28-48; A sermon for Palm Sunday, April 17, 2011, In the University Chapel of St Salvator, St Read More
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Hidden Blessings

  • Christ is a Great Savior: a review of the movie Amazing Grace +

    Amazing Grace is a historical drama about William Wilberforce who was elected to British Parliament at the age of 21 Read More
  • Wilberforce, Hollywood's Amazing Grace, Charlotte Allen +

    William Wilberforce's relentless campaign eventually led the British Parliament to ban the slave trade, in 1807, and to pass a Read More
  • Making Beauty out of Ugly Things: Grace by U2 +

    Grace, she takes the blame She covers the shame Removes the stain It could be her name Grace, she carries Read More
  • The True Nature of Grace and Love: a movie review of the Soloist +

    The 2009 movie The Soloist is based on a book by the same name, written by Los Angeles Times columnist Read More
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