Author: admin

Life is filled with opposite! It seems obvious that there are times that require healing, but a time to kill? Of course, before you do something foolish, we should take note that the writer did not say, “A time to commit murder . . .” This was written to an agrarian society. People raised animals and offered sacrifices to God at the temple. They were used to killing livestock.

Nevertheless, killing animals was certainly not as pleasant as helping them to be born! Newness is exciting. Bringing something to an end is much more sobering. Yet both are necessary for a healthy life.

Beginning new programs at work or at church can be exhilarating. Bringing them to a close does not possess the same charm. People are generally glad when something is born. There are inevitable questions when something is put to death.

There are also times to break things down, and other times to build them up. Again, some activities are more enjoyable, and more widely praised, than others. As a result, we tend to drift toward those actions that we enjoy and avoid activities we find unpleasant. Yet we can’t afford to be one-dimensional leaders. We must be prepared to do whatever our particular season calls.

Springtime is a time to be born. It is invigorating. This is the season of newness. It is filled with potential. There is energy and enthusiasm in abundance. This is many people’s favorite season. Winter, on the other hand, is a time to die. People, projects, and plans come to an end. This may be people’s least favorite season. Nevertheless, Scripture indicates that dying is just as much a part of God’s plan for our life as is birth. In fact, we often cannot experience new life if certain aspects of our life have not died. We must let go of the old so we can bring in the new.

There are times in our lives when we must plant, and other times we should pluck. It is crucial that we know which of those seasons we are in at the moment! Some people want a harvest, but they have not properly sown. They face the sometimes, bitter truth that we reap what we sow.

As life flows in seasons, we find ourselves at different times, doing opposite activities. Sometimes it is absolutely appropriate to be bringing new projects to birth. At other times it is equally important to shut activities down. Life is not meant to always be the same. In fact, don’t be surprised if your life contains a bundle of opposites. What you are doing today might be the opposite of what you were doing a year or two ago. Don’t be alarmed. You may simply have shifted to a new season of life.

Life flows in seasons. It doesn’t stay the same. Wise people seek to understand what season they are in and then adjust their lives accordingly.

Sometimes our life is in spring: new possibilities seem to be arising. It is a glorious time of beginnings. At other times we are in summer: we work hard and long. That which we planted in spring begins to grow and mature. Other times we are in autumn: this is harvest time! We finally reap what we had sown in spring and cultivated in summer. Then comes winter: a time of decline, dormancy, and death. All four seasons will come and go throughout our life. And each season has a unique purpose for our life.

Scripture assures us that there is a time in our life for every purpose God has for us. We may not be able to accomplish everything we want to do; but we will have time to complete everything God plans for us. The key is to seek God’s purposes for our life. When we do, we will discover that regardless of how hectic our life may be, God will use each season in our life to accomplish His purposes.

What season does God presently have you? Are you focusing on God’s specific purpose for your life at this time?

An amazing life is ours to be had, if only we will live God’s way. When we pursue God with all of our heart, we cannot necessarily expect to be laden with worldly riches, regardless of the earnest assurances by television evangelists. But we can be assured of other treasures.

God values wisdom far more than dollars. He knows that when we are wise in life, we tend to experience other manifestations of success as well. Wisdom addresses the most pressing issues of life: raising a healthy, godly family, enjoying a fulfilling marriage, avoiding conflict with friends and colleagues, and making sound financial decisions. Wise decisions always lead to a healthy life! Likewise, knowledge allows us to undertake activities that the ignorant will miss. Knowledge opens doors to opportunity. Those who seek God will gain much of it.

But perhaps most importantly, those who live righteously will have homes filled with joy. We ought not minimize this enormous gift. Having a home filled with laughter is of inestimable worth! A humble home in which our spouse and children are filled with joy is worth infinitely more than a palace filled with dreary silence. It is clear that joy comes from God, not from accumulation of “stuff.” How has your wisdom, knowledge, and joy been growing, lately?

Businesses spend billions of dollars each year trying to make us dissatisfied. If they are to be believed, we are just one acquisition or vacation or car away from total bliss! But, once our credit cards, garages, and houses are brimming with purchases, we arrive at the disheartening reality that such pursuits inevitably lead to dissatisfaction.

Scripture continually emphasizes that the greatest pleasures often come from the simplest activities. We are continually being persuaded to long for the spectacular when it is often in the simple pleasures of life that we find contentment. The truth is that a simple meal, with enough to eat and drink, (along with loving companions) can bring great pleasure. Surprisingly, perhaps, Scripture also asserts that life can bring great pleasure to the one who “enjoys good” from his work.

