The scripture for today, December 8 (12/8), is Ecclesiastes 12:8 as found in the Old Testament of the Bible:
” ‘Meaningless! Meaningless!’ says the teacher. ‘Everything is meaningless!’ “
Several years ago some Christians in England did a sidewalk survey in the downtown of a major city. One of their inquiries was: “What question about your life do you ask the most?”. The answer almost always was, “Why am I here? What is life all about?”.
The entire book of Ecclesiastes is about all the things the richest and most powerful man in the world did in order to have an enjoyable and fulfilling life: He built mansions and grand temples, he cultivated great gardens, he brought in gold and precious stones and fabrics from around the globe, he had numerous wives and mistresses, he built the largest army and navy in the world, he studied every possible subject. At the end, he said it was all meaningless.
The meaning of our life is that we were born to die. This life is temporary. This life is the foyer of the life we will have eternally ~ a life in heaven or hell. We were not put here just to have fun, but rather to take as many people with us to heaven as possible.
How do we do that? By continually studying and following our manual the Bible that our Creator gave to guide us through this temporary life and into our eternal life ~ our final destination ~ and encouraging others to do the same. Then applying it to our everyday life.
That is the meaning of life.
“I know, O Lord, that a man’s life is not his own; it is not for man to direct his steps.”
“As for the other events of Jehoram’s reign, and all he did, are they not written in the book of the annals of the kings of Judah?”
“There, by the Ahava Canal, I proclaimed a fast, so that we might humble ourselves before our God.”
“And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living IN YOU, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives IN YOU.”
“What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death. But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
“I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life. This is the confidence we have in approaching God: That if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.”
“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called the sons of God.”
“Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
“But if from there you seek the Lord your God, you will find him if you look for him with all your heart and with all your soul.”