Author: pastorjonathan

Christian,Husband, Dad, Pastor, Mentor, Volunteer.

Diversify your Investments and Give Generously (Ecclesiastes 11)

On By pastorjonathanIn Devotional, discipleship4 Comments

Ecclesiastes 11

Solomon tells us to cast our bread upon the water.  He is not stating that we should literally go throw bread out at the lake, but rather this is probably a shipping term.  In Solomon’s day comerce would take grain and goods from one country to anther via the shipping lanes (on the water).  Yet, they didn’t have weather tracking systems and sometimes ships would go to sea never to be heard from again.  But, often ships would make it to port.  Sell the grain and goods and bring home a hefty profit.  Solomon says it is better to go ahead and invest in many places than place all your eggs in one basket (so to speak).  You don’t know where the hurricane will strike, the oil leak will emerge, or the demand for 8-tracks will hit rock bottom.  However, one thing is sure.  If you stare at the sky and try to calculate the weather and never invest, you won’t receive a profit (11:4).  Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose.  So invest in lots of places and spread out the risk.

I think the application here is for more than how you are going to manage your retirement portfolio.  Sometimes we can be paralised by the obstacles ahead of us.  Your sitting there staring at the sky looking for the right conditions.  You don’t know the future.  The only way to live life is to take some calculated risk.  Things will not always work out according to your plan.  Better to attempt something great rather than use the excuse that you were just waiting for the right moment and it never came.

Make investments where it really counts. Be generous in your relationships.  Give to others.  Be a good friend, a good spouse, a good parent, open your home to others, show grace, forgive, look for opportunities to share Jesus.  Don’t be disappointed if you are not immediately met with success in these areas of your life.  Cast your bread on the water.  Live soberly knowing that one day we will all give an account to God (Ecclesiastes11:9).

Switch: How to Change Things When Change is Hard (Review)

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Switch: How to Change Things When Change Is Hard (Affiliate link) is an awesome book and a great resource for those who are in the position of motivating others to change.  We  all have things in our life we want to change.  We may want or feel the need to change our physical health, or personal organizational habits.  Maybe the need is greater or the goal is bigger and we are trying to effect change in the health of our community or how we organize our corporation.  Switch takes on those challenges and provides an excellent study on the patterns of change and who to institute them in effective ways.

While this book isn’t a motivator or change agent in and of itself, it does provide a great resource for anyone who is interested in making change happen.  Near the End of the book the authors state,

We can say this much with confidence: When change works, it tends to follow a pattern.  The people who change have a clear direction, ample motivation, and a supportive environment (Switch, 255).

By evaluating these three strategic pieces to change and motivators in each area the authors are able to offer great council on setting things up for change.  This is one of the better books I have read this year and one of the best I have read on the subject of motivating people.  My personal copy is dog eared with a couple of dozen notes written in the margin.  It has proven to be of great value to me, I hope it is a good value for you as well.

If you are interested in purchasing a copy of If you are interested in purchasing a copy of Switch: How to Change Things When Change Is Hard (affiliate link) the retail price is $26.00 (hardcover), and is worth every penny. I purchased my copy at Amazon.com for $14.95 (affiliate links). I gave it five stars.

Real Failure Comes From a Lack of Wisdom (Ecclesiastes 10)

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Chapter 10 is much like Solomon’s speech to the graduating class.  Its a reminder that God is sovereign, people should be humble, and that apart from God’s wisdom you will make a mess of your life.

I know a man who lived well and for a majority of his life he trusted God.  Yet near the end he became a fool and made some bad decisions.  We are all only one bad decision away from ruining it all.  It’s not how you start the race its how it ends that matters. (Ecclesiastes 10:1)

Sometimes we meet resistance in life just because we are foolish.  There is story I once heard of a young man who wanted to be a lumberjack.  He was younger and more athletic than the other lumberjacks in his crew.  He showed up to the forest the first day and made the claim that he could chop down more trees than anyone else on the crew by the end of the week.  So they went to work and sure enough the young and athletic lumberjack was leading the way and cutting down trees almost twice as fast as the rest of the crew.  Eager to make his mark on the lumberjack world he worked through his lunches and while the other guys took a break. Somewhere around mid-week things began to slow and the young and athletic lumberjack was cutting fewer and fewer trees.  Finally by the end of the week he had cut the least amount of trees and the foreman had to let him go.  On his way out of the camp he went up to one of the older men who had been cutting down trees for years.  He said, “I don’t get it.  I am stronger and faster than anyone out here.  I never took breaks.  I worked through lunch.  How did you cut down more trees than me?”  The older lumber jack simply replied, “I took time to sharpen my axe.”  Sometimes it’s not about how hard you swing or how fast you are.  Sometimes as the old business proverb goes, “Work smarter, not harder.” (Ecclesiastes 10:10)

Application:   Where do you need wisdom in your life? There are decisions that you need to make in your life right now.  Some of them are somewhat small and inconsequential (like what will you eat for lunch).  Others of them really  matter.  Like what kind of husband, father, son,  or leader will you be.