For many people, their job is merely a means to earn a living and to pay their bills. But oh what joy is available to those who are accomplishing good from their labor. Work with purpose and labor that achieves good, blesses the soul. Achieving good with our life brings far more satisfaction than accumulating additional possessions! How do you currently feel about your work?

Wise people perform all of their labor with the profound awareness that they will ultimately pass on everything they have invested their life into to someone else. Organizations you lead, buildings you construct, visions you pursue, investments you make, possessions you collect, regardless of how grand, will one day be distributed to others. One day your heirs will take what you built, in their hands, and will use them as they see fit. What they do with your life’s investment might appall you! Such thoughts can bring great consternation!

Solomon was someone whose life investment was quickly squandered. Solomon may have been an astute leader, but his son Rehoboam was not. It took only one generation for Solomon’s wealth and prominence to be dissipated. His son lost ten of the nation’s tribes. An Egyptian army arrived and relieved the young king of much of the treasure his father had accumulated. Foolish choices quickly eroded the life’s work of Rehoboam’s father. That is the way of all our labor. We must eventually pass it on to someone else.

Knowing that others will one day control our life’s work, we can refuse to invest our life in anything. Or, we can commit to training our successors so they are prepared to handle what they are given. Are you presently living with a keen awareness of what lies in the future?

One of the greatest frustrations of being wise is that you have to spend so much of your time around fools! How frustrating to know the truth and yet to have your life largely impacted by people who believe a lie! Democratic societies are often driven by its lowest common denominator. The majority rules! Unfortunately, the majority of society is unwise!

It can be difficult to have wisdom and yet not become a cynic. When you watch people continually making the same foolish mistakes, you can easily develop a harsh, critical spirit. This helps no one. But it is a burden to be borne. For you will watch your children, or your church, or your nation continually making harmful decisions when you know full well that a better choice was available to them.

The key for the wise is to guard their hearts and to teach others. Help people understand God’s wisdom. Demonstrate the better way. And resign yourself to the harsh reality that you do not live in a society of the wise.

One would think that, after centuries of disappointed workaholics, a light would come on! But it does not. The office buildings continue to be filled with people grasping for the wind. They work hard and long, often sacrificing what truly matters, only to eventually face crushing disappointment.

There certainly are benefits to hard work. You can advance in your company, sell more products, earn more money, and climb the corporate ladder. Make no mistake;hard work gets results. The key is what you work hard for.

The land is littered with people who worked enormous amounts of overtime only to be laid off work during a downsizing. Some people spend countless hours building their own company, only to eventually file for bankruptcy. Others work their way to the C Suite only to be forced out by the next CEO. Life can be filled with frustration and disappointment.

That’s why it is crucial that we invest our life in what matters and what cannot be taken away or lost. Those who invest their lives in temporal pursuits will forever be disappointed when they discover it does not last! What part of “temporal” do you not understand?!

We live in an age of rapid change. Cutting edge technology is constantly being replaced by even more edgy inventions. Information is multiplying at a dizzying rate. Computers and search engines are enabling research and discovery to occur at breakneck speed. For even the most technologically savvy person, however, keeping up with change is becoming increasingly problematic. With such advances, it seems overstated and quite dated for the sage’s comment that there is nothing new under the sun. After all, every week someone is announcing an exciting, new development.

However, wise people ultimately look at people, not the latest smart phone, to understand their times. And people haven’t changed through the millennia. They still tend to be selfish and self centered. They often succumb to greed. Truth is often viewed as flexible. People expendable. Regardless of the age in which we live, people continue to behave in similar fashion.

Wise people are not caught by surprise when people act like people! When corruption is exposed or leaders fall morally, it reveals a pattern, not an abnormality. Study the past. It continues to be the best predictor of future behavior.

Society lauds those who are the best. It constantly heralds “Top Ten” lists. Everyone is ranked and compared to others. The higher up the list you are rated, the better you feel about yourself.

The writer of Ecclesiastes had excelled everyone. No one had accomplished more or accumulated as much. As he walked down the streets of Jerusalem, every person who saw him acknowledged that he had surpassed them all. Yet at the end of the day, he found this to be unsatisfactory. What did it really matter? Comparing ourselves to others ultimately leaves us empty. Being the best among our peers may win us acclaim for a moment, but that satisfaction quickly dissipates.

It is when we live our life in relation to Christ that the depths of our soul are finally satisfied. Though we will never equal or surpass Him in greatness, it does not matter. We are creatures and it is only as we lovingly relate to our Creator that we find true satisfaction in life. Merely surpassing our fellow creatures is transitory and meaningless. But achieving the pleasure of God on our lives; that is priceless.