Saturday, May 9, 2009

Week #19: Ecclesiastes 12:13b

Week of May 10-16

"Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man." [Ecclesiastes 12:13b]


NOTE: Solomon demonstrates from his observations that life lived without God as the central person and God’s word as the controlling viewpoint has no satisfactory answers or lasting meaning.

The theme of Ecclesiastes is developed from chapter to chapter. Each human acquisition of material wealth, every human success, all his thinking and study, every new philosophy of life—whatever he examined and experimented with came up short of giving him lasting meaning and happiness in life.

God is infinite and therefore his wisdom and his acts are infinite; God’s word is the product of his perfect character and infiniteness.

Mankind, on the other hand, is limited and therefore his wisdom is limited, his knowledge of life is limited, and his acts are limited.

Man, alone, cannot figure out life. Human knowledge, human wisdom, human accomplishments, and human relationships by themselves cannot make sense out of life. Neither, money, learning, wisdom, wealth, possessions, reputation, or family can give permanent meaning, accomplishment, and happiness to life without relationship and fellowship with God and God’s word.

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