God and man

God & man

“What does the worker gain from his toil?  
I have seen the burden God has laid on men.  
He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end.  
I know that there is nothing better for men than to be happy and do good while they live.  
That everyone may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all his toil—this is the gift of God.  
I know that everything God does will endure forever; nothing can be added to it and nothing taken from it. God does it so that men will revere him. 
Whatever is has already been, and what will be has been before; and God will call the past to account. 
And I saw something else under the sun: In the place of judgment—wickedness was there, in the place of justice—wickedness was there. 
I thought in my heart, “God will bring to judgment both the righteous and the wicked, for there will be a time for every activity, a time for every deed.” 
                                                                Ecclesiastes 3:9-17.
The writer of Ecclesiastes says a lot in the above statement.
1/ He asks the question, “What does the worker gain from his toil?”
What does a man gain from his work? If you think about it little of value in the grand scheme of things. Even the richest man in the world will eventually enter eternity penniless. His or her wealth dispersed among others.
The only thing that will last are his deeds good or bad.
2/ The writer states,
“He has also set eternity in the hearts of men;
The writer does not debate whether God exists or not. He accepts that fact. Then points out that God “sets eternity in the hearts of men...” 
In other words deep inside man’s heart he knows there is a God, whether man admits it or not.
3/ He notes
 “...yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end.”
Man cannot fathom God. It is difficult for finite man to comprehend the infinite that is God. Man must accept by faith God is who he is. The writer of Hebrews states,
“And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.”
                                                                                     Hebrews 11:6.
4/ The writer points out,
“I know that there is nothing better for men than to be happy and do good while they live.  
That everyone may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all his toil—this is the gift of God.”
I think that’s what we all want to be happy and find satisfaction in what we do. Happiness and satisfaction is a gift from God.
5/ Another obvious fact he points out,
“I know that everything God does will endure forever; nothing can be added to it and nothing taken from it. God does it so that men will revere him.”
We can see God in his creation. The perfection of the heavens, the earth and all that is around us. The psalmist saying,
“The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.” 
Psalm 19:1
6/ Another interesting statement,
“Whatever is has already been, and what will be has been before; and God will call the past to account”
A friend of mine put this statement in prospective when he said. There is nothing new under the sun. The only difference between twenty first century man and first century man is modern man does everything ancient man did but with high tech devices. Both good and bad.
7/ Finally the write notes,
“And I saw something else under the sun: In the place of judgment—wickedness was there, in the place of justice—wickedness was there. 
I thought in my heart, “God will bring to judgment both the righteous and the wicked, for there will be a time for every activity, a time for every deed.”
Please think about it.

Peace

Peace

“In the last days the mountain of the LORD'S temple will be established as chief among the mountains; it will be raised above the hills, and peoples will stream to it. 
Many nations will come and say, “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob. He will teach us his ways, so that we may walk in his paths.” The law will go out from Zion, the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. 
He will judge between many peoples and will settle disputes for strong nations far and wide. They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore. 
Every man will sit under his own vine and under his own fig tree, and no one will make them afraid, for the LORD Almighty has spoken.” 
                                                            Micah 4:1-4.
I firmly believe that one day all mankind will live in peace with one another. But man cannot do it alone.
Man has shown how selfish and self centred he is throughout history. One statistic I read stated that there has been but a few days of true peace in all the history of mankind. Another statistic states the twentieth century seen more deaths due to violence and war than all others combined and the twenty-first century seems to be continuing to add to the deaths.
Through the centuries man has become more and more violent
Mankind it seems cannot live at peace. Man doesn’t seem to see all men as brothers with rights given to them by God. The right of freedom of speech, freedom of belief, freedom to enjoy life. To, as the Americans say, to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
It seems there is always some evil or misguided people out there trying to impose their will on other people. Love seems to be slipping away in our global society.
Abba Hillel Silver wrote,
“Faith in God is the strongest bulwark of a free society.  Human freedom began when men became conscious that over and above society and nature there is a God who created them...who fashioned them in His likeness, and that they are, therefore, possessed of intrinsic and independent significance and are endowed, as individuals, with original and irrevocable rights and authority.
                                                                                                                                   Abba Hillel Silver.
It seems as our society becomes more secular it is becoming more violent.
Secular society it cannot offer enough to our youth and others to keep them from joining terrorist groups.
Secularism and Atheism offers nothing to those who are looking for meaning to life in our society.
Christianity in the west and in North America in particular seems to be failing to get the pure teachings of Christ to people, and our youth in particular.
The message of God’s love for the individual through Christ, the love for ones neighbour and even one’s enemy is getting lost in the cacophony of other noises.
What the world needs is the pure message that Jesus brought into the world and the world will have no peace until it embraces those ideals.
Society around the world has lost it’s fear of God. Some religious groups have twisted Gods message to the point that it no longer reflects God’s truths.
However I do believe the words of the writer of Ecclesiastes who wrote,
“Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole  duty  of man. 
For God will bring every deed into judgment, including every hidden thing, whether it is good or evil.” 
   Ecclesiastes 12:13,14.
That includes terrorist and all others who do evil acts.
Please think about it.
Post script to Christians,
We as Christians have the one true message that can transform the world. Unfortunately we seem to keep it in a box. We need to without diluting the message, get out into the highways and byways and make that message relevant to both the youth and others within our society.