Things are not always as they apear (Ecclesiastes 9)

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Solomon takes a look around and he notes that from man’s perspective things are rough. Death really changes everything. Good people die and bad people die. It seems from first glance that it doesn’t pay off to be righteous or seek good because all of mankind is met with a similar fate.

But we are reminded that we are only looking at this from a human perspective. We didn’t create the world. We don’t control it. God does. And he isn’t a respector of persons. God truly does what he pleases. (Psalm 115:3) His ways are unfathomable to us.

Application: live each day as a gift from God. Know that we are all ultimately accountable to God. You won’t have the ability to change the way you lived after you die, but you can change while you are still alive.

Do the right thing, even when no one else cares (Ecclesiastes 8)

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Solomon offers us some great perspective in the first few verses of chapter 8. Sometimes people want to blame God for all the evil and injustice in the world. Yet, if we are observant we will notice that mankind is the one responsible for much of the injustice in the world.

But we shouldn’t be deceived. God will not let evil go unchecked forever (maybe it’s a good thing that we die). Ultimately there will be justice. God will bring Justice.

Wisdom isn’t knowing why God commands a certain thing, it’s obeying God’s commands even if you don’t know the “why” or “how.” You cannot know all of Gods ways, but you can know what he requires of you.

Application: trust God. He always does the right thing and while He may lead you down an unpopular path or at least beyond your comfort zone, it’s better to follow Him than to be popular or comefortable. Though we cannot know all of Gods ways we can trust God to lead us rightly.

Everybody hurts sometimes (Ecclesiastes 7)

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Sometimes a little pain is good for us. Don’t get me wrong. I don’t think we should pursue pain, just that maybe pain gets a bad rap sometimes. When I touch a hot stove, it’s the pain that tells me not to keep touching the stove or I’ll burn my hand off. When I work out or run after a long time of keeping my muscles dormant, it’s the pain that tells me they are growing (no pain, no gain). The emotional risk of trying something new reminds me that I’m not growing if I’m not out of my comfort zone.

In Ecclesiastes 7:1-15 Solomon is answering the question posed in Ecclesiastes 6:12, “what is good.” Suprisingly pain makes the list.

So you may be having a rough day. Maybe even a rough week. Don’t be quick to say,”woe is me.” be patient and wait for the end (Ecclesiastes 7:8-9). You may find out that the pain was worth it. Don’t judge a situation just because it’s difficult or it’s full of adversity. See what happens. A fool worries about the “what if’s” in life. A wise man deals with the “What is.” sometimes it takes a little while to know what you are dealing with.

Sometimes the good times fool us. We think we have it made. I’ve found that it is the hard times that shape us and really make us who we are.

Again. We don’t need to seek hard things. If your suffering because of a toothe ache… Go to the dentist. You have the power to change that. Of your suffering because of your sinfulness, repent and make amends. If you have no power to change the suffering in your life, then embrace it and know that God can cause something good can come out of it.

The second part of this chapter reminds us that we can’t know everything. We need to be humble and trust God.

How to Fail by Success (ecclesiastes 6)

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In the first few verses solomon writes about a man who has success, but can’t really enjoy it, because he doesn’t know the God that gave him the success. (Ecclesiastes 6:1-2)

Near the end of the chapter Solomon warns us of roving appetites. I’m going to have to keep making trips to the grocery store because we keep getting hungry at my house. My hunger is only satisfied temporarily. We are tempted to wander in our appetites. We may have a cabinent full of food, but none of it satisfy the initial hunger we have because we have set our appetite on food that isn’t available. Solomon warns that it is better to be satisfied with today than to put all of our stock in being full tomorrow. (Ecclesiastes 6:7-9)

Application: enjoy today! Spend time with friends and family. Thank God for the blessings you do have. When you leave work, leave it behind. Enjoy living today.

Friends are Better Than Money (Ecclesiastes 4)

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Ecclesiastes 4:1-3

Solomon looks around and notices the oppressed.  Some people are abused and mistreated their whole lives and then they die.  They really didn’t have a chance to take pleasure in anything and there is no one to provide them with comfort. I don’t like it when the bad guys win, but the truth is that while we live in a fallen world we will suffer injustice. 

 

Ecclesiastes 4:4-8

Now Solomon notices that in life there is rivalry.  At the end of the day what does being the richest man in the world get you?  What does a nicer car really achieve?  What does being the number one company in your division actually acomplish? 

We can’t really quit on life simply because people will be jelous, but we don’t need to waste our lives jockeying for position either (4:5-6).

Ecclesiastes 4:9-12

Here Solomon remindes us of one of the blessings of life… people.  Have friends.  Share a good meal with company.  Have someone that labors with you and you can share your struggles with.  Keep up with your old buddies.  Don’t be lonely because you went after riches or spent all you time trying to be the biggest and best at something (4:8).

Ecclesiastes 4:13-16

Now Solomon warns from pursuing popularity.  While friends, real friends are a good thing, popularity never lasts.

Application: Tommy Neslson in his book A Life Well Lived sums it up well.

Do some things that will matter for eternity.  Serve Christ as long as you can until your number comes up, then die well. Enjoy the things you do know and don’t be so distraught about the things you don’t (A Life Well Lived, 70).

  Do you have friends that stick with yo through thick and thin?  What keeps you from forming deep and abiding relationshis with others?

What are your thoughts on Ecclesiastes 4?

The Fruitful Life By Jerry Bridges (Review)

On By pastorjonathanIn booksLeave a comment
Jerry Bridges has discipled me from afar for years. I was first introduced to his book, The Pursuit of Holiness (affiliate link) around 10 years ago and it has left a lasting impression on my life.  I was grateful for the opportunity to read and review The Fruitful Life: The Overflow of God’s Love Through You(affiliate link).

The Fruitful Life: The Overflow of God’s Love Through You (affiliate link) is an application oriented exposition of the fruit of the Spirit found in Galatians 5:22-23.  I am deeply grateful an appreciative to the author for taking the time to flesh out the practical aspects of how fruit is produced in our lives.  He does an outstanding job at bringing the reader in to focus on living a Christ-centered fruit-bearing life.  He acknowledges an individuals reliance on the Holy Spirit of God to produce fruit, while at the same time calling the reader to responsibility.  For example, in the chapter concerning humility the author writes, “Though not mentioned explicitly in Galatians 5:22-23, humility is surely a fruit of the Spirit, the result of His ministry in our hearts.  But this ministry does not occur without deliberate, conscious effort on our part.  The Spirit does not make us humble; He enables us to humble ourselves in these difficult situations” (57).

Each chapter contains excellent study and application questions that go well beyond most group study books that I have read.  If read thoroughly and with a mind for application this book can change your life.  This book is a great tool for understanding and applying the scripture to your life.  It is designed to be useful for either individual study or study as a group.

If you are interested in purchasing a copy of The Fruitful Life: The Overflow of God’s Love Through You (affiliate link) the retail price is $12.99 (paperback), and is worth twice that.  It is also available at places like Amazon.com for $10.39 (affiliate links).  I gave it five stars.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book (affiliate link) free from NavPress as part of their Blogger Review Program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Problems in Paridise (Ecclesiastes 3)

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Ok here is the drill. I’ve been keeping up with chris aiken’s blog. He posts his devotional thoughts in real time via his daily blog post. So somewhere between 6-7am you can catch his thoughts.

I wish I functioned like Chris does in the mornings. I post earlier in the morning before I go to bed (it’s around 12:30 as I write this). There is a lot more to it than that, but it should explain why I post earlier than my good friend and pastor Chris Aiken.

Everything has it’s time
(Ecclesiastes 3:1-15)

This is a sobering reality in the world in which we live. God has a plan and a purpose for everything. This makes God a little difficult to understand when we are hurting in the short term. We wonder at how God can take the bad things, even evil things and use them for our good (Genesis 50:20). We wonder, “how can God cause anything good to come out of this?”

Quite frankly that’s how this week started for me. Sunday from sun-up to sun-down I was dealing with the darker shades of life. Many of the situations were well beyond my control.

Solomon’s advice here is to not let what “we cannot know destroy what we can enjoy” (Tommy Nelson). God is good and ultimately what He decrees will prevail, even through short term pain (Ecclesiastes 3:14).

There is a time for everything and God is good. Ultimately his goodness will shine through, even on the darkest days.

Application:
How do you handle it when bad things happen? Are you quick to blame others for your circumstances?

What are your thoughts on Ecclesiastes 3?